ABSTRACT

This paper explores limitations and potentials of the public space for participation in Danish municipal wind energy planning. Although the Danish procedure for involving citizens in wind energy developments is often praised for its participatory merits, the approach is not without problems. Based on explorative case study research of three Danish wind energy projects at the planning stage, and qualitative interviews with both citizens and planners, the paper reveals shortcomings in terms of perceived procedural fairness and the powerful role ascribed to developers in a planning process. A general conclusion is that the implementation of limited participation requirements of the inherent invited space decouples citizens’ perspectives while providing a space for economic and strategic interests that is closed in its character. However, the study also localizes public input which is not limited to formal participation mechanisms. Self-initiated participation representing a ‘claimed’, ‘uninvited’ and ‘self-organized’ space exerts pressure from the outside and may carry important answers to future energy challenges. The paper suggests that a successful nurturing of such potentials could help to reconfigure a public space that encourages collective reflection between established and oppositional understandings of wind energy and society.

摘要

本文探讨了公共空间参与丹麦市政风能规划的局限性和潜力。尽管丹麦让公民参与风能开发的程序因其参与性的优点而受到称赞，但这种方法并非没有问题。基于对规划阶段的三个丹麦风能项目的探索性案例研究，以及对公民和规划者的定性访谈，本文揭示了在感知程序公平性和开发商在规划过程中的强大作用方面的缺陷。一个普遍的结论是，固有受邀空间的有限参与要求的实施使公民的观点脱钩，同时为经济和战略利益提供了一个封闭的空间。然而，该研究还对不限于正式参与机制的公共投入进行本地化。自我发起的参与代表了一个“声称”、“不请自来”和“自组织”的空间，它会施加来自外部的压力，并可能为未来的能源挑战带来重要的答案。该论文表明，成功培养这些潜力有助于重新配置公共空间，鼓励对风能和社会的既定理解和对立理解之间的集体反思。