Public Engagement for Planning and Designing Transportation Systems

Public Engagement (PE) can be considered as the process of involving stakeholder concerns, needs and values in the transport decision-making process. The overall goal of engagement is to achieve a transparent decision-making process with greater input from stakeholders and their support of the decisions that are taken. Often transportation planning and infrastructure design follow a DAD (Decide, Announce, Defend) approach, i.e. neglect to involve stakeholders throughout the project, right from the inception to its implementation, thus inducing oppositions of different levels up to outbursts of the so called NIMBY syndrome. The objective of this paper is to highlight the role of PE in planning and designing transportation systems, describing its interactions with other more formal phases of decision-making and some of the tools that can be used for the various levels of PE. The case study of the Regional Metro System project of Campania region will be described as an example of a successful experience of PE in Italy.