To promote the greening of industrial parks, we facilitate collaboration among local governments participating in the "Landscapes of the Future" program.

Client Working Landscapes of the Future (WvdT)
Duration 2023 –

To promote the greening of industrial parks, we facilitate collaboration among local governments participating in the "Landscapes of the Future" program.

Context

Work Landscapes of the Future (WvdT) is working to green industrial parks in the Netherlands. At the fourteen selected Living Labs and Ambassador Sites across six provinces, project managers are collaborating with entrepreneurs and researchers to develop innovations. These include technical, organizational, financial, and policy innovations. The program is working to scale up successful innovations through a number of projects, with the ultimate goal of greening 1,000 sites.

Governments—such as provinces, municipalities, and water boards—are crucial partners: they develop policies and regulations, provide co-financing, and manage the public portion of the physical space. We need strategic collaboration with these governments to support and accelerate the transition to green and healthy business parks, including through incentive-based policies.

Objective

Strengthening and scaling up the transition to future-proof business parks. We do this by:

• Strengthen relationships with local governments in the areas surrounding the fourteen pilot sites (Living Labs and Ambassador Sites) of the Werklandschappen program
• A collaborative learning approach for local governments in the pilot areas, focused on sharing and further developing practical experience and knowledge
• Expanding to strategic partnerships with so-called partner governments; governments that are not involved in the pilot areas

Process approach

To assemble the group, we spoke with the relevant government agencies about the challenges they face in their daily work and where they see opportunities. We were able to expand the group through our network contacts. In addition to provinces and municipalities, water boards, drinking water companies, and environmental agencies are also participating. In this way, we established a dedicated Working Group on Governmental Working Landscapes (WOW), in which participants learn from each other’s practical experiences through six meetings per year, focusing on specific pilot areas.

Our approach is demand-driven. Together with the participants, we identify the relevant topics for the workshops, and we prepare each workshop in collaboration with a select group of participants to ensure the process aligns closely with their context and needs. To make faster progress during the workshops themselves, we send participants a set of preparatory questions in advance. During the sessions, participants share experiences and work together on concrete issues, such as opportunities and challenges in policy.

NextGreen compiles the outcomes of the working sessions into an information sheet, which participants also review. We share these insights widely through channels such as the Werklandschappen Toolbox and news articles to involve other local governments in the transition. Furthermore, within the Werklandschappen coalition, we serve as the point of contact for local governments, gathering, connecting, and relaying questions, feedback, and insights between local governments and other projects.

Services and activities

Discussions with the organization | Interviews with stakeholders | Exploratory workshops | Organizing innovation sessions | Developing coalitions for mutual benefit | Launching and facilitating a Community of Practice (CoP) | Publishing reports | Sharing knowledge through workshops and presentations | Initiating new partnerships | Developing (financial) instruments