Public participation in infrastructure projects: an integrative review and prospects for the future research

Abstract

PurposeIn the past few decades, traditional project management theories mainly focused on quality, cost and schedule. However, with larger scale and wider influence of infrastructure projects, especially in megaprojects, social problems have gradually become pressing issues in the field of project governance. As the public is the main body of society, public participation has attracted the attention from both the academic field and industry field. Despite people are gradually realizing the significance of public participation, a deeper and more systematic understanding is still needed to be developed in this field. Therefore, this paper aims to conduct a systematic literature review on public participation in infrastructure projects. Based on existing literatures, this paper draws a knowledge map and develops a research framework in this field. Also, this paper tries to provide some theoretical and practical directions for the future.Design/methodology/approachIn total, 142 papers from Web of Science Core collection were selected to be used in this systematic review. Quantitative analysis of this paper is concentrated on the knowledge map with bibliometric tools. Qualitative analysis is concentrated on identifying the research framework.FindingsThis paper reviewed existing literatures and the results are as below. Firstly, the results show a knowledge map containing knowledge domains, knowledge frontiers and knowledge evolution of research fields in public participation. Secondly, the results indicate a research framework in this field, including situational dimension, implementation dimension, individual dimension and influence dimension. Moreover, each dimension has several research topics, respectively. Finally, according to the results, the paper proposes practical suggestions for stakeholders and research directions for further study.Originality/valueIt is the first paper to draw a holistic knowledge map and build up a multilevel framework for public participation in the field of infrastructure projects. This paper bridges the gap in both quantitative and qualitative identification of existing literatures in this field. Besides, this paper proposes some practical suggestions and research directions for further study and development of public participation.

Management of defect claims in infrastructure projects in Sri Lanka

“…In addition, proper construction management (Ameyaw & Chan, 2015), regular communication, and progress monitoring (Kikwasi, 2021) can help administrate the construction process and avoid claims. Due to their unique characteristics, infrastructure projects are usually distinct from general building construction projects (Xiao & Hao, 2021). Therefore, discussing how to identify and manage defect claims in infrastructure projects is essential.…”

Stakeholder management challenges and strategies for sustainability issues in megaprojects: case studies from Australia

“…Furthermore, monthly meetings, look ahead programme, behavioural expectation cards, complains/queries database, contact photo sheet, notification of work bulletin and hand-outs are some of the tools used to communicate and provide project transparency (Collinge, 2016). Other common traditional communication tools are council newsletters and announcements, newspapers and radio, projects' websites, signage and traffic information boards and websites (Que et al., 2019), whereas modern methods include social media (Xiao and Hao, 2023).…”

Infrastructure and health: the salutogenic approach, interdisciplinarity and new challenges for planning and design

“…Along these lines, the inclusion of the local community is also key to ensure that infrastructural projects actually serve the needs of their users (Xiao and Hao, 2021; Valdes-Vasquez and Klotz, 2013). Numerous studies have shown that urban planning that takes into account positive health outcomes reinforces the need to draw on local knowledge (D'Onofrio and Trusiani, 2018; Frumkin et al.…”