HAL_T_01 New Instruments for Civic Participation: Infrastructure Cooperatives
Objectives / Research Questions
In the project HAL_T_01, institutional conditions and organizational constitution of civic engagement in the form of infrastructure cooperatives in selected municipalities and regional projects are to be investigated. The resulting surveys and analyses will form the basis for knowledge-based interventions. Central to this are formats of equal coproduction of knowledge to preserve existing and the development of new formats of services of general interest, which are jointly developed and tested according to need. The coproduction of knowledge also includes that researchers research and analyse supraregional knowledge on possible solutions to problems and, if necessary, cooperate in the implementation on site. We assume that intermediary organizations usually know which unsolved tasks and problems they are working on and processing. In innovative event formats, researchers can participate in this knowledge by exchanging with practitioners. Additionally, appropriate solutions are to be discussed with active infrastructure cooperatives and representatives of local government, as well as state politics and civil society in workshops; resources are to be pooled and further developed over several years. As a particular aspect, the extent to which existing “standards” – that is to say, normative and practical administrative requirements – inhibit civic initiatives’ implementation will also be investigated. To this end, a corresponding survey will be conducted. The mutual knowledge transfer should enable the actors to develop their actions in a knowledge-based way further and enable researchers to continuously update their empirical findings and reflect on the consequences of their research-based interventions.
The project HAL_T_01 occupies a central position within the transfer strategy of the Halle section because it aims to develop institutional improvements in coproducing formats of public science and civil society and regional political actors, which strengthen the self-control skills of society. Its methodology also represents a significant reference case within the RISC framework of knowledge transfer.
The project will work with practice partners, including the Competence Centre Social Innovation Saxony-Anhalt, selected infrastructure cooperatives and municipalities (including the city of Weißenfels), the German Cooperative and Raiffeisen Confederation (DGRV e. V.), and the German Association of Towns and Municipalities.
Key milestones of the project are workshops on multigeneration housing cooperatives and cultural infrastructure cooperatives in spring 2021, a workshop on social citizens’ cooperatives in autumn 2022, the completion of the analysis on financial conditions of infrastructure cooperatives in January 2021, the finalization of the study on standard flexibility at the end of 2022, and the publication of the results report in November 2023.
Thematic Reference to Social Cohesion
In Germany, municipal services of general interest have traditionally been a central instrument for ensuring equal living conditions and social cohesion. Self-government in all matters of the local community makes it possible to understand these issues “on the ground” and ensures the input of ideas and priorities in shaping living conditions. In addition, citizens can participate directly through referendums. Finally, cooperation with private parties (public-private partnerships) is also common in this area. However, the experiences during the last decades have shown that these traditional forms of participation are no longer sufficient in several respects. On the one hand, there is a lack of sufficient capacity in municipal budgets in many places so that voluntary self-government tasks, especially cultural offerings, cannot be continued. On the other hand, citizens feel that selective participation through referendums is insufficient and therefore are looking for sustainable participation opportunities. In both areas, the infrastructure cooperative opens up paths to sustainable participation and improves the financial basis for the coproduction of public goods. A distinction can be made between pure citizens’ cooperatives and cooperatives jointly supported by citizens and municipalities. If municipalities use this instrument in a targeted way, they can also improve social innovation and diversity. Since an essential aspect for establishing and maintaining infrastructure cooperatives is their promotion, we will examine which normative framework conditions (standards) may be an obstacle and should be adapted (made more flexible).
