1 IAPS International Association for People-Environment Studies Rainer Maderthaner PARTICIPATORY EVALUATION OF LA 21 PROJECTS

2 IAPS International Association for People-Environment Studies Rainer Maderthaner PARTICIPATORY EVALUATION OF LA 21 PROJECTS OVERVIEW 1.Sustainability (definition, conferences, principles) 2.Local Agenda 21 (ICLEI, Austria) 3.The Viennese LA 21 Model 4.General aspects of participation 5.Participatory evaluation (preliminaries) 6.Conclusion

3 IAPS International Association for People-Environment Studies Rainer Maderthaner PARTICIPATORY EVALUATION OF LA 21 PROJECTS SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT Problem of Definition Definitions of sustainability depend on - the sizes of the described systems (global, national, regional, local scale), - the selected target sectors (energy, transport, industry, agriculture, forestry, tourism), and - the scientific or professional perspective of the defining person. „Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future!“ (Brundtland report: Our Common Future”, World Commission on Environment and Development, 1987). UN Conference on the Environment and Development (UNCED) Rio de Janeiro in 1992: Agenda 21

4 IAPS International Association for People-Environment Studies Rainer Maderthaner PARTICIPATORY EVALUATION OF LA 21 PROJECTS QUALITY OF LIFE - SUSTAINABILITY - ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGES 1. Event: Environmental behaviour and quality of life: Ecological, sociological, psychological and communicational indicators of sustainability 2. Event: Exchange processes: Societal, institutional and political determinants guiding environmental behaviour and processing environmental knowledge within society 3. Event: Present and future measures and possible intervention mechanisms regarding global and local changes EUROCONFERENCE Austria Research Centers Seibersdorf - Institut für Psychologie (Universität Wien)  Many competing indicator systems (no integration)  Many models of societal and environmental systems  Few knowledge about the effectivity and efficency of measures

5 IAPS International Association for People-Environment Studies Rainer Maderthaner PARTICIPATORY EVALUATION OF LA 21 PROJECTS LAW OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT* * Report for the European Commission, Environment Directorate-General, European Communities, 2000 General Principles

6 IAPS International Association for People-Environment Studies Rainer Maderthaner PARTICIPATORY EVALUATION OF LA 21 PROJECTS ICLEI International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives „Local Agenda 21 is the action plan for a sustainable development of a municipality, set up by local authority together with the local stakeholders and citizens.“ 2003: More than 5000 municipalities worldwide are engaged in LA 21 processes  Microlevel of intervention (small costs)  Democratic approach (negotiation of interests)  Small scale sustainability (community scope)

7 IAPS International Association for People-Environment Studies Rainer Maderthaner PARTICIPATORY EVALUATION OF LA 21 PROJECTS AUSTRIAN SUSTAINABILITY SUMMIT : 149 municipalities of Austria were engaged in LA 21 processes (7%)

8 IAPS International Association for People-Environment Studies Rainer Maderthaner PARTICIPATORY EVALUATION OF LA 21 PROJECTS VIENNIES CONDITIONS 1996: Vienna signed the Aalborg Charter 1998: Pilot project „LA 21 Alsergrund“ 2002: Founding of the „LA 21 Association Vienna“ The Viennese districts are very different in: starting conditions quality of life available actions  There is not only one way to sustainablility!

9 IAPS International Association for People-Environment Studies Rainer Maderthaner PARTICIPATORY EVALUATION OF LA 21 PROJECTS 1.Sustainable urban planning (district analysis, urban diagnosis, development potentials) 2.Intense and broad participation (gender mainstreaming & integration) 3.The LA 21 as a long-term, lasting process 4.New relationships between polititians, administration and citizens 5.Public funding (city 50%, district 50%) PRINCIPLES OF LA 21 IN VIENNA

10 IAPS International Association for People-Environment Studies Rainer Maderthaner PARTICIPATORY EVALUATION OF LA 21 PROJECTS THE VIENNESE LA 21 MODEL

11 IAPS International Association for People-Environment Studies Rainer Maderthaner PARTICIPATORY EVALUATION OF LA 21 PROJECTS AGENDA OFFICES AT DISTRICT LEVEL

12 IAPS International Association for People-Environment Studies Rainer Maderthaner PARTICIPATORY EVALUATION OF LA 21 PROJECTS

13 IAPS International Association for People-Environment Studies Rainer Maderthaner PARTICIPATORY EVALUATION OF LA 21 PROJECTS

14 IAPS International Association for People-Environment Studies Rainer Maderthaner PARTICIPATORY EVALUATION OF LA 21 PROJECTS INFORMATION DISSEMINATION

15 IAPS International Association for People-Environment Studies Rainer Maderthaner PARTICIPATORY EVALUATION OF LA 21 PROJECTS TOPICS OF RUNNING PROJECTS

16 IAPS International Association for People-Environment Studies Rainer Maderthaner PARTICIPATORY EVALUATION OF LA 21 PROJECTS 1. Broad exchange of information 2. Increase in motivation to cooperate 3. Intensification of social engagement (empathy) 4. Increase of empowerment („help for self-help“) 5. Consolidation of social cohesion (place identity) 6. Improvement of democratic consciousness 7. Efficient and sustainable solution of local problems (e.g. by mediated or moderated processes) POSITIVE EFFECTS OF PARTICIPATION

17 IAPS International Association for People-Environment Studies Rainer Maderthaner PARTICIPATORY EVALUATION OF LA 21 PROJECTS 1. Sometimes important problems are covered by shallow ones (e.g unemployment, traffic, urban sprawl) 2. Participation can create unrealistic expectations (e.g. unlimited mobility, urban sprawl) 3. Inefficient planning of participation generates learned helplessness (e.g. unattainable goals) 4. Group discussions allow self-exposers to be in the spotlight 6. Participation processes can be vehicles of persuasion (e.g. peer pressure, majority-minority-conflicts)) 7. Participation as populistic action (e.g. pretending democratic attitudes) NEGATIVE EFFECTS OF PARTICIPATION

18 IAPS International Association for People-Environment Studies Rainer Maderthaner PARTICIPATORY EVALUATION OF LA 21 PROJECTS BASIC PROBLEMS OF EVALUATION PROCESSES 1.The huge complexity of ecological, societal and economic systems complicate their description 2.Available indicator systems often are discrepant, controversial, and their application ist expensive 3.There is no simulation model of development which is accepted by polititians and scientists likewise 4.Every evaluation process is - implicitly or explicitly - based on systems of values  More accentuation of processes than of states and results

19 IAPS International Association for People-Environment Studies Rainer Maderthaner PARTICIPATORY EVALUATION OF LA 21 PROJECTS PARTICIPATORY EVALUATION* *Bauert & Kaufmann-Hayos (2003): Participatory Evaluation of Local Agenda 21 Processes. European Conference – Evaluation of Sustainability, May 15-17, 2003, Vienna. (From effect evaluation to process evaluation) SELECTED EVALUATION FEATURES 1.Goal setting (spectrum of alternatives) 2.Communication (polititians – citizens, immigrants, ethnic minorities) 3.Stakeholder involvment (diversity of concerned persons) 4.Institutional embedding (administration and representative politics) 5.Process organisation (effectiveness, efficiency)

20 IAPS International Association for People-Environment Studies Rainer Maderthaner PARTICIPATORY EVALUATION OF LA 21 PROJECTS EVALUATION OF LA 21 IN VIENNA Results of the Evaluation Workshops Mainly process evaluation (instead of input/output evaluation) 2.Transparency of the design and comprehensibility of results 3.Intending reflections and learning processes about participation 4.Coaching function for participants of LA 21 processes 5.Accentuation of positive versus negativ feedback

21 IAPS International Association for People-Environment Studies Rainer Maderthaner PARTICIPATORY EVALUATION OF LA 21 PROJECTS Sustainability is a value-laden concept which often implies different goals, and which can be archieved by different paths Participants of LA 21 actors (policy makers, business men, scientists, citizens) have specific habits, lifestyles and ideological positions which have to be integrated Different interpretations of basic needs, goals, prosperity, health, and quality of life require political negotations It is fair to keep in mind that exchanging views about sustainability means also - more or less - an ideological competition about the preferred way of life. CONCLUSION An evaluation of the development of municipalities never can be exclusively an objective assessment and have therefore to take into consideration participatory principles