Takeaways on citizen participation in Pantelleria

General summary

In this blogpost we share our takeaways on citizen participation in Pantelleria. Over a whole week, between last 16th and 21st of September, the local community of Pantelleria was invited to join our workshop sessions on wind energy. The main objective was to test our interactive tools for collective and informed decision making and let attendants experience firsthand the project tools’ prototypes: the innovative 3D VR simulation, the WIMBY interactive platform and the discussion forum.

Two workshop sessions per day were planned over five days, and specific target groups were involved thanks to the priceless support of the team from Politecnico di Torino:

16-17th September in Scauri

Representatives from the aviation and “Areonautica militare”
Rangers of the National Park in Pantelleria
Representatives from hotels and tourism sector

17-18th September in Tracino

Representatives from youth associations and artcrafts associations
Representatives from the local news and media

19th September in Pantelleria | introductory session at the Municipality venue “Castello” and interactive sessions at the “Istituto Almanza”

Secondary school students
Government and MASE representatives (Ministero dell’Ambiente e della Transizione Energetica)

Giuseppe Giorgi presents the project WIMBY to the MASE delegation in Pantelleria “Castello”

During all afternoon sessions, especially during the third and fourth day in Tracino, we opened doors to the local communities and random visitors. In such sessions the workshop was structured as a more flexible activity, ensuring participants could choose wether to complete or not questionnaires after the simulations.

Overall, more than 100 citizens attended the ten workshop sessions.

Structure of the workshop sessions

While a part of the team composed by BOKU Wien, Politecnico di Torino and Deep Blue focused on showcasing the WIMBY tools, other partners collected citizens’ opinions through several additional initiatives:

Leanda Vedder, a Phd student from the University Utrecht, distributed tablets where a mental mapping activity allowed participant visualise their own evaluation of the diverse impacts of wind energy in a graphic map format.
River Huang from Paul Scherrer Institut collected surveys on the streets, supported by members of the POLITO Team for the Italian live translation.
Jens Lowitsch and Federico Narracci from the Kelso Institute Europe collected interviews planned with participants and other people residing on the island, with strong opinions -pro and against- over wind energy.

Jens Lowitsch interviews a naturalistic guide from Parco Nazionale di Pantelleria

Depending on the location and on the expected attendance, the team adapted the daily Agenda to accommodate needs. In Scauri the sessions started with the mental mapping activity organised by Leanda Vedder (University Utrecht), followed by a short interactive map demo presented by Rebecca Hueting (Deep Blue) and finally running 3D simulations organised by the BOKU team composed by Thomas Schauppenlehner, Christian Mikovits, and Karl Bittner. In Tracino the 3D simulations were left open for visitors to attend, and questionnaires, interviews and mental mapping activities took place afterwards in a more informal setting. During all sessions, Oronzo dall’Edera from the Politecnico di Torino took notes on the main comments and opinions from participants, while Giuseppe Giorgi and Claudio Moscoloni distributed questionnaire folders, including coloured labels for anonymisation.

Leanda Vedder running the mental map activity in Scauri

The 3D immersive simulation allowed participants to explore wind farm planning through “gamified” sessions, visualising virtual turbines in a known – despite digitalised – environment: the whole island of Pantelleria was modeled with a fine-grained elevation fidelity, including local flora and fauna, and traditional built environment (dammusi and muretti a secco, part of the tangible and untangible Unesco heritage).

Evaluate potential go/no-go zones for wind farm installations while considering environmental, societal, and economic impacts.
Develop a conceptual plan for the size and locations of wind turbines that suit Pantelleria.
Explore strategies for achieving energy autonomy on the island through the use of renewable energy.
Foster dialogue and collaboration among stakeholders to support the decarbonisation of Pantelleria island, an amazing Mediterranean jewel, far from the national grid and close to a never-ending wind energy potential.

The WIMBY platform, composed of the interactive map and the general forum was showcased through large screens. During workshop sessions, participants could watch a complete simulation tutorial, receive information and ask questions directly to Rebecca Hueting from Deep Blue, Giuseppe Giorgi and Claudio Moscoloni from Politecnico di Torino. The platform, developed by Nazka mapps and mainly led by Lien Bakelants, was developed starting from end users needs and requirements (read our previous article). Its main objective is that of delivering clear overviews of the cumulative impacts of wind installations and facilitate the identification of future areas of deployment (local, regional, national and European level). As an ancillary app, a general discussion forum is currently prototyped by Deep Blue’s tech team, to ensure stakeholders and local communities can exchange information, ideas and inputs to facilitate the collaborative evaluation of existing or future wind parks and their impacts.

Rebecca Hueting showcasing the interactive map demo in Scauri

Conclusions

After the workshop the team gathered to share lessons learnt and ideas to enrich upcoming workshops in the next three pilot sites, starting with Styria in November 2024. Quoting the words from our scientific coordinator, Luis Ramirez Camargo:

“This was the first time we presented all the tools developed in WIMBY, and we had been planning the workshops for months. Although we needed to make adjustments on-site, the remarkable commitment from all the teams led to a highly successful workshop week. I witnessed numerous ‘aha’ moments, heated debates with wind power detractors, and mental models activity have been more complex than we could have anticipated. Some of the interviews lasted over an hour and a half! Notably, several members of the Italian Ministry for the Energy Transition MASE requested us to bring these activities to high-level policymakers, to ensure that our tools become available to all decision-makers at different levels in Europe. How did citizens react to our wind-centred collaborative tools? There was a strong willingness to transform the island’s energy system into a fossil-free one, with wind power playing a key role. Nevertheless they all paid careful attention to the protection of the biodiversity and scenicness of their land and sea.”

Next round of workshops will take place in the Austrian region of Styria between 21st and 23rd of October. Two municipalities have been involved in Irdning and Thannegg. Stay tuned for our folliwing updates!