“For the last few decades, many governments have been geared towards being very efficient and run like big corporations,” says Elin Waning-Dedert from the municipality of Rotterdam. “We’ve become brilliant at bureaucracy but we’ve become bad at trust – and trust is basically the opposite of bureaucracy.”
Rotterdam is trying to redress this balance through its Wijk aan Zet (Neighbourhood in action) initiative. The new governance model seeks to enhance democratic participation and representation in one of the world’s most ethnically diverse cities, with a population of 650,000.
The approach has been recognised internationally and is shortlisted in the Eurocities Awards, which will be held during the Eurocities Annual Conference in Cluj-Napoca in May.
In 2022, following a pilot, Rotterdam introduced Wijk aan Zet, a new electoral model of local governance. The city’s 80 neighbourhoods were grouped into 39 districts, each with its own council.
Unlike the national elections, young people from the age of 16 were allowed to stand for election and vote in the district council polls. Further, candidates do not have to be members of a political party; they can stand as individuals or on behalf of a non-political organisation – whether that’s a youth skateboarding group or mothers who want better playgrounds.
This is already driving change. “The average age [of district councillors] is lower but also the age range is much wider. Ethnically, it is much more diverse and also in terms of socio-economic position and level of education,” said Waning-Dedert, who is the Transition Manager for Wijk aan Zet. “It’s much, much more diverse than the city council and even compared to the national government it’s a much more honest reflection of the city’s population.”
A local election first
We wanted to have a campaign where as many citizens as possible would be attracted to participate – to vote or maybe even better to run to be elected.
The first district council elections took place in March 2022 and the city did a lot of work to encourage participation.
“We wanted to have a campaign where as many citizens as possible would be attracted to participate to vote or maybe even better to run to be elected,” said Paul Hulsebosch, a Neighbourhood Council Coordinator for Wijk aan Zet. “And that was a challenge of course because these neighbourhood councils are new.”
A major thing the city did was to combine the district council elections with the city council elections. They also worked with a communications agency to get the word out via council channels, including a social media video campaign and a podcast, as well as through local newspapers.
“We tried to be present in all the neighbourhoods as well,” said Hulsebosch. This included using large billboards and even a four-metre-tall pencil to raise awareness and provide information.
Publicity teams took materials out to neighbourhoods and attended community meetings that were already happening.
Ronald Bijnaar is one of four district managers for the municipality of Rotterdam who were responsible for making sure enough people stood for the elections. “That was just very tough,” he said. “But it was also a great success because in all the 39 districts we had enough people who wanted to be on the ballot, even though it was the first time.”
“I believe that this model will help us to bring the government closer to the neighbourhood and the neighbourhood closer to the government,” Bijnaar added. “It’s democracy on a smaller scale.”
I believe that this model will help us to bring the government closer to the neighbourhood and the neighbourhood closer to the government. It’s democracy on a smaller scale.
Tools for democracy
The city provided further support for people who were standing as councillors – for many it was a new experience. Candidates were offered the opportunity to have professional photos taken and flyers and posters created. In addition, a website was launched where candidates could share their campaigns.
“It was a very good and easy to use toolkit,” said Reidar Plokker. “It was very well facilitated in that sense.”
Plokker is a former civil servant and took part in previous participatory democracy pilots before being elected as a district councillor and chairman for one of the 39 districts in north Rotterdam in March 2022.
“It was a very interesting way to get into local politics without actually being connected to a political party,” he said. “I think it’s a very interesting and exciting programme in the sense that the city of Rotterdam has really done its best to connect to everybody possible in a city that is very diverse but actually quite disenfranchised in certain areas.”
For example, in the previous national government elections, there were areas in Rotterdam where voter turnout was very low, he said. “That’s one of the things that everybody is looking for: how do we get the people involved?” Plokker said. “I am quite convinced that the way to go is to connect at that neighbourhood and grassroots level.”
He believes the success of the first elections bears this out, with 22 candidates coming forward for the seven seats in his district. Different generation candidates used different tactics – from Facebook or TikTok to old-fashioned leafletting.
“It’s nice to see what we ended up with, which I think is quite a diverse group. It’s nice to see that you’ve done that campaign, and you’ve actually reached people,” he said.
“Of course, the real challenge is now to make sure these people don’t get disenfranchised after they’ve been elected.”
Trust the process
A number of initiatives are in place to help the new councils succeed. In total, 291 district council members have been elected. Their roles are paid and they are supported by 15 coordinators.
All 39 councils have drawn up a district agreement with the help of local residents and partners. Through the four-year pact, the district and the municipality agree on the needs and priorities of the neighbourhood. This could be creating more space for recreation, improving road safety or offering activities for young people. District agreements are distilled into annual action plans which the municipality is largely responsible for carrying out.
“At the end of every four-year term, the mayor and aldermen are held accountable for achieving their objectives. What is so special about Wijk aan Zet is that for the first time there is a target that is assessed by the 39 neighbourhood councils: they are to judge that the action plans have been executed,” said Waning-Dedert. “So the accountability is no longer only towards the city council, but also to the neighbourhood councils with a responsibility towards their supporters.”
I'm also in it for the process. The outcome may not change but we can talk about the conditions under which a policy happens and through that, the trust can grow between government and citizens.
The mijn.rotterdam platform where candidates promoted their election campaigns is now used to share news and progress on the district plans, and residents can also apply for grants for community initiatives – whether for more urban greenery or a street party. So far, 120,000 unique visitors have visited the platform and over 7,600 citizens have an account.
In addition, district hubs have been set up in neighbourhoods so that residents can easily drop in with ideas and questions.
The district councils do have some power in that they have a small budget and make decisions over neighbourhood grants, but Plokker says their role is more about influence. For example, his district recently gave input on the local impact of a new traffic circulation plan which is being drawn up for the whole city.
“Personally, I’m also in it for the process,” he said. “The outcome may not change but we can talk about the conditions under which a policy happens and through that, the trust can grow between government and citizens.”
The city has some adjusting to do too. For example, some district councils have called for more outdoor spaces where older residents can exercise.
This new model of governance also forces us to really reflect as a local government on how we are organised and where we might be following our own internal logic rather than the logic of the city.
“It’s a good idea to facilitate this but to really execute those plans turns out to be quite difficult,” said Waning-Dedert. “We have one department for the elderly, one department for outdoor sports and another department for building things. This new model of governance also forces us to really reflect as a local government on how we are organised and where we might be following our own internal logic rather than the logic of the city.”
The partners are agreed that it’s early days and they are positive and open-minded. “It’s a matter of taking the time,” said Bijnaar. “We don’t panic if something isn’t working. Two years is nothing on the big scale of things. We’re all learning.”
