Nimby

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Nimby is an English-language acronym for Not in my backyard ("Not in my backyard", "Not in my area"). The corresponding German expression is Sankt-Florians-Prinzip .

Motorists demand traffic noise protection in front of their own front door

It stands for an ethical and political position that is careful not to endure problems in the immediate vicinity. Sometimes this term is also used in an individualizing (someone who takes the Nimby position is a Nimby ) or systematising way (the Nimby regime as a form of rule in which the Nimby position of the groups in power is enforced). The term first appeared around 1980.

Since 2010, Nimby behavior has been associated or even equated with the concept of angry citizens , when citizen protests are primarily local.

Details

The Nimby approach is particularly promoted in discussions about the settlement of marginalized and discriminated groups ( homeless , refugees ), but also about the construction of industrial sites, garbage dumps , storage of radioactive waste , cell phone masts , housing construction, etc. In some cases, social or ecological arguments are also used.

Effects from Nimby are e.g. B. a nimby lobbying of groups that want to protect their property or economic interests (homeowners, business owners, those involved in tourism , etc.). Also, the export of waste , the formation of ethnic ghettos or the creation of large, remote refugee facilities due to this attitude.

The term , which originated in the USA, particularly refers to the mindset of people who use the advantages of modern technology but do not want to accept any disadvantages in their own environment ( see free rider problem ). Nimbys try to pass these disadvantages on to other members of society, which they also manage if they can make themselves heard strongly enough ( St. Florian's policy ). The result is concentrations of polluting industries and other emissions in economically weaker, sparsely populated residential areas. In Europe , this movement can be observed in the problem of radioactive waste management , and more recently in the controversy surrounding the distribution of aircraft noise . Various European surveys on the construction of wind farms for the use of wind energy show that the NIMBY effect by no means occurs automatically .

Acceptance of renewable energy systems

According to a representative survey by TNS Infratest from 2014, 92 percent of German citizens consider the increased expansion of renewable energies to be at least “important” or even “very or extremely important”. Around 65 percent of citizens also find green power plants in their neighborhood “very good” or “good”. Contrary to what the Nimby phenomenon would suggest, approval increases if the respondents have already had experience with wind turbines or solar parks in their immediate vicinity: the approval values ​​for solar parks in the immediate vicinity are 72% (with previous experience: 83%) , for wind energy plants 61% (with previous experience: 74%), for biomass plants 39% (with previous experience: 49%).

In comparison, the acceptance values ​​of traditional energy sources are low. The acceptance of gas-fired power plants in the immediate vicinity is 27% (with previous experience: 35%), coal-fired power plants 11% (38%), nuclear power plants 5% (9%), although of course the renewable energy systems have a lower output per building and accordingly more structures have to be built.

The increasing share of renewable energies in the power supply poses new challenges for the existing infrastructure. With more wind and solar power, new power lines are necessary. An article published in the Tagesspiegel deals with the problems of network expansion and addresses the long duration of planning approval procedures, a lack of investments and public protests. However, citizens could also be the key to success if the concept of the “citizens' network” prevailed. The idea behind it: As in the past with many wind farms, local residents and communities could also participate in the power grid and then benefit from the returns on their investments. Such a model is practiced in Schleswig-Holstein, for example.

Related acronyms

In addition to NIMBY, a number of not entirely serious abbreviations have emerged to describe the resistance phenomenon, for example:

For residents and activists:

  • LULU - Locally unpopular land use
  • PITBY - Put it in their back yard - Build it in their back yard
  • NIMFYE - Not in my front yard either - Not even on my doorstep
  • NIMFOS - Not in my field of sight - Not in my field of sight
  • QUIMBY - Quit urbanizing in my back yard - Stop the urbanization in my area
  • GOOMBA - Get out of my business area - Get out of my area
  • GOMER - Get out (of) my emergency room

With politicians:

  • NIMD - Not in my district - Not in my district / constituency
  • NIMTOO - Not in my term of office - Not during my term of office
  • NIMEY - Not in my election year
  • WIIFM - What's in it for me? - What's in it for me?

Designation of general resistance:

  • NOPE - Not on planet earth - Not on this planet
  • NIABY - Not in anybody's back yard - Nowhere in any area
  • BANANA - Build absolutely nothing anywhere near anybody - Don't build anything anywhere near anyone
  • CAVE - Citizens against virtually everything

literature

  • Felix Butzlaff , Christoph Hoeft, Julia Kopp: “We won't let everything be done to us anymore!” Citizen protests in and around public space, infrastructure and urban development. In: Franz Walter u. a .: The new power of the citizens: What motivates the protest movements? Reinbek 2013, pp. 48–93.
  • Gilbert Garcia: The NIMBY psychology. ( Memento of September 17, 2002 in the Internet Archive ) Santa Barbara 2000, Oct. 12.
  • Herbert Owner: Slaying the NIMBY dragon. Transaction: New Brunswick, NJ / London 1998
  • Stine Marg , Christoph Hermann, Verena Hambauer, Ana Belle Becké: “If you want to do something for nature, don't put any masts there” Citizens protests against building projects in the course of the energy transition. Franz Walter u. a., The new power of citizens: What motivates the protest movements? Reinbek 2013, pp. 94-138.
  • Gregory E. McAvoy: Controlling technology: Citizen rationality and the NIMBY syndrome. Georgetown University Press, Washington 1999
  • Saint, P. Michael, Robert J. Flavell, Patrick F. Fox: NIMBY wars: the politics of land use. Saint University Press, Hingham, Mass. 2009
  • Rainer Stempkowski, Hans Georg Jodl, Andreas Kovar: Project marketing in construction. Strategic environment management for the realization of construction projects. Manz, Vienna 2003
  • Ric. Stephens: From NIMBYs to DUDEs: The wacky world of Plannerese. Opinion editorial. Planetizen, 2005, July 25 http://www.planetizen.com/node/152
  • Michael C. Thomsett: NIMBYism: Navigating the politics of local opposition. CenterLine: Arlington 2004

See also

Remarks

  1. NIMBY , One-Word-A-Day
  2. Barbara Dribbusch: debate: The “Nimby”, that's us . In: The daily newspaper: taz . June 13, 2019, ISSN  0931-9085 , p. 12 ( taz.de [accessed on June 13, 2019]).
  3. z. B. FORSA survey of consumer interests in the energy transition. Results of a representative survey on behalf of the Federation of German Consumer Organizations, 8/2013
  4. Agency for Renewable Energies eV: 92 percent of Germans want the expansion of renewable energies , 2014.
  5. Harald Schumann: Network expansion: Long lines Tagesspiegel April 17, 2012

Web links

Commons : Nimby  - collection of images, videos and audio files