Public Participation Research Articles

Analyzing the drivers of the low-carbon construction supply chain based on an integrated DEMATEL–ANP approach

PurposeCarbon reduction in the construction supply chain can critically affect the construction industry’s transition to an environmentally sustainable one. However, implementing carbon reduction in all parties is restricted because of the poor understanding of the drivers influencing the low-carbon construction supply chain (LCCSC). The purpose of this paper is to systematically identify the drivers of LCCSC, analyze their causality, and prioritize the importance of their management.Design/methodology/approachA decision-making analysis process was developed using an integrated decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL)–analytical network process (ANP). First, the hierarchical drivers of the LCCSC were identified through a literature review. The DEMATEL method was subsequently applied to analyze the interactions between the drivers, including the direction and strength of impact. Finally, the ANP analysis was used to obtain the drivers’ weights; consequently, their priorities were established.FindingsVarious factors with complex interactions drive LCCSC. With respect to their influence relationships, incentive policy, regulatory policy, consumers’ low-carbon preference, market competition, supply chain performance, and managers’ low-carbon awareness have more significant center degrees and are cause drivers. Their strong correlations and influence on other drivers should be noticed. In terms of weights in the driver system, regulatory policy, consumers’ low-carbon preference, supply chain performance, and incentive policy are the key drivers of LCCSC and require primary attention. Other drivers, such as supply chain collaboration, employee motivation, and public participation, play a minor driving role with less management priority.Originality/valueDespite some contributing studies with localized perspectives, the systematic analysis of LCCSC drivers is limited, especially considering their intricate interactions. This paper establishes the LCCSC driver system, explores the influence relationships among the drivers, and determines the key drivers. Hence, it contributes to the sustainable construction supply chain domain by enabling decision-makers and practitioners to systematically understand the drivers of LCCSC and gain management implications on priority issues with limited resources.

Digital citizen participation in policy conflict and concord: Evaluation of a web‐based planning tool for railroad infrastructure

AbstractInfrastructure siting has been shown to lead to high contestation across political systems. To counteract this, policymaking has introduced participatory instruments that were recently supplemented by web‐based tools. Drawing on theoretical perspectives on policy conflict, this paper investigates how different conflict intensities reflected in public discourses can shape citizens' perceptions on the potential and limitations of digital participation tools. To this end, we conducted a survey experiment with students who evaluated the potential functions of a web‐based tool considering criteria, such as transparency, efficiency, and inclusion of new expertise. Participants were randomly assigned fictitious project descriptions that used either conflict or concord words. The results show that while users see several positive influences of digital tools on increased transparency and inclusivity in participation processes, this perception is negatively influenced by a supposedly high level of conflict. Furthermore, digital public participation in railroad planning is perceived as contributing to decreasing escalation and strengthening the democratic quality of policy processes. However, digital participation can only develop its strengths if there are accompanying measures and discourses to secure trust. In addition, the tool's potential seems to be higher in less escalated conflict situations and fully escalated situations than in asymmetrically escalated conflicts.

Towards a Communication Ecology in the Life of Rural Senior Citizens: How Rural Public Spaces Influence Community Engagement

The dilemma of weak participation and non-participation of rural communities is a universal topic of global development. The rural public space is an important field for local residents to interact, communicate, and engage with each other, and is an important place for the sustainable development of rural areas. However, previous studies have neglected to understand the intrinsic connection between rural public space and community participation from the perspective of community communication ecology. Based on the concept of age-friendly communities, this study’s fieldwork in rural Shanghai, China, using the methodology of grounded theory, found that physical, social, and psychological factors all have an impact on community engagement among rural residents. Specifically, environmental quality, facility support, community networks, social participation, call to action, place attachment, spatial perception, and self-transformation are identified as the core elements that significantly influence community engagement among rural residents. This study further reveals that the multiple factors influencing community engagement among rural residents are complex and interdependent rather than operating independently. Spatial support, communicative triggers, and symbolic identification, respectively, operate at the technological level (physical–social factors), social level (social–psychological factors), and discursive level (psychological–physical factors) to promote community engagement among older adults in Chinese rural areas. Through this research, we hope to further the realization of rural civic engagement and the sustainability of local communities and to provide scholarly insights into the promotion of more equitable community life.

The Performance of Environmental and Health Impact Assessment Implementation: A Case Study in Eastern Thailand

Environmental impact assessment (EIA) performance has remained of interest, and over the past ten years, the evaluation technique has evolved. Thailand implemented an EIA with a health impact assessment (HIA) as an environmental health impact assessment (EHIA), which necessitated investigating and developing these instruments; however, its implementation performance has been questioned. The main goal of this study is to comparatively assess how well EIAs and EHIAs are performed in projects in an area in Thailand. Six projects in various sectors that were implemented in Eastern Thailand were studied. The 162 residents (nine local authorities and 153 villagers) closest to the project completed a survey and evaluated the performance according to three aspects (i.e., substantive, procedural, and transactive), using a rating scale and evaluation checklists. The results were presented as a percentage of the total scores and interpreted according to the five scales. The overall performance reached a satisfactory level, albeit not significantly different between cases; however, it was pointed out that the shortcomings of EHIAs and EIAs, particularly their dependability, lack of public involvement, and the need for more transparency, could be addressed through the establishment of an open access database, which would help to simplify the assessment of all stages of EIAs and EHIAs.

Integration of Smart Cities and Building Information Modeling (BIM) for a Sustainability Oriented Business Model to Address Sustainable Development Goals

The construction industry, business models, and smart cities are recognized as pivotal domains with profound implications for fostering sustainability, prompting extensive research endeavors. However, there remains a dearth of interdisciplinary integration within this sphere aimed at fostering sustainable development. Nevertheless, current studies suggest that research in this area could provide theoretical and practical guidance for the sustainable transformation of society and make a positive contribution to the realization of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Therefore, this paper aims to utilize an innovative mixed research approach combining macro-quantitative bibliometric analysis with subsequent micro-qualitative content examination based on the SDGs to explore the relationship between BIM and smart cities in promoting a sustainability-oriented business model, which provides a comprehensive understanding of the overall situation and development of research topics in the field and contributes to the improvement of the SDGs. The results show that, during the last 13 years (from the year 2011 to 2023), the period from the year 2011 to 2016 was the initial stage of the field, followed by a rapid growth after the year 2018, of which “BIM”, “Smart City”, “Business Model”, “Building Life Cycle”, “Urban Management”, and “Business Model Innovation” are the keywords representing the current research hotspots. The circular economy model that has been developed since 2021 has contributed to life cycle stages, including “briefing stages” and “procurement stages”. As such, the “whole life cycle”, “strategic urban planning frameworks”, and “sustainable business models” have become future research trends, whilst real-world applications such as “smart tourism”, “e-government”, and “green building” have emerged. Further, the key partnerships of “city managers”, “corporate enterprises”, and “public participation” for smart cities contribute to the achievement of SDGs 8 and 17 in terms of integrating urban information technology and urban infrastructure, policy regulation, knowledge-sharing, improving economic efficiency, and promoting sustainable economic growth.

Public participation in rural areas supported by regional governments in the context of sustainable rural development: The case of Poland

Abstract The processes involved in the sustainable development goals (SDGs) localization, sustainable rural development (SRD), and the use of public participation to support the achievement of the SDGs have gained importance in recent years. The aim of this article is to analyze the solution created by regional governments in Poland to combine these issues. This paper utilizes a qualitative case study-based approach. Firstly, the analysis of the development strategies of 11 Polish regions was carried out. Further, the analyses of the grant process allowed one to determine the SDG targets, which are associated with individual thematic areas of financing and with specific tasks proposed for implementation by the residents. It may be concluded that the analyzed program targets largely corresponded to the selected SDG targets. Such programs may be used as a tool for supporting the bottom-up diagnosis procedure, in the scope of desired activities supporting the achievement of the SDGs.

ChatGPT and the future of impact assessment

Like all other fields, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is expected to affect the Impact Assessment (IA) systems worldwide. This study explores the opinions and concerns of international IA experts regarding how ChatGPT may change the future of IA in terms of the benefits and threats it may pose to IA. Twenty-five semi-structured interviews were conducted with IA experts including consultants, regulators, and academics. The majority of the interviewees were of the view that ChatGPT will help reduce the time and effort required for preliminary data collection and will improve the report quality in terms of formatting and sentence structure etc. However, a number of interviewees also feared that the quality of data in reports and public involvement in IA process may be compromised, chances of plagiarism and bias may increase, and the quality of IA graduates produced by academic institutions may deteriorate. The majority of the experts were afraid that ChatGPT will pose more threats to IA compared to the benefits it may offer. The policymakers, while keeping all these concerns in mind, need to formulate laws, rules, and guidelines regarding the use of ChatGPT in IA in their respective areas as suggested by the interviewees. Future studies may be conducted to evaluate and compare the use of different types of chatbots such as Google’s Bard or Microsoft’s Bing in IA. Additionally, AI related laws and guidelines drafted by IA systems across the globe and their implementation may be evaluated a couple of years later.

Patient and public involvement in cancer-associated thrombosis research: necessary or glorified tokenism?

The advantages of patient and public involvement (PPI) in research are becoming more widely known, however different research organizations have different rates of adoption. Comparably, some groups provide tokenistic participation in the research process, which is inconsistent with the extent to which PPI partners are truly involved. Recent developments in the field of cancer-associated thrombosis (CAT) research have shown how crucial PPI is to the foundation of the entire research process, from formulating the research question to disseminating the findings. This manuscript aims to present an overview of PPI within the framework of CAT research and demonstrate how, when used appropriately, PPI can improve a project’s overall success, rigor, and relevance.

‘Practice what you preach’. Perspectives on the involvement of people with dementia and carers in community-based dementia friendly initiatives, a qualitative study

IntroductionPeople with dementia and their carers experience social stigma and often refrain from social participation. Significant improvement might be achieved by creating Dementia Friendly communities (DFCs) for which dementia friendly initiatives (DFIs) are needed. DFIs are developed by a variation of stakeholders. However, people with dementia and their carers are often unrepresented herein. This study aims to get insight into the perspectives of stakeholders (e.g., health- and social care professionals, volunteers, people with dementia and their carers) about the involvement of people with dementia and their carers during the development and sustainment of DFIs.MethodsDescriptive qualitative study, using a co-research design with a carer as co-researcher. Nineteen semi-structured interviews with stakeholders, including people with dementia and their carers, were performed. Inductive content analysis took place using Atlas Ti.ResultsFour themes were found: 1) the involvement of people with dementia and their carers is important for both people with dementia and their carers and other stakeholders; 2) personal character traits, life histories, and associated emotions evoke the need for involvement; 3) involvement requires an open, responsive stance and building relationships; and 4) the estimation of one’s own and others’ capacities influences perspectives on involvement. As such, practice what you preach means actively adopting an open, responsive approach and acknowledging the unique abilities and backgrounds of people with dementia and their carers. It emphasizes the importance of actually living by the values you advocate for.ConclusionCentral to perspectives on involving people with dementia and their carers is the emphasis on working relationally, differing from service-led and pre-structured patient and public involvement (PPI). Working relationally calls for organizational shifts aligned with a rights-based perspective to avoid tokenism, and promotion of user-led organizations with genuine partnerships. Creative methods, problem-solving, and communication skills are essential for the development and sustainment of inclusive, supportive, person-centered DFIs. Future studies should explore the long-term impact of the involvement and working relationally on the well-being of people with dementia and their carers.

Embedding patient and public involvement into a doctoral study: developing a point-of-care HIV testing intervention for dental settings

IntroductionPatient and Public Involvement (PPI) can have a positive impact on research. PPI can make research more meaningful and appropriate as well as preventing research waste. For decades, patient advocates with HIV have played a key part in public health and research. This article presents the PPI activity undertaken during a doctoral study. The aim of this article is to demonstrate how PPI was embedded into a doctoral study that explored the feasibility of HIV testing in dental settings.MethodsPatients and the public were invited to be involved with the feasibility study through various organisations and charities. A comprehensive PPI activity strategy was devised, and appropriate funding was obtained. Patients and the public were predominantly consulted or collaboratively involved with several aspects of the study.FindingsPatients and the public positively contributed to the intervention development and the resources supporting its implementation. As a result, the study resources (i.e., questionnaire and information leaflets) were easier to read, and the intervention was more appropriate to the needs of patients. Furthermore, the training and focus groups conducted with dental patients and people with HIV benefitted from input of people with lived experience.ConclusionsPPI can be embedded within doctoral studies provided there is sufficient funding, flexibility, and supervisory support. However, PPI activity may be impacted by limited resource and a priori research protocol and funding agreements.

Conceptualisation of the Regulatory Framework of Green Infrastructure for Urban Development: Identifying Barriers and Drivers

Urban green infrastructure plays a crucial role in sustainable city development by offering a multitude of benefits, including improved environmental quality, increased social well-being, and enhanced economic prosperity. Evaluation and monitoring of regulatory implementation stand as essential components in the advancement of urban green infrastructure (GI) as they indicate the efficacy of regulatory acts and enable the assessment of their implementation success and adaptability to identified needs. This study identifies barriers and drivers based on the views of 352 professionals surveyed between 2018 and 2023 in Serbia. The primary data collection method employed questionnaire surveys. This study identified a range of barriers within existing legal frameworks, foremost of which include the lack of coordination and coherence between relevant ministries and governmental agencies, insufficient financial and human resources, the lack of transparency in the regulation development process, the need for strengthening technical capacities, and the absence of an adequate urban GI strategy. This research serves as a foundation for conceptualising GI regulatory elements that enhance urban GI development. Addressing these barriers necessitates efforts to improve coordination and collaboration among stakeholders, increase public participation, and enhance transparency in the regulatory process.

Deconstructing public participation in the governance of facial recognition technologies in Canada

Deconstructing public participation in the governance of facial recognition technologies in Canada

An attempt to open up a new path of rural development? rural transformational development under the characteristic town strategy in China

ABSTRACT The global decline in rural areas has made rural transformational development a subject of significant interest. The Characteristic Town (CT) strategy, a prominent aspect of China’s recent urbanization efforts, focuses on innovative development methods to promote coordinated urban-rural growth and enhance capacity and quality. However, the mechanisms through which this strategy facilitates potential rural transformational development have not yet been investigated. This study addresses this gap by employing a case study approach, using desk research, participatory observation, semi-structured interviews, and questionnaires. The findings indicate that environmental transformation, achieved through targeted planning, design, and construction, is a prerequisite for the CT strategy to stimulate rural transformational development. Subsequently, economic transformation is a crucial step, which includes establishing a sustainable and systematic economic industrial system, local marketing and promotion, and facilitating private sector participation. The strategy also generates social effects, such as a modest improvement in living standards, a lack of public participation, changes in residents’ self-identity, and potential social estrangement between residents and newcomers. The rural transformational development driven by the CT strategy represents a process of creative destruction that progresses quickly, necessitating the consideration of various countermeasures.

Management of childbearing with hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos syndrome and hypermobility spectrum disorders: A scoping review and expert co-creation of evidence-based clinical guidelines.

To co-create expert guidelines for the management of pregnancy, birth, and postpartum recovery in the context of hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (hEDS) and hypermobility spectrum disorders (HSD). Scoping Review and Expert Co-creation. United Kingdom, United States of America, Canada, France, Sweden, Luxembourg, Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands. Co-creators (n = 15) included expertise from patients and clinicians from the International Consortium on the Ehlers-Danlos syndromes and Hypermobility Spectrum Disorders, facilitated by the Ehlers-Danlos Society. A scoping review using Embase, Medline, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials and CINHAL was conducted from May 2022 to September 2023. Articles were included if they reported primary research findings in relation to childbearing with hEDS/HSD, including case reports. No language limitations were placed on our search, and our team had the ability to translate and screen articles retrieved in English, French, Spanish, Italian, Russian, Swedish, Norwegian, Dutch, Danish, German, and Portuguese. The Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool was used to assess bias and quality appraise articles selected. The co-creation of guidelines was based on descriptive evidence synthesis along with practical and clinical experience supported by patient and public involvement activities. Primary research studies (n = 14) and case studies (n = 21) including a total of 1,260,317 participants informed the co-creation of guidelines in four overarching categories: 1) Preconceptual: conception and screening, 2) Antenatal: risk assessment, management of miscarriage and termination of pregnancy, gastrointestinal issues and mobility, 3) Intrapartum: risk assessment, birth choices (mode of birth and intended place of birth), mobility in labor and anesthesia, and 4) Postpartum: wound healing, pelvic health, care of the newborn and infant feeding. Guidelines were also included in relation to pain management, mental health, nutrition and the common co-morbidities of postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome, other forms of dysautonomia, and mast cell diseases. There is limited high quality evidence available. Individualized strategies are proposed for the management of childbearing people with hEDS/HSD throughout pregnancy, birth, and the postpartum period. A multidisciplinary approach is advised to address frequently seen issues in this population such as tissue fragility, joint hypermobility, and pain, as well as common comorbidities, including dysautonomia and mast cell diseases.

SLAPPs: What are they? And how should defamation law be reformed to address them?

ABSTRACT This article examines the need for legislative reform to address the problem of strategic litigation against public participation (SLAPPs), with a focus on defamation law as the most common action for such claims. It draws upon legislative and judicial approaches from a range of different jurisdictions to define the problem of SLAPPs and examines whether the existing law in England and Wales provides an adequate solution to the problem of SLAPPs. This analysis indicates some important recent developments in the law that are relevant to SLAPPs but concludes that legislative reform is necessary to address the problem of SLAPPs. In contrast to the current proposals for reform, the article proposes an anti-SLAPP provision that crystallizes and builds upon recent developments in the law, to effectively address the problem of SLAPPs without posing an unnecessary risk of the denial of innocent claims.

Analyzing the role of social value in megaprojects: toward a new performance framework

Purpose Megaprojects stimulate and challenge public opinion across countries, generating extensive reactions from citizens. Given their ability to attract public attention, they may also influence public participation in collective choices and political decision-making. These issues are relevant for evaluating projects, but are unfortunately rarely discussed in the managerial literature. This study aims to open up a debate on social issues and how they could be taken into account within management studies. Design/methodology/approach This study carried out a systematic review of the literature on the social impact of megaprojects to identify different research areas related to the evaluation of megaprojects from a social perspective. Findings This study identified three different research areas related to the evaluation of megaprojects from a social perspective: the role of power and social issues; infrastructure and social space; and stakeholder engagement and endorsement. Originality/value This paper underlines the need to go beyond current understanding of the social impacts of megaprojects and calls for a more interdisciplinary research agenda.

Implementing e-Participation in Africa: What Roles Can Public Officials Play?

A key question in e-participation is what roles public officials can play to harness the benefits of emerging technologies and practices, mitigate potential harms, and, ultimately, ensure more inclusive and effective public involvement in decision making. This article presents results from a desktop analysis of e-participation projects from the African continent to highlight the diversity of public official roles and associated skills and perspectives that would be relevant to e-participation implementation. The identified roles and activities range from legal specialists developing guidelines to comply with personal data protection legislation and stakeholder managers designing models of collaboration with commons-based platforms to communications officials learning how to moderate social media conversations and technology developers exploring new ways of verifying online identity.

Modified sports interventions for children and adolescents with disabilities: A scoping review.

To establish the scope of the literature on modified sports interventions for children and adolescents with disabilities. For this scoping review, articles were screened and the characteristics of studies were extracted. The modified sports interventions were described in terms of their structure, using the items of the Template for Intervention Description and Replication. Components of intervention treatment were described by using the language of the Rehabilitation Treatment Specification System. Results were analysed and validated by a group of professionals, using the Public and Patient Involvement strategy. Twelve studies were eligible for inclusion, investigating interventions for children with autism spectrum disorder, cerebral palsy, and other conditions. Most studies presented a moderate level of evidence. Active ingredients were repeated sports-related motor training and introduction to the sport through a 'learning by action' mechanism. The intervention target was gross motor skills performance, and intervention aims (indirect outcomes) were physical activity participation and different body functions. The inclusion of stakeholders in this review helped to validate our findings about the characteristics and structure of modified sports interventions, to identify research gaps, and to provide a step process for clinical implementation. Future investigations are warranted of the effectiveness of modified sports investigations with better quality studies, including participation outcomes and studies with non-ambulant children.

Protection of human rights and freedoms in the administrative jurisdiction under the conditions of marital state

The article deals with the protection of the rights, freedoms and legitimate interests of a person and a citizen in administrative proceedings under martial law. It is argued that the right to a fair trial is a non-limiting right during certain emergencies. In the conditions of martial law, the implementation of the principle of court accessibility is one of the key factors for society, individual citizens, and for the effective functioning of public authorities and the state in general. It is argued that the right to judicial protection is critically important during war, and its hypothetical restriction could provoke the illegitimacy of the government, civil unrest, and in a broad sense, anarchy and violation of the rule of law. It has been proven that the legal system acts as an invariable mechanism for compliance with the requirements of legality, even in difficult political and legal circumstances due to the continuity of functioning, including administrative proceedings. In the conditions of war, when many democratic forms of public participation in the political process are limited, only administrative justice acts as the mechanism that allows you to oppose this "dominant paradigm” of executive management and is able to resolve public requests, overcome possible dissonances between the government and society, and normalize social relations according to the latest challenges and requests. Therefore, the effective and proper work of the judicial system as a whole, and especially of the administrative judiciary, creates a "platform” for preserving the policy of a democratic, legal state in conditions of martial law. It is also indicated that the role of administrative justice during the war is also valuable in that court decisions strengthen state-authority decisions and form proper law enforcement practice for subjects of power and other subjects. The three most significant problems of the functioning of administrative justice in the conditions of war are singled out: territorial accessibility, security threats and difficulties of a procedural nature. It was determined that electronic governance has become an effective mechanism for countering military threats to the administrative justice system.

Improving enterprise environmental performance under central environmental protection inspection: An empirical study based on listed industrial enterprises

The central environmental protection inspection is an institutional innovation in China that aims to supervise enterprises by monitoring government environmental enforcement. This paper examines the effectiveness of central environmental protection inspection in improving enterprise environmental performance by using a quasi-natural experiment of the first round of central environmental protection inspection. The study reveals that the central environmental protection inspection improves enterprise environmental performance by strengthening local government environmental enforcement and environmental attention. This is evidenced by the increase in enterprise environmental capital expenditure and the decrease in pollution discharge fees. The impact of central environmental protection inspection on enterprise environmental performance is strengthened by local governments’ environmental regulation and environmental fiscal expenditure, as well as by public participation. Under the pressure of central environmental protection inspection, heavily polluting enterprises engage in production process improvement and R&D investment, which can improve their economic performance. This can ultimately lead to a competitive advantage for enterprises, promoting a win-win situation for both environmental and economic performance.