Governance for sustainable development: the local entrepreneur as agent of change in bottom-up energy initiatives

While research growingly focuses on citizen-based grassroots movements and active citizenship for sustainable development less attention has been paid to the role of local entrepreneurs. This lack is surprising as... [ view full abstract ]

While research growingly focuses on citizen-based grassroots movements and active citizenship for sustainable development less attention has been paid to the role of local entrepreneurs. This lack is surprising as entrepreneurship is increasingly recognized as a significant conduit for bringing about sustainable development. We aim to reduce this knowledge gap by executing a case-study about a successful bottom-up project in Utrecht (the Netherlands): a business-public-civic collaboration for an innovative, community-based system of clean energy and mobility. By using perspectives on citizen participation, grassroots movements and transition studies we seek an answer for the research question: How can local entrepreneurs in bottom-up initiatives contribute to innovative approaches to sustainable development? The findings show the vague boundary between active citizen and local entrepreneur when launching a sustainability initiative. However, the later stages of the initiative display a distinct governance mode in terms of organization mode, ambitions, scales and outcomes. The locally engaged businessman turns into an agent of change to form a homegrown technological niche by forging trendsetting collaboration across (global) businesses, public organizations and knowledge institutes.

This dynamic governance brings about professionalization and standardization, which enable the implementation and the socio-spatial upscaling of this alternative energy and mobility scheme. At the same time, the ‘’end-phase’’ inclusion of residents as customers suggests a modest level of civic co-creation that may jeopardize societal acceptance, inclusion and a feasible business case. The article also identifies critical factors for evolving the collaboration.