Stakeholder engagement

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Achieving a circular economy is a multifaceted and complex challenge which requires actions from different societal constituencies. For this reason, local governments – as well as companies or citizens – cannot create it on their own; all of us have a role to play in any circular project. Pursuing stakeholder engagement is crucial to successfully design a project or intervention as it allows to develop a process which inspires individuals, groups, businesses, institutions, and others to improve how they interact. Stakeholder engagement can be defined as finding people with whom to cooperate most effectively to accomplish goals. The effect of stakeholder engagement is not limited to one project or process, as making people feel involved can generate a positive trickle-down effect leading to a higher impact in all actions.

The term stakeholders refers to individuals or groups who have an interest or concern in an organisation, project, or decision-making process. These stakeholders can be internal or external, depending on whether they are directly associated with the internal structure. Moreover, it is important to clarify that while citizens can be stakeholders in certain contexts, not all stakeholders are necessarily citizens, thus citizens engagement actions can be more targeted.

The term actor refers to individuals or entities that participate actively in a situation, process, or event. Actors can include stakeholders, but they can also encompass other participants who may not have a significant interest in the outcome. To best assess how to involve stakeholders, cities need to be aware of these distinctions as well as the different levels of involvement and interaction, ranging from lower and passive engagement to higher levels of active engagement and commitment.

CityLoops cities designed stakeholder engagement plans in the early stages of the project, detailing how to involve all relevant stakeholder groups from planning to evaluation within the demonstration actions. Benefits of stakeholder involvement range from future planning facilitation and risk minimisation to understanding and addressing criticism, as well as reducing constraints on business and increasing license to operate.

Lessons learnt

Stakeholder involvement activities are deemed relatively easy to implement and replicate. Planning these activities requires methodologies, both for identifying stakeholders and understanding their relationships, and for effectively integrating them in a development process. CityLoops demonstration cities have concluded the following from the development of stakeholder engagement activities:

Stakeholder engagement activities are easily replicable, and manhours are often the biggest resource needed to execute them. It is recommended to start by joining forces with other departments, projects, and initiatives with the same ambitions for stakeholder and citizen involvement in city development.
Stakeholders should be involved throughout the project as this increases their ownership and sense of responsibility in the process. It also facilitates sharing of insights within the stakeholders’ organisations.
Know who your target is. Before choosing which participation instrument or method to employ, it is important to assess the characteristics of the citizens and stakeholders to be engaged as this will guide the choice, for example when deciding between digital or analogue tools.
It is important to keep an open mind for opportunities to include actors with different levels of expertise. This could mean organisations working with knowledge and instruments relevant to a project, as well as stakeholders who have an interest in the outcome of the project, but are not participating in the construction processes or do not have any related expertise.
Citizen involvement is great for creating political attention and boosting a project’s political and local support. Also, citizens – as potential users of the spaces that are sites to the project – can provide valuable input to address concerns on functionality, and bring to the table different competences, knowledge, and perspectives.
Engaging stakeholders and other actors in construction projects in an early dialogue and in recurring meetings throughout the projects creates trust and helps foresee and solve problems, as well as overcome barriers as they arise.
Different competences and knowledge brought by the different actors and stakeholders are key in handling responsibility and risk within the project. For this reason, it is highly important to retain the knowledge created as the project continues and base subsequent decisions on it.

CityLoops instruments

CityLoops has used a participatory planning approach which emphasizes the involvement of all relevant stakeholder groups throughout the entire project. This approach has resulted in the creation of blueprints and a report on involving stakeholders and citizens in the planning phases of a demonstration action:

CityLab stakeholder platform

Bodø is using a physical and virtual platform for stakeholder engagement on city development. It integrates the 3D visualisation to stimulate imagination and opinions on the city’s future and offers an information portal to solicit inputs from citizens, civil society organisations and local businesses to involve them in planning and decision making. The CityLab is supported by a communications and social media strategy for recruiting stakeholders (such as professionals, local businesses, or civil society organisations) and citizens. Here is the guide for involving stakeholders through a digital and physical CityLab.

Co-design process for public space

Apeldoorn has used this instrument to develop a process journey, which is an overview of the involved actors per process phase with the roles and tasks of each actor in each deliverable. Thus, the process journey can be used as a manual to accomplish circularity in a project. A description of the co-design process and Apeldoorn’s process journey is available here.

City simulation platform

Seville has created a centralised virtual hub for software tools and datasets to support its sustainability goals. It includes:

CDW Flow optimisation instrument that supports managers on deciding new locations for future clean points, while giving citizens access to a map with the location of the optimal clean points. The CDW flow optimisation for citizens is available here, while a report on the development of this instrument is available here and the guide for using the instrument is here.
Wellbeing monitoring tool that determines the relationship between wellbeing and the demonstration actions. The tool is focused on circularity, giving mangers access to a simulation framework that quantifies the influences of circular actions on well-being, while providing citizens with data about the well-being circularity indicator, demonstration actions, and impact estimations on the city´s well-being. The well-being simulation for citizens is available here, while a report on the development of this instrument is available here and the guide for using the instrument is here.

Combining these tools in a platform supports cross-sectoral dialogue and facilitates data exchange between municipal departments, research institutions, and relevant business partners. The platform can be used during stakeholder engagement events to forment an informed, flexible, and balanced transition to circularity.
Try out Seville’s simulation platform by clicking here.

CityLoops demonstration experiences

Apeldoorn

Apeldoorn developed a process journey together with Koos Design. The co-design process was used to map collaboration across actors in multiple phases of a road renovation project. Actors with a profound knowledge of road quality and road materials were involved, increasing knowledge, and raising awareness within the municipality. A participation ladder was used to design communication plans, while experienced communication experts designed and deployed participation trajectories by advising project leaders and policy officers. Initially, Apeldoorn considered using a digital instrument to collect feedback on the current state of the road and new designs by residents, but results of a survey showed that many residents are digitally illiterate and prefer analogue communication methods. The Municipality then organized a Sustainable Activity Day. Read about Apeldoorn’s experience here.

Bodø

Bodø organized two Reuse Lab events, which allowed the citizens to provide input on what the new part of the city could look like and what to prioritize in the city development. They also initiated a forum, focusing on sustainable city development, for all involved actors in the construction of the new airpor. Lastly, Bodø circulated to its inhabitants a survey investigating how the new part of the city should look like and function. Results were interpreted, visualised using the 3D instrument, and presented at the New City Festival in 2020. The city’s younger generation was challenged to create their new city concept in Minecraft and the best solutions were presented to politicians and decision makers in the municipality. Read about Bodø’s experience here.

Mikkeli

Mikkeli organized 30 stakeholder meetings to highlight the importance of upcycling of construction and demolition materials, as well as 5 workshops for decision makers, procurement personnel and other professionals of the construction and demolition sector in Mikkeli. In these workshops the participants developed ideas and solutions for better upcycling of building parts and materials.Read about Mikkeli’s experience here.

Seville

Seville organized nine workshops and seminars/webinars during which participants developed ideas and solutions for better circular CDW management. Seville also developed a city simulation platform with a wellbeing monitoring tool and a CDW flow optimisation tool that can be used by citizens to find and access data on the “clean points” for different types of CDW waste, as well as managers who will provide the data and access decision-support functions. When launching this instrument, Seville conducted a communication campaign targeting citizens and SMEs. Read about Seville’s experience here.

Stakeholder engagement

Lessons learnt

CityLoops instruments

CityLoops demonstration experiences

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