In the Netherlands citizens increasingly unite in cooperatives to realize common facilities and services in their neighborhood themselves. Apparently neither markets nor governments succeed in providing all the public goods and services that citizens strive for. Although these forms of self-organization are still young and their success is far from sure, they are seen as sources of social innovation and new ways of organizing that inspire many. Their example is followed widely: cooperatives seem to be rapidly emerging almost everywhere. Yet not much systemic knowledge is available on their nature, drivers, and impacts, nor on the conditions under which they flourish. In this special issue the state of the art regarding these cooperatives is examined in the areas of energy, care, broadband connections and housing. The various contributions show that the main challenge that cooperatives have to deal with is finding the balance between the ambition to preserve their identity as grass root organizations and the need for professionalization. Also they have to learn to build and maintain relationships with other organizations and actors in their environment on which they are dependent: governments, private parties and professionals.

There is a growing interest for cooperatives in housing. Recently a new housing law was signed that stimulates the rise and creation of citizen cooperatives in this sector. It is argued that in this way people, especially in the low- and middle-income category, get more opportunities to influence their own living situation. Some housing cooperatives have existed for years, but recently we have seen the rise of dozens of cooperatives. The knowledge network Platform31 has initiated an experimental program to facilitate the implementation of cooperatives in housing in the Netherlands. An important condition is that the cooperatives need to develop a strong business case. Cooperation with established housing corporations in the sector is also of vital importance. Moreover, a helping hand from municipalities is needed and some local governments have already developed policies and undertaken actions. Yet there are still bottlenecks in policy and law that needs to be solved. A paradigm shift is needed to make cooperatives in housing feasible.

Governance networks are characterized by complex interaction and decision making, and much uncertainty. Surprisingly, there is very little research on the impact of trust in achieving results in governance networks. This article asks two questions: (a) Does trust influence the outcomes of environmental projects? and (b) Does active network management improve the level of trust in networks? The study is based on a web-based survey of respondents involved in environmental projects. The results indicate that trust does matter for perceived outcomes and that network management strategies enhance the level of trust.

Evaluatiestudies zijn in het openbaar bestuur aan de orde van de dag. Ze zijn er in alle soorten en maten. Recent wordt nagedacht over ‘lerende’ evaluaties: evaluatiestudies waarbij de nadruk niet zozeer wordt gelegd op het inventariseren van successen en mislukkingen, maar waarbij het vooral gaat om het gezamenlijk door evaluatoren en geëvalueerde te komen tot verbeteringen van het betreffende project. Beoordelen is een element van deze evaluatie, maar daarnaast gaat het er vooral ook om een leerproces te organiseren. Deze evaluatiemethode stelt uiteenlopende eisen aan evaluatoren en genereert veel rolconflicten voor hen. Genoeg reden om bij dit fenomeen stil te staan. Dit artikel wil in de eerste plaats licht werpen op de plaats van de lerende evaluatie te midden van de stortvloed aan wetenschappelijk onderzoek naar evaluatiestudies. Aan de hand van een analyse van een door onszelf uitgevoerd lerend evaluatieproject komen wij tot een nadere plaatsbepaling van de lerende evaluatie. Onze ervaringen kunnen de theorievorming rond de lerende evaluatie, maar ook de praktijk van dergelijke evaluatiestudies verder brengen.