Under Pressure: citizen participation in the shadow of urgent climate policy.

In response to policy demands posed by climate change, the city of Amsterdam wants to develop 17 wind turbines within its municipal boundaries. This has led to loud protests from various local and neighboring groups. We were hired as policy mediators and facilitators to promote recognition, understanding, and dialogue between the parties. However, due to various reasons the decision process came under a lot of pressure, leading to feelings of tokenistic involvement from those who participated. In this paper I will share my experience of being involved in the dynamics of this policy conflict. This paper is based on my own experience. My involvement started when public protests against wind turbines in Amsterdam increased and the city council decided that a moment of reflection would engage stakeholder groups in a dialogue. In this paper I will describe a number of critical moments in the city's wind policy participation process. The problems that we -as a team of mediators- have met, raised many questions about conflict as default, which makes it worth exploring in this panel. I still wonder if this participation process has been successful or not. From a perspective of policy participation, this process is not the bright example that should be taught to students. But at the same time there was room for self-organization and initiative from the citizens. Apart from our advice to participants, all kinds of initiatives arose in which residents themselves influenced the political process. Others decided to stop participating as an act of protest and out of fear for tokenism, trying to influence political decision making by following a different strategy.