Population decline, welfare state reforms and austerity measures pressurise the liveability of rural areas in the Netherlands and call upon local governments and communities to adapt and renew their mode of governance. This paper reports on three Dutch experimental governance arrangements which are analysed through the lens of Evolutionary Governance Theory. The study focuses on how decision-making roles change while these arrangements unfold and how the three municipalities institutionalise these changes in the course of time. The study produces three main conclusions. First, the readiness and preparedness of local governments to shift decisionmaking roles with citizens proved to be of main influence on governance change. Second, local residents' commitment importantly affected the progress of the experiments, while social cohesion and tangible outputs strongly influenced the extent and continuity of such commitment. Third, although the arrangements took place in the same period of time and abovementioned context, the level of institutionalisation of shifting roles between government and residents differed among the cases. Certain pathways of evolving decision-making roles seem to be more stable than others. It is in this area that the extent of both formal and informal institutionalisation seems to play an important role.

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In this article, we use Kooiman’s theory of governance in combination with key‐conditions of community self‐steering identified in recent studies to examine how the self‐steering capacity developed of a community initiative aiming at improving the liveability of a small Dutch village. Using non‐participatory observations and qualitative analysis, we obtained in‐depth insights into how this initiative, ‘Project Ulrum 2034’ managed to build local autonomy from 2010 to 2018. We found that government support was crucial for many of its successes. Also, tensions came to light between 1. local autonomy, and its dependence on professional support, and; 2. broader community engagement, and accountability related to the public funding obtained leading to the formalisation of its organisation and the centralisation of tasks. We discovered that self‐steering capacities fluctuate in time, are dynamic and develop in a non‐linear way. The voluntary engagement was above all temporary, except for some activities when of direct interest to those involved. The continuity of community self‐governance was fragile, due to its dependency on external funding and voluntary engagement.

In the pursuit of the communicative, collaborative and participatory planning processes advocated by academic planning literature, a practice has evolved that translates abstract objectives into practical workforms. Planning literature proposes many objectives that can be met by less top-down methods of generating ideas and making decisions. Little is known about how such objectives are translated into practical methods applied. This paper presents an inventory of practices that is meant to validate and supplement available theories on communicative planning. It concentrates on a specific part of the planning process: the moment where optional solutions to a problem are being generated, not by each stakeholder in isolation, but specifically by groups of stakeholders in constructive designerly interaction with each other. We interviewed 11 experienced professionals from the Netherlands who use interactive design sessions on a regular basis. This paper reports on their responses to questions about skills needed by session leaders, what types of venues are best to use, how to behave during sessions, requirements for participants to contribute, roles of governments and what explains the eventual effects of session outcomes. Although every session still needs to be tailor-made, based on practical wisdom and sensitivity to context, this study reveals recurring hands-on principles for organizing an effective dialogue for exploring solution space.

In the context of public budget cuts and rural areas facing depopulation and aging, local governments increasingly encourage citizen engagement in addressing local livability issues. This paper examines the non‐engagement of mid‐aged and elderly residents (45+ years old) in civic initiatives that intend to improve the livability of their community. We focus on residents of depopulating rural areas in the North Netherlands. We compare their engagement with the behavior of residents in other, not depopulating, rural areas, and urban areas. Using logistic statistical analyses, we found that the majority of the aging residents did not engage in civic livability initiatives during the past two years, and one‐third of this group had no intention to do so in the future. In all areas, the main reasons for non‐engagement were that residents had other priorities, felt not capable of engaging, or felt that the responsibility for local livability belonged to the local government. Furthermore, it appeared that non‐engagement was predominantly explained by the unwillingness to engage, rather than by specific motivations or lacking abilities.