Collaboration
Working together around one place
How residents, professionals, researchers and public bodies could work on the questions of one place, with RRL as their shared record.
Discuss your idea- Model
- Quadruple helix: four groups around one place
- Updated
- Nov 5, 2026
A pilot still to be agreed
The platform and EDU learning drafts provide a starting point. The partnerships, funding and municipal pilot described here have not been agreed.
What does not exist yetFour parties around one place
Four groups connect local experience, practical work, research and public decisions around one place. This model of collaboration is called the quadruple helix.
Community and society
- Contributes
- Local knowledge and everyday care.
- Taking part means
- Sharing questions and recording experiences.
- Gains
- Clear steps and an overview of your project.
Local economy and craftsmanship
- Contributes
- Design, execution and technical knowledge.
- Taking part means
- Agreeing work, costs and responsibilities.
- Gains
- Useful project information and clear commissions.
Education and research
- Contributes
- Practical knowledge, learning material and independent evaluation.
- Taking part means
- Reviewing explanations, testing use and returning findings to participants.
- Gains
- Real learning questions and explicitly shared source material.
Governments and public services
- Contributes
- Public interests, conditions and decisions.
- Taking part means
- A contact person and clarity on responsibilities.
- Gains
- Substantiated files and traceable information.
Who could contribute?
The four groups include the parties below. A role in this list does not mean participation in a pilot.
Community and society
- Residents, future residents and neighbours
- Landowners and other rights holders
- Initiators and cooperative members
- Associations and volunteers
- Civil society and nature organisations
- Culture and heritage groups
Local economy and craftsmanship
- Suppliers, producers and farmers
- Builders, makers and craftspeople
- Architects, engineers and advisers
- Installers and maintenance firms
- Local entrepreneurs and service providers
- Cooperative businesses and financiers
Education and research
- Schools and vocational training
- Colleges and universities
- Research institutes and living labs
- Teachers, trainers and mentors
- Students, interns and doctoral candidates
- Researchers and independent experts
Governments and public services
- Municipalities and local authorities
- Regions and area organisations
- Spatial planning and permits
- Nature, water and environment services
- Public land and property managers
- Public funds and development agencies
An example: keeping rainwater on the land
In each step below, one party does its part.
Example, not an existing project
- ResidentA resident notices that rainwater runs off the land quickly.
- ResearcherA researcher helps choose a measuring method that residents can use themselves.
- ProfessionalA professional investigates a suitable measure and the conditions for carrying it out.
- MunicipalityThe municipality assesses what falls within its competence.
- ResidentsResidents record what was carried out and what they observe afterwards.
RRL keeps the whole line traceable, including the uncertainty and the outcomes that disappoint.
Participants can choose which knowledge to share with another project, retaining sources, context and uncertainty.
A pilot around one concrete question
Choose a land question, learning activity or knowledge-transfer task that participants can test. Agree scope, time and support before starting.
Meet
Discuss the place, the questions and who wants to take part.
Agree the approach
Record roles, rights to source material, data access, effort, budget and learning questions.
Record the starting point
Gather sources and choose feasible measurements. Missing information stays visible.
Try and follow
Try the activity and record actions, observations, time, costs and corrections, including disappointing results.
Evaluate together
Compare all four perspectives. Decide whether to adjust, continue or close.
Existing tools, a new phase of validation
RRL can provide the project and learning environment. A funding proposal would cover agreed new work: participation, source preparation, editorial and subject review, accessible lessons and effect measurement. Applicant, partners and current funding conditions still need to be established.
Test whether participants understand more, need less assistance and produce useful information. Ecological effects require suitable baseline measurements and longer follow-up.
Influence for all four
Collaboration only works if all four parties have influence over the questions and over what counts as success.
Each party evaluates the collaboration from its own role. Differences in judgement remain visible.
- Residents and neighbours help decide which effects matter locally.
- Researchers can question methods and conclusions.
- Public and commercial interests are made visible.
- Participants agree who decides, how feedback is returned and what happens to care and data after the pilot.
What exists and what still needs organising
What does not exist yet
- An agreed municipal pilot or standing partnership between the four groups.
- The proposed pilot recording local practitioners and turning their demonstrations into reviewed lessons.
- Measured evidence that RRL reduces total effort or causes ecological improvement.
- Confirmed funding or partner commitments for the work proposed here.
What exists already
- Project records that bring plans, sources, finances, assessments and open questions together.
- RRL EDU: learning drafts on productive and edible forests, with explanations, exercises and optional field practice. Specialist review remains pending.
- Methods and learning material with sources, authorship and version information; selected knowledge can be shared through explicit choices and access controls.
- Records of actions and observations over time, with their starting situation and intended changes.
These tools support joint work. A pilot must establish who benefits, what it costs and what changes in practice.
The municipal pilot proposal supports that conversation. It is an English discussion document, not adopted policy. Land care, water, fire prevention and knowledge transfer can be topics for a policy discussion; they establish no public mandate, funding entitlement or permission. Authorities retain their own decisions.
Pass local knowledge on
A proposed pilot would invite experienced rural residents to demonstrate a practice. Their voice, language, season and local conditions would stay with the lesson. Contributors and editors would check the material before learners try an appropriate activity and return with questions. Recordings, consent, rights and participation still need to be agreed.
Proposed recordings and learning material; the pilot has not been carried out.
Discuss your idea for collaboration
Bring one concrete question, a place or a body of knowledge. Describe the people you can involve and whether you can contribute practice, review, research or funding.
To try RRL with a place of your own: under Betrokken blijven (whitepaper, in Dutch), choose Mogelijk pilotpartner worden (possible pilot partner).