Policy narratives and megaprojects: the case of the Lyon-Turin high-speed railway

Abstract

This article investigates how policy narratives developed by proponents and opponents of infrastructure megaprojects generate controversies that affect the megaproject implementation. Drawing evidence from the Lyon-Turin high-speed railway, we argue that megaproject implementation is a complex public management endeavour which can hardly be considered a rational, straightforward process. It is rather a non-linear process involving stakeholders with divergent interests and logics of action engaging in a battle over competing narratives to influence implementation outcomes. Institutional settings opened to opponents’ voice in megaproject decision-making facilitate and streamline the resolution of controversies, whereas difficult and conflictual conditions emerge in the opposite case.