dr. V (Vivian) Visser

Biography

Vivian Visser is assistant professor of Governance & Pluralism at the department of Public Administration and Sociology.  

She is currently involved in the Vital Cities and Citizens funded research project "One size doesn't fit all". To reduce social inequalities in participation, this project researches how public professionals can tailor citizen participation approaches by taking into account differences in citizens’ social, economic and cultural capital. The research focusses on two neighbourhoods in Rotterdam that experiment with innovation in neighbourhood participation and governance.  The project combines design-oriented methods with an action research approach, involving in-depth understanding of the perspectives of hard-to-reach groups, fostering innovative, out-of-the-box theorizing, practical applicability and societal impact. Crucially, instead of focusing on how citizens could adapt to extant institutional contexts, the project aims to develop tools for public professionals to tailor participation approaches to citizens.

Vivian's research interests include the changing relation between governments and citizens. She is particularly interested in the role that status differences between citizens play in participation processes. 

For her disseration, she conducted a mixed-method study  on governments’ and citizens’ perspectives on invitational governance; a governance style explicitly aimed at stimulating citizens' initiatives. 

Vivian coordinates the Kenniswerkplaats Leefbare Wijken, Govlab010 and the master Polarisatie, Democratie en Samenleving.