The transition to renewable energy is not only a technical process but also a deeply social one, as it greatly impacts people’s daily lives, and shapes how benefits and costs are distributed across society. Understanding how meaningful social impact can be defined and created within this context has become increasingly important. This thesis focuses on the case of the Johan Cruijff ArenA (JCA) and the Energy Cooperative Venserpolder in Amsterdam Zuidoost. It examines how both actors frame and operationalize social impact, how their perspectives differ, and what residents perceive as meaningful social impact. Building on these insights, it explores how collaboration between corporate and community actors can contribute to social impact that is considered meaningful by residents. A qualitative case study approach was employed, combining desk research, semi-structured interviews, participant observation, and a card sorting exercise.

The findings showed the JCA frames social impact in an instrumental and strategic manner, consistent with its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) objectives and Net Positive ambition. In contrast, the Energy Cooperative Venserpolder adopts a bottom-up and community-oriented framing of social impact, viewing it as an end in itself. Residents tend to associate meaningful social impact with immediate and tangible changes linked to their everyday lives, such as better facilities or cleaner streets. The research identifies collaboration opportunities between the JCA and the Energy Cooperative that both create value for the Energy Cooperative and align closely with the JCA’s CSR strategy. The most feasible forms of collaboration, such as sharing expertise and providing meeting space, demonstrate that impactful collaboration does not necessarily require large-scale investments. Overall, this thesis demonstrates that meaningful social impact emerges when organizational framings of social impact are aligned with residents‘ lived realities.

Key words: social impact, framing, renewable energy transition, collaboration, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), energy cooperative

Local energy cooperatives are pivotal in decentralizing and democratizing the energy system. This research aims to provide a roadmap for creating energy cooperatives that address energy poverty in the Netherlands, emphasizing the potential for a just energy transition.

This project bridges the realms of theory and empirical research in energy justice, business model innovation, and cooperative design. It unveils the inherent injustices that reside within traditional energy cooperative business models by utilizing a novel business model analysis tool. Furthermore, it integrates the principles of energy justice with the methodologies of business model innovation to facilitate the development of a just business model. To enable practical action, it provides a comprehensive handbook tailored for energy cooperatives, serving as a versatile guide for igniting changes. In the end, it proposes a conceptual pathway that serves as a guide for embarking on the journey of business model redesign.

The Dutch Government has set an ambitious goal for Amsterdam Zuidoost to become energy neutral by 2040. While technological advancements and infrastructure developments are progressing, the current transition risks widening social inequalities and leaving vulnerable groups behind. Thus, an inclusive transition, which recognises that not everyone can afford to invest in an energy-sustainable future, is crucial. In a bid to accelerate the transition, the Local Inclusive Future Energy (LIFE) Project is, amongst others, working on utilising local and sustainable energy to ensure the inclusion of local residents in the low-income district of Amsterdam Zuidoost.

In the context of the energy transition, inclusion typically refers to participation in energy exchange. Energy exchange is taking shape through the development of local, decentralised energy systems. Emerging in neighbourhoods and based on Peer-to-Peer and Transactive Energy models, these Local Energy Market Systems (LEMS) enable local production, storage and distribution of energy. However, designed to prioritise the interests of the grid, LEMS frame energy exchange solely as a transaction or trade, subjecting residents to the roles of profit-motivated buyers and sellers and thereby overshadowing the potential for fostering active inclusion and creating social value. With its unique mix of entertainment venues, social housing and large renewable asset owners, Amsterdam Zuidoost poses unique challenges and opportunities for becoming a pioneer in a socially inclusive transition.

To move beyond the rational and market-driven constraints which govern current energy exchanges, this project takes a new anthropological approach, framing it as a primarily social, community-based and relational practice.

By means of extensive ethnographic and research-through-design activities, the potential for socially inclusive energy exchange in Amsterdam Zuidoost is explored. Characterised by tight-knit social silos, residents stick within their own circles and thus social cohesion and a sense of community is lacking. Whilst entrepreneurial behaviour is evident, it remains behind doors and the skills and capabilities of local neighbourhoods is hidden and untapped.

To tap into the overlooked potential of local expertise and to expand social networks, this project suggests a new type of exchange, coined as ‘relational giving’. Through the giving of services and actions in return for local tokens opportunity is created for the formation and strengthening of social relationships. ‘Relational giving’ translates in the concept of ‘energy actions’: local energy related actions such as handy work and education. Local tokens are introduced as a tool to support relational giving, incentivising energy actions, recognising contributions and, importantly, facilitating exchange between the socially distant.

The vision for relational energy exchange is told through the mix media outputs of this project. Besides video, an energy actions enactment game is designed to activate stakeholders and a framework for a ‘Social Local Relational Energy Ecosystem’, which considers the roles of multiple actors in unlocking social energy, is presented.

Ultimately, this project aims to inspire and offers a new perspective on energy exchange, introducing tangibility to an entangled and unexplored space. Energy is repositioned not as a commodity to be bought and sold, but as an agent for building inclusive and socially cohesive communities.

This thesis explores the challenges of citizen participation in renewable energy projects in the context of the LIFE project and neighbourhood Venserpolder. The research is composed of a literature review on participation and an ethnographic study in Venserpolder and in LIFE project between February and July 2022.
The research resulted in the identification of nine main challenges, with several nuanced sub-challenges. These were divided into four challenge spaces describing the context in which these challenges arise. The most important challenge was to “Find the touchpoints between residents’ lives and LIFE project”. Finding those touchpoints will raise appreciation of participation in LIFE project and improve the quality of the participation.
The ethnographic research in the community centres of Venserpolder and one community centre in Holendrecht, provided knowledge about how residents currently participate in their community, which is something LIFE project can learn from.
This knowledge has been transferred to the members of the LIFE project team through a specially designed workshop in which the participants explored the challenges and reflected on how these challenges are relevant to their project. The workshop concluded with clear future steps the project can take. This workshop can be used further to continuously improve awareness around participation challenges in LIFE project, but also in other, similar projects.
It is recommended to explore how residents experience energy in their daily lives and how you can talk about energy, without talking about energy.

In order to overcome the existential threat of climate change the energy transition is needed. The energy transition has multiple challenges, one of them being that it risks increasing inequality. This challenge also occurs in Amsterdam Zuidoost. In Amsterdam Zuidoost almost one out of five households lives already in energy poverty, which risks to increase due to the energy transition. The LIFE project, located in Amsterdam Zuidoost, aims to reduce energy poverty and contribute to the transition towards clean energy. LIFE is an acronym for Local Inclusive Future Energy. The aim of the project is to stimulate smart energy use which enables flexibility of the local energy system. To ensure meaningful interaction between future users and the design of the project, this research aims to develop a framework that presents the conditions for interventions that contribute to a more inclusive energy transition in Amsterdam Zuidoost. For this research, inclusivity is conceptualised as the active involvement of citizens in the energy transition. This means that an open door policy is not enough, inclusion is a reflexive process in which the competences and desires of the excluded are put at the centre. The data collection method consisted of an exploration of the literature, ethnographic research in Amsterdam Zuidoost and an analysis of transcripts of interviews with key-informants. This led to a framework consisting of nine conditions for interventions for an inclusive energy transition. The established conditions are the following agency, identification of the community, skill development, multi-objectivity, the need for safety, communication methods, practical examples, lightheartedness and youth. These conditions were found to emphasise, ensure or stimulate the inclusivity of the interventions for the energy transition. The different conditions are heavily interlinked and are able to stimulate each other. Intentional participatory observations led to the suggestion of interventions that align with the found conditions. Some suggested interventions are a pop-up park, energy desk, training on how to save energy, heat photos, smart meters and energy classes at schools. These suggested interventions meet some of the conditions of the established framework, and therefore aim to contribute to a more inclusive energy transition in Amsterdam Zuidoost. Finally it is recommended to evaluate the outcome of the different intervention and compare those for further steps. Also investigating if the framework is applicable to other neighbourhoods or other types of transition might be of value.

As part of the Dutch energy transition the municipality of Amsterdam has drafted their Transition Vision Heat, indicating which sustainable heating sources can be used in Amsterdam as an alternative for natural gas. One of the alternative heating sources identified is residual data center heat. With the project ‘Digital heat in the MRA’ the municipality aims to create a showcase project to stimulate the large-scale use of this type of heating source. Recognizing that there is a strong social aspect to the transition the municipality of Amsterdam aims to facilitate a fair and equitable transition. An important element of this recognition is the understanding that without community support, projects can run into delays or even lawsuits. Therefore, municipalities are now looking into co-creation as a way to include stakeholders in the transition.

However, how to facilitate a fair and equitable co-creation process for the heating transition is still under debate and differs per project. Within the project ‘Digital heat in the MRA’ there is a focus on the role visuals could play to support the process of co-creation. To see if the conditions for a fair and equitable co-creation process are present in connecting two building blocks in Holendrecht this research draws on the insights from energy justice. Furthermore, as it is the organized stakeholders that shape the initial co-creation sessions, it is crucial to investigate if they identify issues with energy justice. In this way injustices can be identified from the start and be alleviated as much as possible to make sure the sessions are set up in an energy just manner. Therefore, the following research question has been formulated for this thesis: What energy injustices are identified by organized stakeholders in the transition towards sustainable heating in Holendrecht and how are visuals used to communicate about energy injustices?

By means of a review of energy justice literature a set of indicators has been synthesized to form the basis of the participatory observations and interviews conducted for this study and formed the springboard for the thematic analysis. In total 13 participatory observations and 5 interviews have been conducted. This led to the identification of 10 energy injustices and the visuals used to communicate about those injustices. These have been subdivided between the three tenets of energy justice namely distributional justice, recognition justice and procedural justice.

With regards to distributional injustice, net congestion, limited space in the subsurface, perceived availability of supply, financial differences between tenants and homeowners, and overlooking long-term impacts are identified as injustices impacting the fair and equitable transition. Regarding recognition justice, labeling tenants to only care about money and disturbance, and not including residents in the surrounding apartment blocks are identified as injustices. Lastly, the limited involvement of those directly affected, limited share of information and an imbalance in power are identified as injustices related to procedural injustice. Furthermore, it is found that visual communication regarding the injustices was mostly related to the physical infrastructure by means of maps and photographs.

By identifying these injustices, a first step is made towards creating the conditions for a fair and equitable co-creation process into connecting the two building blocks in Holendrecht to a district heating grid. Furthermore, the visuals identified are able to serve as tools to communicate about the energy justice surrounding the physical infrastructure. With this, insights are given into the challenge to create a fair and equitable transition from natural gas heating towards sustainable heating within the metropolitan context of Amsterdam.

When we think about the fact that 70% of the earth is covered by water, it may be easy to assume that water is abundant and that it would never have to be an issue in terms of having a constant supply to drink. In reality, it is a very complex matter for everyone to be able to access and drink safe water. Water is essential to maintain life on earth but as a resource it is not always located and in the state that is ideal for consumption. Often what is accessible is either contaminated, in dispute or not appropriate for its intended use. With regards to water safety, Bangladesh is the country with the largest proportion of people exposed to arsenic contamination around the world, the situation of which has been described by the World Health Organisation (2010) as the “largest mass poisoning of a population in history”. From the various technologies available, it has been established that Piped Water Supply Systems show a lot of promise in providing safe water to Rural and Peri -Urban communities of Bangladesh. Issues with this new system include lack of trust in the system, high costs, infrastructural and technical issues and operation and maintenance issues. These along with a lack of knowledge on water safety and varied literacy rates are some of the factors that contribute to low acceptance of the system. Awareness and educational campaigns have had a positive influence on communities regarding their choice of safe water sources. New and effective methods of building awareness through different channels is needed for long term impact and behaviour change. Approximately 50% of the rural households own and use smart phones with Internet access, and this number is rapidly increasing. This shows scope for monitoring water supply systems and building knowledge with smart phones in order to reach and engage communities. Uncertainties within the system were identified and information topics under the themes of Water quality, Health, Water practices and Water sources was designed to be communicated to the people of Bangladesh through the TAPP smart phone application, in order to build their knowledge and understanding of water safety. The long term goals of this project includes acceptance and engagement of Bangladeshi communities towards Piped Water Supply(PWS) systems and to affect the behaviour of people with regards to their choices on consuming safe drinking water. The use of ICT as the communication channel is relatively low cost and has a broad range of possibility to reach the citizens. The impact can be great if the knowledge penetrates within the families, and thus help in changing people’s decisions around drinking water.