Abstract

Abstract: The great complexity of problems that modern local, regional and national governments are faced with in the current knowledge intensive context of open societies in a globalized world, force these governments to become more creative in designing and implementing effective policy solutions in which creative citizens actively contribute toward the proper functioning of society and societal change. We live in an 'enlightened' era in which societies function as 'knowledge democracies' but without adequate mechanisms to address complex and often far reaching challenges in the field of citizen participation. It is clear that the overall structure and guiding principles and processes of traditional representative democracies offer limited options for active and successful citizen participation. To close the democratic gap in traditional representative structures, many governments have sought participation in top down processes resulting in temporary representational structures for citizen participation. Other initiatives such as deliberative structures focus on participation in decisionmaking processes. The knowledge democracy dominated by the creative class however, does not require top down and incidental, but bottom up and continuous involvement that interplays with the reality of constant change of the knowledge society and the individualism of the creative class. An analysis based on organizational change theory of the top down 'vision/decision making perspective' with the bottom up 'knowledge/participation perspective' shows substantial differences in governance context, structure and process approach, indicating that a transitional change is currently taking place, however not the transformative change that is required in the knowledge democracy. Keywords INTRODUCTION The great complexity of problems that modern local, regional and national governments are faced with in the current knowledge intensive context of open societies in a globalized world, force these governments to become more creative in designing and implementing effective policy solutions in which creative citizens actively contribute toward the proper functioning of society and societal change. We live in an almost paradoxical era in which our societies make the transition towards 'knowledge democracies' but without adequate mechanisms (structures and/or processes) to address complex and often far reaching challenges in the field of citizen participation. In many societies already a degree of discontent among well-educated citizens exists towards the inability of governments 'to allow them their say', resulting in citizens who feel detached. In many ways they experience that everyday problems at the local level are not adequately addressed, while alternative 'bodies of knowledge' are largely disregarded, for lack of adequate planning and decision making mechanisms. Transformation to the knowledge democracy Taking into consideration that the western political era is in a state of transformation from stabile structured and ideologically segmented to individually dispersed and direct, we cannot yet identify or describe an encompassing picture of what the knowledge driven development of our societies will bring in terms of the effective public involvement of citizens. The changes currently taking place towards the knowledge-based society so far indicate that this transformation is characterized by exploration and research across -instead of within-scientific disciplines, by the breaking up of mental borders and by the emotional as well as cognitive forging of new democratic models and matches. In summarizing these phenomena within a broader societal context, we can identify among other things: -Worldwide connectivity -digital technology provides for instant connectivity across organizations, communities and borders, including digital variations of face-to-face contact, facilitating connections based on shared interests and knowledge. This leads to an availability and transparency of information that contributes to a shift of power (based on knowledge) from organizations (including governments) to individuals; -Redefining organizations -an increase of 'free form' organizations; while traditional organizations are seeking ways to adapt to the requirements and motivating factors of 'knowledge workers'; -Increase in and new forms of competition -knowledge is a major competitive factor for businesses as well as cities; knowledge driven (service) sectors have low entry levels; competition takes place on a global scale across borders and continents; -Mass innovation through the wisdom of crowds -increased user-driven and mass innovation take place outside traditional R&D facilities and through collaboration in communities of interest and communities of practice; -Increased participation through borderless communities -people tend to active participation in several digital and or physical communities, using tailor made platforms fitted to their personal value system and variety of interests, instead of being satisfied by broad and general representation through democratic or hierarchic structures. Citizens actively seek participation in several aspects of their life through different platforms, such as consumer behavior (f.e. online consumer reviews and forums), political affiliation, and professional and personal interests; -Cycle of new technologies -rapidly changing technologies and development of new technologies (f.e. nano-technology, 3-D printing), combined with a constant launch of new products and new combinations; We can try to characterize this phase also on a more abstract level by describing the shifts taking place in a conceptual comparison, as shown in table 1. From To MISFIT OF DEMOCRATIC STRUCTURES WITH THE KNOWLEDGE ERA An increasingly important topic arising from the potential 'policy clash' between knowledge and society, is how a country, region or city can and should be governed, for it to effectively deal with the dynamic challenges presented by citizens who are both knowledgeable and connected, as well as demanding of recognition, more specifically of the way they see their society moving in the right or wrong direction. The key question arising from this is how governments can deal with citizen participation, when many and often conflicting views exist with regard to the right solution, for the right problem at the right moment in time. It is gradually becoming clear that the customary structures and guiding principles and processes of traditional representative democracies, offer limited options for active citizen participation in the transformation towards the knowledge democracy. Traditional electoral systems seem not to be entirely satisfactory anymore to deal with the dynamic involvement needs and aspirations of creative citizens. In't Veld (2010, p 3-4) argues that representation has become "gradually the predominant mechanism by which the population at large, through elections, provides a body with a general authorization to take decisions in all public domains for a certain period of time." But he signals that it is apparent that the current political frameworks of our society appear deficient in the knowledge era. This is influenced by factors that are intertwined and take place simultaneously on the micro-, meso-and macrolevel: -Micro -individual values patterns are no longer connected through broad ideological principles; this leads to individualization and the impossibility of being represented in a general way by a single representative in a political setting; -Meso -political parties are not dedicated anymore to developing consistent broad political strategies, but apply marketing techniques by leveraging standpoints on issues, depending on the supposed voters preferences; -Macro -politics has turned into media-politics by trying to maximize the numbers of voters through the "selling" of personalities via mass media, thereby creating a structural and reciprocal dependence between media and politics, leaving room for only short-term agenda's and with the focus on personalities instead of programs, thus destroying the original meaning of representation. On top of that, the representative value of traditional parliamentary democracies can be subdued by political mechanisms, which offer individual representatives in parliament the freedom to change political party after they are elected in parliament, while holding on to their seat in parliament, effectively resulting in a disconnect between the people that elected them and their mandate for representation. This phenomenon of 'floor crossing' or 'party switching' is visible in both Western democracies and emergent democracies in Africa, Asia and the Caribbean. But also the USA and Canada have a documented history on the occurrence of this phenomena. Even in European countries we see a good deal of party switching, including Italy, where almost one-fourth of the members of the lower house, the Chamber of Deputies, switched parties at least once between 1996 and 2001 (Janda, 2009). Scholars hold different opinions about whether crossing the floor poses a threat to democratic systems, or whether it simply contributes to a process of increased democratic maturity over time. But the fact is that the voter is left in uncertainty about the value of his vote for representation when the link between his elected representative and a party affiliation is cut short, since political parties are the structural link between voters and political representatives in parliamentary democracies. Cities, individually as well as in networks, are already claiming a more influential role in many of the world's international forums and organizations Learning for Local Democracy 1 . If we want to solve the problem of the representative democracy in which most citizens do not feel represented anymore by a small number of parliamentarians because their interests are dispersed among many areas of interest, cities are the ideal place where platforms or communities can be formed that meet the needs of citizens and their dispersed interests. In the broader context of the knowledge era it is increasingly recognized that cities can have an identifiable and even 'manageable' human-economic potential, in the form of democratic 'powerhouses' (Amin and 1 In a special edition of the magazine "The Broker" about the role of cities in December 2009, it was outlined that on issues about for instance climate change and sustainability, cities play a leading role. TRANSFORMATIONAL APPROACH TO THE KNOWLEDGE DEMOCRACY The question arises if cities and the many public initiatives that are taken on that level, are on the right track towards citizen participation and in doing so creating a new governance that fits the needs of creative citizens in the knowledge democracy. When considering the context of the knowledge era, it is evident that we are entering a period that is identified by major and very significant dynamic changes in our societies and economic landscape. These impacting dynamics require clear leadership and direction towards fundamental new governance. "Transformation is what happens when people see the world through a new lens of knowledge and are able to create an infrastructure, never before envisioned, to the future. Transformation is motivated by survival, by the realization that everything needs to change or the organization will die; that a significant breakthrough in mindset is needed in order to pursue new opportunities."