How do you take residents of vulnerable neighbourhoods along in the energy transition, without leaving them worse off? At the closing symposium of Just Prepare, a housing corporation, two municipalities and a residents' initiative shared their lessons from practice. The common thread: local coalitions, based in the specific neighbourhoods.
On 28 October 2026, the NWO-funded research project Just Prepare, which worked with Living Labs across the Netherlands on a fair, resident-centred energy transition, concluded with a symposium in Eindhoven. Project leader Imrat Verhoeven moderated the closing panel with Else Ferf Jentink (Lieven de Key, Amsterdam), Annoesjka Nienhuis (City of Amsterdam and Energie Lab Zuidoost), Anne-Marie Verheijen (City of Rotterdam) and Carla Onderdelinden (Wijkmakerij, Nijmegen).
The hardest part isn't the technology
On paper, taking the K-towers in Amsterdam Zuidoost off gas was a technical job: build a heat network, insulate the homes. In practice, a maze of rules threatened to push residents into trouble. They had to cancel their gas contract and sign up for heat themselves, while keeping their electricity contract. Anyone who got this wrong or missed a deadline risked extra costs or early-termination fees. In a neighbourhood of some 180 nationalities, where many households already struggle to make ends meet, Else Ferf Jentink, project developer at housing corporation Lieven de Key, saw the risks of this system-centred approach. Together with Just Prepare researchers, she brought the municipality, tenant advice organisation !WOON and the neighbourhood team to one table, and a joint project team took the process in hand.
“We didn't hand out leaflets. We stood in the lobby with the residents' committee and Vattenfall, where everyone had to pass. I live in the neighbourhood myself; I know these people. And we went beyond explaining. An agency went door to door to help residents cancel their gas contracts, Vattenfall helped them sign up, and if a fine came anyway, the municipality paid it. Afterwards, everyone got a call on behalf of the municipality: have you received your final bill, is there anything else we can help with?”
Else Ferf Jentink, Lieven de Key
Direct lines through a knowledge infrastructure
That Else found the right people so quickly was no coincidence. She knew the researchers through Energie Lab Zuidoost, a network of government, housing corporations, knowledge institutions (including AMS Institute) and local partners, which Annoesjka Nienhuis co-founded.
“The biggest sustainability challenge isn't in new construction but in existing buildings, and it's our job as a municipality to protect vulnerable residents there. If you tackle one issue at a time, you won't solve the complex problems of the energy transition. That's why building a knowledge infrastructure in the neighbourhood matters so much: it gives you direct lines. This question came up in our community of practice with housing corporations in Zuidoost, which Else is part of. We immediately connected her with the right researchers, to pin down the problem and help think through solutions.”
Annoesjka Nienhuis, City of Amsterdam
Agreements up front, an eye for people
In Rotterdam's Bospolder-Tussendijken, one of the poorest neighbourhoods in the Netherlands, part of the area is now gas-free, and here too direct lines proved essential. With a broad mandate and direct contact with municipal departments, the alderman, the housing corporation and the heat company, programme manager Anne-Marie Verheijen could get ahead of problems like those at the K-towers.
“At first, there was quite some distrust between the municipality, the heat company and the housing corporation. We're used to everyone doing their own thing, but now we had to reach that point on the horizon together. So we first set out clear agreements in an area agreement. Then we were in the neighbourhood every day, with walk-in hours and many kitchen-table conversations. Because you can't knock on someone's door asking: do you want to go gas-free? You have to see the person whose home you're entering, especially in a neighbourhood with poverty, loneliness and debt.”
Anne-Marie Verheijen, City of Rotterdam
Partners kept acting after listening. When residents didn't understand their new energy bill, Eneco came back to explain. Local organisations served as vital bridges between residents and institutions: the Verbindingskamer followed up on every concern raised, and multilingual "language and environment coaches" from the neighbourhood installed energy-saving products in 1,300 homes.
Residents as experts
In Nijmegen-Dukenburg, Carla Onderdelinden started the Wijkmakerij, a residents' alliance, in 2023: residents gathered dreams and ideas for their neighbourhood and set out to realise them together. In a 1970s neighbourhood, fixing energy alone doesn't work: insulating while ignoring damp or outdated wiring solves little. Residents' needs are integrated, and so is their strength.
“See residents as experts too: there's talent, professional knowledge, even money if we pool it. If residents invested one or two percent of their energy spending in their own neighbourhood, you'd quickly be talking serious sums. But you don't build a network just by having coffee together. You build it by working on something together. And once it's in place, you can move very fast.”
Carla Onderdelinden, Wijkmakerij Dukenburg
From one-off to resilient system
What does a coalition need once it exists? Above all, staying power. In Nijmegen, residents, the municipality and local organisations are drafting a manifesto to continue the impact coalition formed during Just Prepare, so that residents are no longer the only ones pulling.
“Alongside a knowledge infrastructure, we need a financial and a capacity infrastructure. We know what needs to happen, so let's do it, and make sure the money flows to implementation. New projects should build on what's already in the neighbourhood. You don't want a lone tree that bears apples for a year and then withers away, but a resilient, future-proof system in which everything feeds into everything else.”
Carla Onderdelinden, Wijkmakerij Dukenburg
Learn more: the Just Prepare guides
The panel offered just a glimpse of what Just Prepare has delivered. The project translated its Living Lab lessons into a series of practical guides for residents, professionals and organisations, searchable by role. Most are in Dutch.
Recognise the K-towers story? The standard resident doesn't exist explores how housing corporations can speed up renovations while doing justice to residents' diverse needs, and Recognition in the energy transition explains why residents' questions sometimes get stuck. Building a coalition like Rotterdam's? Governance arrangements for district heating collaboration helps tailor how partners work together, while Professionals connecting the social and the technicalhelps break through silos.
Want to put residents in the driver's seat, as in Dukenburg? The Energy justice toolkit, the Probe kit and the From home to neighbourhood workshop offer hands-on formats for gathering residents' ideas and solutions. That way, each new project grows not as a lone tree, but as part of the system.
