Interpretación, análisis y propuesta de solución de los códigos de falla

Three possible issues with the mediating role by external organizations outlined above are the influence of government, inclusivity, and lack of empowerment of the community (Menser, 2018). Because the government is the main sponsor in the social-public model the influence of funding is a highly relevant risk. As Hollandse Luchten is fully financed by the province of Noord-Holland, they could assert influence the process. On this point, the co-creation expert notes that Waag aims to establish partnerships in projects rather than working client-based. This creates an equivalent collaboration with the province within Hollandse Luchten. Therefore, Waag has enough room to shape the process and is to a large amount independent of the government. The province did make decisions regarding locations and the number of sensors but Waag was free to implement their vision on the participatory processes.

Regarding inclusion, the co-creation expert notes that on the one hand, the aim is to be inclusive and to have a representative community. However, on the other hand, a project like Hollandse Luchten requires extensive participation. The expert states that “we are looking for people that understand what we are doing and that want to invest energy, which is sometimes hard to combine”. In past projects, the co-creation expert saw that only a small percentage of participants were actively engaged and co-owner of the project. “In the end, [CS] is about the impact of technology on society, which is still a niche and does not appeal to everyone. However, this interest is broadening”. Waag, in other words, aims at a community that feels urgency towards the topic and is willing to fully participate.

Likewise, the approach to participation by Waag in Hollandse Luchten aims at community empowerment. With the community champions, the aim is to create ownership over the project together with a sustainable network of sensors that will keep measuring after the project is finished. Besides, including the community in all steps of the process and providing

37 them with information about air quality is an investment to establish local knowledge about the topic. Waag’s technical expert notes that the goal is to empower people with knowledge about the topic and breach their dependence on experts. One goal of the design of Hollandse Luchten, therefore, is to bridge the gap between experts and laypersons and in turn empower the community. However, as the technical expert notes, measuring air quality is very complex, which is an issue for empowerment. The expert states that in addressing air quality, there are few people that have the required knowledge to make decisions, which maintains a dependency on experts.

The community champions do not question the independence of Waag. The CCW notes, for example, that during the meetups it was clear that Waag operated independently from the province. While a representative of the province was present at the meetups, the representative did not partake in the discussions and decision-making. According to the CCW, it is clear that the province is mainly a financier. Regarding the diversity of the population, the participants mainly were ‘senior white men’. As the CCB notes, the community is not representative of Beverwijk. However, he states the community is representative of people that worry about air quality. In the community of the local platform Stofmelder15, for example, the same population dominates. The CCI notes that in the end, what matters is that people feel responsible and are socially engaged. According to him, the younger population is interested but unwilling to invest time. In Wijk aan Zee the community is somewhat more diverse, and the community thinks that the people represent the average population. Overall, senior white men in IJmond seem most willing to participate and host a sensor.

Regarding expertise, the community champions indicate that Hollandse Luchten is reducing the gap between experts and laypersons. As the CCB states, people that came in with little knowledge about air quality learned a lot. He says that now, “people put their barbeque under a sensor to see what the effect is, for example”. This suggests that awareness about air quality is increasing. However, he states that some people will keep yelling at Tata and the gap between these groups will remain. The CCW similarly states that the gap in the provision of information has been reduced. This has enabled the community to create an independent data flow next to the official one in which citizens do not have to worry that it is influenced by external actors.

15 Stofmelder is a local platform that has facilitated the process of making a complaint about air quality in IJmond. Originally, making such a complaint involved a complicated set of actions on multiple media. Stofmelder reduced this to one action on one medium. Stofmelder has led to an active Facebook community, to which the CCB refers here.

38 In this sense, Hollandse Luchten contributes to community empowerment. As the CCW states, apart from reducing the gap, it provides up-to-date information on public locations to the inhabitants in the village. For example, he notes that there are several kindergartens, and “if it is possible to show that it is healthier to play in one or the other than people want to know this”. Having information about the situation can thus empower people to act in accordance with that information. Furthermore, many things are already happening independently from the project. The CCW says, for example, that they aim to create their own platform where pollution is visible in real-time, and which creates alerts based on this information. The community champion from Beverwijk similarly states that “we are already thinking about what needs to happen next year”. Hollandse Luchten thus has set multiple things in motion that are independent of the project. In terms of citizen science, therefore, it has both reduced the knowledge gap and enabled people to mobilize around a political issue.