Project siting and the concept of community

Abstract

The siting of unwanted projects always involves conflict between developers and community interests. Yet the notion of community has been undertheorised in the siting literature. The concept of community is explored and related to the siting of risky projects. An analysis of seven siting cases from around the world suggests that the environmental spillover effects from projects often transcend local administrative boundaries and that the relevant unit of analysis will often be much broader than a local community defined administratively. Understanding the origins and management of siting conflicts requires a broader definition of community, one that incorporates not only administrative communities at different levels of government, but also one that encapsulates different social, environmental and even virtual communities. Politics will determine which community boundaries matter in any given siting dispute. IntroductionControversy over the placement of unwanted projects has become a feature of all nations. It is not difficult to find cases of siting disputes in democratic polities, but such conflicts are also increasingly observed in non-democratic states. Such conflicts are not only over the location of projects often regarded as highly risky, such as nuclear-related and toxic waste facilities, but are also over a range of other projects generally regarded as less risky including prisons, airports, medical facilities, industrial facilities and even renewable energy projects which are encouraged to facilitate the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. It is hardly surprising that private and public developers are confronted with serious challenges in developing a variety of projects even though they may generate significant net benefits to society and may be in the national interest.

Contested Development Paths and Rural communities: Sustainable Energy or Sustainable Tourism in Iceland?

“…It has long been recognized that there are significant issues surrounding the different communities and stakeholders that are impacted by energy developments and their capacity to influence change in peripheral areas [18,19]. These issues become more complicated when there is the potential to take different development paths in which one trajectory would affect, or even negate, the potential of other trajectories [13,20,21].…”

Not Ever Again: A Postcolonial View of Opencast Coal Mining in the South Wales Valleys

“…Typically, these beings are seen as politically passive recipients of jobs and community benefits. As Lesbirel (2011) argues in the context of siting conflicts, defining community is no trivial task, and a political definition that extends beyond administrative boundaries is required in any given dispute.…”

Where are the local communities? Food sovereignty discourse on international agrobiodiversity conservation strategies

“…Hayden Lesbirel (2011) argues that community is a multi-disciplinary and variegated concept. In his view, finding a definition of community is less important than investigating how the boundaries of the community are determined.…”