Civic Initiatives vs. Legal Issues in the Netherlands and beyond has been discussed at the Magdeburg 3e Project Meeting of the Open Governement in Europe Project, part of the GRUNDTVIG Lifelong Learning Partnership (LLP) Program. It deals with several aspects on the broad domain of liability, damages and risk-management in the Netherlands, wrt. DIY & civic initiatives in public space.

1. CIVIC INITIATIVES VS. LEGAL ISSUES
IN THE NETHERLANDS AND BEYOND
Mark Verhijde – Program manager and consultant urbanism
commissioned by Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations
project participation in collaboration with UT Twente NL
July 2014 - 3rd Project Meeting in Magdeburg DE
Open Government in Europe Project
GRUNDTVIG Lifelong Learning Partnership (LLP) Program

2. Outline case
• Research Civic Initiatives, DIY & Liability 2013
– Basic research questions
– Participants and proces
– Basic results 1-4
– Refining results 1-2
– Learning issues
• Comparing civic initiatives NL with other
countries in EU
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3. Example Den Helder
• Citizens maintain
public space
• Contract with
municipality
• Volunteers are
trained on safety
issues and quality
of their work
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4. Preview
• Case is NOT about general / common efforts to
make DIY & civic initiatives possible (process to
empower citizens, role municipality, funding)
• Case aims to illustrate 2 perspectives: actions of
citizens vs. actions in legal domain
• Both are true and present in the real world
• Power struggle between 2 perspectives
• Good Practice Open Government: new balance
shifting power to DIY and civic initiatives
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5. Example Venray
• Citizens design and
realise main street
(bricks and green)
• Budgets from
municipalty and
citizens
• Co-creation
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6. Basic research questions
• Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations
• Research on civic initiatives, DIY & liability 2013
• Are legal issues such as liability, damage and
risk assessment restricting civic initiatives?
• Landscape civic initiatives, DIY current system
• Possible alternatives on legal issues
• Options for radical experimenting
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7. Example Amersfoort
• Skeleton: Citizens & artist
create wooden object for
playing
• Focus on learning how to
deal with safety and risks
• Prohibited: Law on Public
Playing Objects (WAS)
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8. Participants and proces
• Management: Mark Verhijde & Maarten Bosman
• 3 municipalities: Den Helder, Deventer, Venray
• 5 experts: CROW, WijkAlliantie, LPB, En de buurt
and Van Alphen Legal Consultancy
• Desk research and interview sessions
• Workshops and meetings
• 67 civic initiatives in public space and buildings
• Research results with tools, myths, schemes and
many examples
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9. Basic results 1
• Dutch systems: General Administrative Law Act
(GALA or Awb:NL) and Civil Laws
• GALA describes administrative law provisions
(making, opposing and judicial reviewing)
• Civil Law (or private law) describes the rules for
relationships between people (i.e. family law,
property law)
• Liability is part of Civil Law domain
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10. Example Arnhem
• Popup Festival on
toplevel parking lot
• Permit given for
temporary use
• Zoning regulations do
not allow for events
• Arnhem tolerates
civic initiative
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11. Basic results 2
• On damage in NL: everyone is responsible for
damage from own actions (i.e. general liability)
• Two exceptions on general liabillity:
– Contracts: damage from breach of contract
– Specific civil laws: ownership (of property, animals),
parents-children (14 year), organization-employees
• Damage = paying money or insurance
• Managing liability = minimize risks of claims
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12. Requirements on safety
• “Kelderluik-arrest”:NL
• High Court decision on
events and safety of
volunteers and visitors
• Accident due to open
cellar hatch
• Civic initiative liable
for damage
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13. Basic results 3
• Municipalities & civic initiatives: legal strategies
– Formal (4): permit, prohibit, tolerance, contract
– Informal (2): adapt, cocreate (adopt)
• Main objectives: minimize risks of claims,
prevention, safety, “hassle”
• -/- Municipalities: overreacting on risks
• -/- Civic initiatives: dealing with complex legal
world (knowledge, language, forms, arguments)
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14. Scheme on risks civic initiatives
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15. Basic results 4
• Municipalities w.r.t. civic initiatives & DIY
– Liability is NO RESTRICTION
– Ownership is fact, important to manage risks
• Civic initiatives & DIY
– Liability is NO RESTRICTION
– With proper knowledge, risks are managed
– Without such knowledge, no action on liability
– Dealing with legal issues is RESTRICTION
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16. Example Utrecht
• Urban Gardening on
temporary base
• Citizens: let’s grow
tomatoes. Utrecht:
let’s make a deal first
• Complex contract not
signed by citizens
• Utrecht tolerates DIY
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17. Refining results 1
• Municipalities: make it more simple
– One administrative policy w.r.t. civic initiatives
– Proper communication on legal issues
– Dare to choose on legal tools
– More objective risk assessment
– Avoid complex contracts and permits
– Enhancement via online information & social media
– Local insurance for civic initiatives
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18. Refining results 2
• Municipalities: radical experimenting
– Expand tolerance options
– Propose areas without administrative laws
– Introduce new DIY-friendly ordinance to outrank
other local laws in administrative system
• Civic initiatives: DIY on process and legal issues
– Make your own contract (permit, etc.)
– Network for selfhelp on process and legal issues
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19. Example Deventer
• Festival Deventer
op Stelten
• Various permits
• Safety regulations
due to large crowd
• High risk event
• Professional
handling and
organization
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20. Learning issues
• Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations
– Exchange research results among municipalities
– Collect best practices
– Experiments on legal freezones
– Stimulate knowledge exchange on liability
• Municipalities
– Participate in Learning Groups
– Implement tools to make legal issues more simple
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21. Comparing civic initiatives NL with
other countries
• 2 perspectives also in other countries?
• Legal issues like liability NL in other countries?
• Common legal practices which may help DIY NL?
• Insights from DIY NL usefull for other countries?
• Become partner with civic initiatives & liability NL?
• Exchange knowledge between DIY NL and beyond?
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22. More information
• Mark Verhijde | mark.verhijde@gmail.com |
www.markverhijde.nl | +31 652653005 |
• Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations
| http://www.government.nl/ministries/bzk |
Coen Boot | Coen.Boot@minbzk.nl |
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