ID18: Effects of digitalisation on participatory governance

Abstract ID 545 | Date: 2022-09-12 13:45 – 14:00 | Type: Oral Presentation | Place: SOWI – Seminar room SR2 |

Weiß, Andreas

With the start of the first lockdown a very rapid switch to online formats within the Biosphere (BR) Wienerwald took place. Right from the start, the internal online jour fixe was perceived as a thoroughly positive and flexible alternative, which was accepted by all actors. The new challenge was handled with great motivation. Additionally, meetings with already established bodies such as project meetings, supervisory board meetings, meetings with stakeholders and working groups (i.e. with the Austrian Federal Forests, the mountain bike platform, etc.) were handled online with great satisfaction of all actors. So far, the online format has proven to be a valued asset while dealing with information exchange and coordination. Yet over time the desire for physical meetings grew again to foster creativity and communication. A staff retreat that took place online did not really work and clearly showed limits; a follow-up in a “lockdown-free” presence brought more usable results. In our experience virtual meetings are a good alternative and a sensible supplement for the exchange of information within predefined structures. However, creative processes that need a certain “randomness” and the building of new (interpersonal) networks still need meetings in person. Most of all good humour needs the “interpersonal”, which can only be created to a limited extent online. Within this workshop setting we would like to share our experiences of virtual participation and share the pros and cons.

Abstract ID 338 | Date: 2022-09-12 14:00 – 14:15 | Type: Oral Presentation | Place: SOWI – Seminar room SR2 |

Pichler-Koban, Christina (1); Rauch, Franz (2); Mayer, Heinrich (3); Straßer, Selina (4)

The settled areas in the Carinthian part of the Salzburg Lungau & Carinthian Nockberge UNESCO Biosphere Reserve are located in the valley areas on the outer borders of the park without direct connections to each other and without a central location. In the absence of this central location, there are no suitable premises or venues for the biosphere reserve’s consultation hours, information sessions, discussion evenings or cultural events.

Virtualising communication can create completely new possibilities here. In our contribution we present and discuss whether and to what extent these possibilities can actually be used or where the obstacles and difficulties arise. We refer to the experiences and observations from the Covid crisis, as well as an experimental virtual workshop that was conducted as part of an FWF project. Some of the biosphere reserve’s offerings could indeed be successfully virtualised. As everywhere, the technical possibilities have simplified conference participation, coordination discussions and working meetings within and outside the region and reduced the effort required for exchange. Existing formats, such as the learning and research platform Science_Link^nockberge, were also able to increase participation and reach of events.

The willingness to actively participate in virtual events has increased significantly. In some cases, target groups that are otherwise difficult to reach (e.g. young families, senior citizens) may have been activated. Overall, however, digital formats have not established themselves. Has the biosphere reserve not been able to take advantage of this opportunity, or are central activities and offers of a biosphere reserve basically not virtualisable? It can be assumed that digital voting, virtual excursions, gamification or multi-media communication will be opened up with extended technical possibilities. Biosphere reserves as model regions for sustainable development as well as for education for sustainable development will in any case have to increasingly deal with these possibilities.

Abstract ID 367 | Date: 2022-09-12 14:15 – 14:30 | Type: Oral Presentation | Place: SOWI – Seminar room SR2 |

Klenovec, Christine (1); Braun, Valerie (2)

UNESCO Biosphere Reserves (BRs) are internationally recognized model regions for sustainable development and used to conducting participation processes. With the start of the lockdown during the Covid-19 pandemic the Biosphere Reserve Grosses Walsertal in Austria had to hold its jour fixe and board meetings for the first time online. At the beginning this was met with resistance and reluctance, then approved and partly voluntarily chosen as format. Additionally, project meetings and board member elections were held online. We will present our experiences with this new format and we will also present how a virtual workshop with citizens on wild bees was conducted in the BR. This workshop includes three elements, i) a virtual lecture with “Introduction to wild bee diversity” with possible measures to create habitats in public and private spaces for this endangered ii) breakout sessions in small groups to interactively work on possible measures to strengthen wild bee diversity in one’s own garden or on one’s own farmland and iii) a plenary discussion to collect concrete measures. The role and effects of electronic support for civic participation and the effects on BR management and decision-making need to be evaluated on a wider scale, as well as the wider impacts on local democracy and sustainable development. We thus hope to contribute with our experiences to a fruitful discussion and future projects to contribute to virtual participation.

Abstract ID 823 | Date: 2022-09-12 14:30 – 14:45 | Type: Oral Presentation | Place: SOWI – Seminar room SR2 |

Diaz, María Guillermina

Along with the processes of restoring democratic orders in South American countries, new perspectives and ways of understanding territorial planning are emerging, not only from the state, but also from within communities and organised social movements. It is from here that approaches that resemble the real and urgent needs of communities begin to take shape and be promoted. After all the progress made over the last thirty years, Participatory Planning has managed to establish itself in the field of territorial management and planning. These mechanisms are beginning to be recognised by the State, but also by citizens.

In this way, it is the people who inhabit the territories who really create and transform it, shape it and know it from the way they live and walk through it. To understand space as the result of social interaction is also to understand it as the result of the power relations that occur in it. As a result of this, it is possible to think that one way of seeing the relations between the different actors reflected is through the participatory construction of the territories, together and seeking the consensus of all the actors involved in this process of social production. By inhabiting places, communities create and transform spaces.

In this context, in the provinces of La Rioja and Córdoba, collective actors (environmental assemblies and self-convened neighbours) involved in socio-territorial conflicts unleashed by the advance of extractive activities, mainly mega-mining in the foothills and in the Sierras Pampeanas, felt the need to recognise themselves in the territories they inhabit and travel through. To this end, assembly meetings and workshops were held with the aim of constructing participatory cartography in order to begin to manage and plan the territories.

In this way, this paper presents two cases of participatory mapping together with territorial surveys in the aforementioned provinces. Both mappings were carried out in the form of virtual and face-to-face workshops with members of environmental assemblies and self-convened neighbours. It should be noted that digital tools were used for the elaboration of the maps, allowing the information to be visualised and reflecting the reality of the territories. This resulted in the construction of analogue and digital maps and, in the case of La Rioja, a booklet produced collaboratively, which gives an account of the process carried out.