Resistance to renewable energy is a well-known phenomenon in Denmark, and it is an area where emotions often run high for affected citizens. It is a topic that she is researching at AAU. Miriam Holst Jensen knows it from her work, and she focused on it with a presentation at the VedvarendeEnergis national meeting in Aarhus. She is also a board member of VedvarendeEnergi.
- How can you handle resistance to, for example, solar cells, and what is a good involvement process, asks Miriam Holst Jensen and gives a few hints from her work:
- Citizens must be involved early and consistently. We have to handle conflicts with citizens.
But the time when the sports hall or classroom was the meeting place for this type of involvement is a thing of the past, even though the Danish local newspapers still testify to the opposite.
- It also doesn't matter where and when dialogue meetings are held. Does it still take place in a classroom at a school or in a gym? It can also take place in an inclusive way with a different exchange in small groups, she explains.
In this way, there is very direct contact and understanding.
- Here it can be possible to make suggestions directly to the developers, adds Miriam Holst Jensen.
A new type of negotiation
Miriam Holst Jensen is also familiar with the different types of negotiation that are used. Here, there have been two predominant forms so far. These are the soft form of negotiation and the hard form. But the researcher is focusing on a Dutch form of negotiation.
- Interest-based negotiation or mutual gains looks at interests rather than positions. You look at whether there is something where we have different facts, explains Miriam Holst Jensen.
She also has a relatable example that is understandable, and it concerns a family's holiday wishes.
- Mother wants to go to Italy because she wants to go to the heat - while father wants to go to Germany because he wants to see castles. Then we can look at whether we can find a third country that has both, she explains and translates to the area of renewable energy:
- It can be used to see if we can, for example, install solar cells or wind turbines in another place.
When municipalities have to meet with the affected citizens, Miriam Holst Jensen draws on experience from another type of project outside of renewable energy, among other things. It is Project Gudenåsti, where the waves also went high.
- Experience shows that it is about being humble, she says and points out that openness and seriousness towards local perspectives are also important.
As a municipality or planner, however, you must also take the involvement seriously.
- It can really create conflict if, for example, you politically do not want involvement, she explains.
As a municipality or planner, however, you must also take the involvement seriously.
Resistance to renewable energy is a well-known phenomenon in Denmark, and it is an area where emotions often run high for affected citizens. It is a topic that she is researching at AAU. Miriam Holst Jensen knows it from her work, and she focused on it with a presentation at the VedvarendeEnergis national meeting in Aarhus. She is also a board member of VedvarendeEnergi.
- How can you handle resistance to, for example, solar cells, and what is a good involvement process, asks Miriam Holst Jensen and gives a few hints from her work:
- Citizens must be involved early and consistently. We have to handle conflicts with citizens.
But the time when the sports hall or classroom was the meeting place for this type of involvement is a thing of the past, even though the Danish local newspapers still testify to the opposite.
- It also doesn't matter where and when dialogue meetings are held. Does it still take place in a classroom at a school or in a gym? It can also take place in an inclusive way with a different exchange in small groups, she explains.
In this way, there is very direct contact and understanding.
- Here it can be possible to make suggestions directly to the developers, adds Miriam Holst Jensen.
A new type of negotiation
Miriam Holst Jensen is also familiar with the different types of negotiation that are used. Here, there have been two predominant forms so far. These are the soft form of negotiation and the hard form. But the researcher is focusing on a Dutch form of negotiation.
- Interest-based negotiation or mutual gains looks at interests rather than positions. You look at whether there is something where we have different facts, explains Miriam Holst Jensen.
She also has a relatable example that is understandable, and it concerns a family's holiday wishes.
- Mother wants to go to Italy because she wants to go to the heat - while father wants to go to Germany because he wants to see castles. Then we can look at whether we can find a third country that has both, she explains and translates to the area of renewable energy:
- It can be used to see if we can, for example, install solar cells or wind turbines in another place.
When municipalities have to meet with the affected citizens, Miriam Holst Jensen draws on experience from another type of project outside of renewable energy, among other things. It is Project Gudenåsti, where the waves also went high.
- Experience shows that it is about being humble, she says and points out that openness and seriousness towards local perspectives are also important.
As a municipality or planner, however, you must also take the involvement seriously.
- It can really create conflict if, for example, you politically do not want involvement, she explains.
Resistance to renewable energy is a well-known phenomenon in Denmark, and it is an area where emotions often run high for affected citizens. It is a topic that she is researching at AAU. Miriam Holst Jensen knows it from her work, and she focused on it with a presentation at the VedvarendeEnergis national meeting in Aarhus. She is also a board member of VedvarendeEnergi.
- How can you handle resistance to, for example, solar cells, and what is a good involvement process, asks Miriam Holst Jensen and gives a few hints from her work:
- Citizens must be involved early and consistently. We have to handle conflicts with citizens.
But the time when the sports hall or classroom was the meeting place for this type of involvement is a thing of the past, even though the Danish local newspapers still testify to the opposite.
- It also doesn't matter where and when dialogue meetings are held. Does it still take place in a classroom at a school or in a gym? It can also take place in an inclusive way with a different exchange in small groups, she explains.
In this way, there is very direct contact and understanding.
- Here it can be possible to make suggestions directly to the developers, adds Miriam Holst Jensen.
A new type of negotiation
Miriam Holst Jensen is also familiar with the different types of negotiation that are used. Here, there have been two predominant forms so far. These are the soft form of negotiation and the hard form. But the researcher is focusing on a Dutch form of negotiation.
- Interest-based negotiation or mutual gains looks at interests rather than positions. You look at whether there is something where we have different facts, explains Miriam Holst Jensen.
She also has a relatable example that is understandable, and it concerns a family's holiday wishes.
- Mother wants to go to Italy because she wants to go to the heat - while father wants to go to Germany because he wants to see castles. Then we can look at whether we can find a third country that has both, she explains and translates to the area of renewable energy:
- It can be used to see if we can, for example, install solar cells or wind turbines in another place.
When municipalities have to meet with the affected citizens, Miriam Holst Jensen draws on experience from another type of project outside of renewable energy, among other things. It is Project Gudenåsti, where the waves also went high.
- Experience shows that it is about being humble, she says and points out that openness and seriousness towards local perspectives are also important.
As a municipality or planner, however, you must also take the involvement seriously.
- It can really create conflict if, for example, you politically do not want involvement, she explains.
