Rethinking Co-Creation of Digital and Environmental Policy in Systems of Multilevel Governance
Rethinking Co-creation of Digital and Environmental Policy in Systems of Multilevel Governance (RECODE MLG) is a proposal for Horizon Europe on Multilevel governance in times of Digital and Climate Transitions. The RECODE overarching goal is to promote a just, inclusive and democratic transition to a sustainable and digital future by showing how this ‘twin transition’ can be governed effectively within the EU multilevel governance (MLG) system. The project investigates co-creation as a process that can precisely achieve this objective, by proactively involving multiple actors – including policymakers, stakeholders, citizens and volunteers – in a collaborative endeavour, to identify both problems and solutions related to the twin transition. RECODE MLG brings together leading experts on MLG, sustainability politics, digitalisation, co-creation, democratic theory and deliberative innovation with civil society, industry stakeholders and policymaking representatives. It assesses governance structures at three critical sites of twin transition and designs and implements four co-creation labs in order to advance state-of-the-art and produce policy recommendations and a practical ‘tool-kit’ to support inclusive policymaking on twin transition in MLG
The overarching goal of RECODE MLG is to promote a just, inclusive and democratic twin transition, by advancing actionable knowledge of co-creation to help policymakers at all levels develop and implement effective, legitimate and better informed policy within the MLG system of the EU. By bringing together the very latest research on these two concepts, and experimenting with co-creation labs, our project will construct a conceptual model of MLG-co-creation that goes beyond the state-of-the-art and which will provide a practical co-creation manual along with specific and scientifically tested policy recommendations and a documentary film to guide the participation of citizens and stakeholders to move towards climate neutral digitalized societies.
RECODE MLG will achieve its overarching goal by means of three specific objectives:
A. ASSESSMENT of the MLG of the twin transition by examining six cases at critical sites to generate scientific and practical insights;
B. INNOVATION of scientific models and practice of co-creation through four ‘co-creation labs’ to identify pathways and challenges for MLG co-creation;
C. GENERATION of a set of policy recommendations, a practical co-creation manual and a documentary film, (translated into relevant languages) to support legitimate and effective governance of a just, inclusive and democratic twin transition.
WP1 Project Management
WP2 Conceptual Developments
WP3 City Networks for Twin Transition
WP4 Rural and (Peri-)Urban environments for Twin Transition
WP5 Cross-Border Regions for Twin Transition
WP6 Integrating Insights for Co-Creation
WP7 Experimentation with Co-Creation Labs
WP8 Communication, Dissemination, and Exploitation
Our prestigious advisory board will provide independent scrutiny, scientific advice and peer review for the project. It is composed of renowned experts from a wide range of relevant academic fields, the public sector, industry and civil society. Members will be invited to attend the events over the course of the project (in particular the kick-off event in Amsterdam and the mid-project event in Kristiansand). The Advisory Board is composed of the following seven personalities:
Éva Bördős is currently the director of DemNet, the foundation for the Development of Democratic Rights, one of the largest and oldest development NGOs in Hungary that organised the Climate Citizens’ Assembly in Budapest. She is also a member of the board of the Hungarian Association of NGOs for Development and Humanitarian Aid (HAND), and is actively involved in numerous pan-European networks, such as CONCORD (European Confederation of Relief and Development NGOs) and Eurodad (European Network on Debt and Development).
Helene Falch Fladmark manages the industrial cooperation Eyde cluster, the Norwegian Centre of Expertise (NCE) for Sustainable Process Industry, working for the transition towards a sustainable future, with members ranging from MNCs to regional suppliers along with education and research institutes. Helene holds many public board positions and is a city council representative for Arendal municipality, in Agder.
Liesbet Hooghe is the W.R Kenan Distinguished Professor of Political Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Research Professor at the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies, European University Institute, Florence. Her research and teaching are chiefly on comparative politics, multilevel governance, international organization, political behaviour, and measurement. In 2024, jointly with Gary Marks, she received an Honorary Doctorate of Maastricht University for their work on multilevel governance.
Justus Schönlau is a political advisor at Committee of the Regions (CoR). Based in Brussels, Dr. Schönlau has published extensively on the role of the CoR, which gives regions and cities a formal say in EU law-making, ensuring that the position and needs of regional and local authorities are respected. Dr. Schönlau is advising the project in a personal capacity and not on behalf of the CoR.
Eva Sørensen is professor in Public Administration and Democracy at the Department of Social Science and Business at Roskilde University, Denmark. She is an expert on policy innovation, citizen involvement, co-creation and changing role perceptions among citizens, professionals, politicians and public administrators.
Jacob Torfing is professor in Politics and Institutions and research director of the Roskilde School of Governance, Denmark. He is part of numerous research projects on the co-creation of innovative solutions to complex societal problems and the impact of leadership and institutional design on cross-boundary collaboration.
Kristine Kern (†) 1959 – 2025 was an internationally renowned professor who sadly passed away in February. Her most recent positions were at the Governance of Urban Infrastructure and Global Change at the University of Potsdam, the Leibniz institute for Research on Society and Space, and Åbo Akademi University in Turku. Her research made a huge contribution to our understanding of local and regional energy governance, climate politics, the sustainable development of cities and regions and the scaling of local experiments. We were very honoured to have her join our advisory board. She will be missed. Her full obituary can be found at https://leibniz-irs.de/aktuelles
This project has received funding from the European Union’s H2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 101177521.
Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union. The European Union can not be held responsible for them.