How to? Co-productionist relational engagement in European Union energy projects
Abstract
Public engagement is key in sustainable energy transitions. Engagement with energy often takes place in European Union energy projects, which is repeatedly criticized for not living to its potential to grapple with social issues. Work on co-productionist relational engagement by Science and Technology Studies (STS) can help to overcome this critique with a more reflexive perspective. In this paper we explore how relational engagement can be brought into practice in the contexts of EU energy projects. We underline the need to consider contexts of engagement when aiming to operationalise relational engagement. We make a novel connection between STS engagement literature and project management literature, and combine this with empirical insights from EU H2020 energy projects. We identify three components for enacting relational engagement in EU energy projects. First, practicing, entails reflecting and responding upon the way engagement evolves. Second, enabling, means that projects should enable relational reflections and responses with flexibility for engagement. Third, engagement in the flexible spaces needs to be steered through indicators and engagement practitioners' skills. This shows that relational reflections and responses are bounded by the EU energy project contexts through levels of flexibility, indicators and skills. Nevertheless, we see opportunities to work with and within the boundaries to bring relational engagement into practice. We emphasize that rather than understanding relational engagement in practice as an all-or-nothing issue, opportunities for practicing relational engagement can be embraced to foster relational engagement that reflexively opens up more diversified engagement to addresses societal challenges for inclusive energy transitions.
Introduction
People are impacted by energy transitions, while at the same key to enact energy transitions. Therefore, public participation is important. At the same, participation practices are criticized for being too instrumentally motivated and not adequately addressing social issues. To overcome this, a more relational perspective on participation can help, but less is known on how we can implement this. How can we do it? In this paper we found that it is important to create project structures that enable and stimulate reflexiveness.
3 things policy-makings can do for engagement in energy projects:
- Enable project teams to actively reflect on and respond to household interactions as they occur, ensuring engagement remains relevant and effective.
- Avoid rigid, predefined engagement plans. Instead, allow more flexibility in project design to adapt engagement approaches dynamically in response to emerging situations.
- Implement reflexive indicators to guide adjustments and ensure flexibility is used effectively. Prioritize training in engagement skills to enhance adaptability and responsiveness.
