Climate action incre asingly depends not only on designing solutions, but on how cities an d communities work together to implement them. This talk will explore how participatory approaches can help municipalities develop local c limate strategies, encourage climate action, and design solutions gro unded in the realities of different communities.
The first speaker, Ananya Tiwari, will share insights from European living lab s, highlighting how municipalities are co-designing relevant adaptati on solutions with local communities. Ananya will also share examples of tools used for citizen engagement with climate action, including c itizens’ assemblies, participatory budgeting, climate contracts, an d other forms of collaborative governance. It will draw on lessons le arned and challenges faced across contexts, sharing how participatory approaches can be adapted and scaled across European cities.
Daniël Hogendoorn will explore these issues from a local contex t, sharing how similar participatory approaches are being used i n Amsterdam, and the specific opportunities and challenges the city f aces in translating climate ambitions into local action.
The fi nal talk will be given by Dagan Cohen from the Amsterdam Donut Coalit ion (ADC), a platform working to scale up grassroots community-led in itiatives to create systemic change in Amsterdam. The ADC collaborate s extensively with the municipality of Amsterdam, with the objective of embedding the principles of the donut economy within existing inst itutional systems. Contrasting with the previous speaker, Dagan will offer insights on the local community's experience in engaging with t he municipality, and trying to influence decision-making processes.
Together, the three perspectives will connect experiences from a cross Europe with the realities of our own city, exploring how munici palities can collaborate with citizens to realise climate goals and s cale climate solutions. Participants can engage in the discussion tha t follows the three flash talks.
This SDG Academy is free of ch arge and open to students and staff of VU Amsterdam as well as everyo ne interested in the topic. The event can be joined in person at the Green Office VU, or online. We will conclude the event with drinks. P lease register here.
The Green Office (HG KC 18) is located in the basement of the VU main building (De Boelelaan 1105, 1081 HV Amsterdam), between the restaurant and the security desk.
Ananya Tiwari is an inter disciplinary social science researcher, who is currently working for Alternet, a European Science-Policy Interface. This involves collabor ating with scientists as well as the European Commission, European En vironmental Agency, and other EU organizations to improve environment al policymaking in Europe, through EU projects like BioAgora an d Co-op4CBD. She recently completed her postdoc at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and was previously pursuing her PhD in Ireland. She has wo rked with multiple EU funded projects, involving collaboration with r esearchers, policymakers, and local communities across Europe in livi ng lab settings. This included working with 20+ municipalities across Europe, to improve citizen engagement with local climate strtaegies. Find out more on her website: www.ananyatiwari.eu.
Daniël Hogendoorn is a Senior Strategist at the City of Amsterdam (Ruimte & Duurzaamh eid) and previously held a comparable role for The Hague. He works on the city's climate budget, investment frameworks, legal frameworks a nd planning procedures that decide whether a city's climate ambitions survive contact with its own institutions. His research background i s in negotiation, multistakeholder processes and uncertainty in gover nance: PhD research at TU Delft on the nature of difficulty in expert ise-intensive governance, with fieldwork on UK flood governance, hurr icane response in Texas and the IPCC climate negotiations, and a post doc at UCL STEaPP on how governance expertise develops around river s ystems in Thailand and Myanmar. He has also published on collaborativ e governance and conflict and in 2024–2025, he was a Policy Fellow at the UvA Institute for Advanced Study, examining the complex global city-system as key driver of the Anthropocene.
Dagan C ohen is the director of the Amsterdam Donut Coalition where he, together with the ADC team, helps Amsterdam accelerate the transi tion to a sustainable and socially just economy using Kate Raworth’ s Doughnut Economics model. With a background as a visual artist and having worked as creative director for international agencies, he has used his creativity as a force for good in the past ten years. He ha s organised design challenges and led acceleration programmes and is the founder of Changency, a creative agency for societal change. Sinc e April 2024, he is leading the Amsterdam Donut Coalition.
DESCRIPTION: Climate action increasingly depends not only on designing solutions, but on how cities and communities work together to implem ent them. This talk will explore how participatory approaches can hel p municipalities develop local climate strategies, encourage climate action, and design solutions grounded in the realities of different c ommunities. The first speaker, Ananya Tiwari, will share insights fro m European living labs, highlighting how municipalities are co-design ing relevant adaptation solutions with local communities. Ananya will also share examples of tools used for citizen engagement with climat e action, including citizens’ assemblies, participatory budgeting, climate contracts, and other forms of collaborative governance. It wi ll draw on lessons learned and challenges faced across contexts, shar ing how participatory approaches can be adapted and scaled across Eur opean cities. Daniël Hogendoorn will explore these issues from a local context, sharing how similar participatory approaches ar e being used in Amsterdam, and the specific opportunities and challen ges the city faces in translating climate ambitions into local action .The final talk will be given by Dagan Cohen from the Amsterdam Donut Coalition (ADC), a platform working to scale up grassroots community -led initiatives to create systemic change in Amsterdam. The ADC coll aborates extensively with the municipality of Amsterdam, with the obj ective of embedding the principles of the donut economy within existi ng institutional systems. Contrasting with the previous speaker, Daga n will offer insights on the local community's experience in engaging with the municipality, and trying to influence decision-making proce sses.Together, the three perspectives will connect experiences from a cross Europe with the realities of our own city, exploring how munici palities can collaborate with citizens to realise climate goals and s cale climate solutions. Participants can engage in the discussion tha t follows the three flash talks.This SDG Academy is free of charge an d open to students and staff of VU Amsterdam as well as everyone inte rested in the topic. The event can be joined in person at the Green O ffice VU, or online. We will conclude the event with drinks. Please r egister here.The Green Office (HG KC 18) is located in the baseme nt of the VU main building (De Boelelaan 1105, 1081 HV Amsterdam), be tween the restaurant and the security desk.Speakers< strong>Ananya Tiwari is an interdisciplinary social science researcher, who is currently working for Alternet, a European Science -Policy Interface. This involves collaborating with scientists as wel l as the European Commission, European Environmental Agency, and othe r EU organizations to improve environmental policymaking in Eur ope, through EU projects like BioAgora and Co-op4CBD. She recently co mpleted her postdoc at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and was previousl y pursuing her PhD in Ireland. She has worked with multiple EU funded projects, involving collaboration with researchers, policymakers, an d local communities across Europe in living lab settings. This includ ed working with 20+ municipalities across Europe, to improve citizen engagement with local climate strtaegies. Find out more on her websit e: www.ananyatiwari.eu.