Into the fog? Stakeholder input in participatory impact assessment

Abstract

A new development in the more formal and the informal procedures for assessment and project appraisal in the West is the renewed attention paid to citizen participation. The bottleneck in many of these participatory processes is the convergence and selection of the variety of stakeholder inputs (that is, values, interests, suggestions, criteria and opinions) that often lead to results not (wholly) recognisable to participants. The production of a spatial plan in the municipality of De Bilt, the Netherlands, is discussed, to illustrate and analyse the elements that determine the survival of stakeholder input in impact assessment and project appraisal in participatory public policy-making.