In this thesis, the applicability of a novel method – the Participatory Value Evaluation method – to the transition towards zero natural gas use at the local level of the case study neighborhood Hengstdal in Nijmegen was researched. The main objective of this thesis is to contribute to the development of the PVE method by researching the applicability of this novel method to the transition towards zero natural gas use at the local level of an existing neighborhood.

As a result of the research, only 6 respondents filled in the web tool and participated in the experiment. It must be concluded that it was not possible to apply the Participatory Value Evaluation method to the case study about the transition towards zero natural gas use of the neighborhood Hengstdal in Nijmegen. The process of implementing the PVE method is analyzed in order to identify factors that might have complicated the application process in this specific case study. To avoid future applications of the PVE method to suffer from the same complicating factors, several conditions are formulated. If these conditions are met, they could avoid or mitigate the impact of the complicating factors and could therefore make it possible to successfully apply the PVE method. However, future research is necessary in order to determine whether these conditions are sufficient for a successful implementation of the method.