Governance and Social acceptability of Major Public Projects

Major public infrastructure projects generate significant impacts and are increasingly scrutinized by various stakeholders with interests or concerns, making their social acceptability more relevant than ever. Social acceptability refers to the appreciation of a population or community that a project or industry is acceptable or desirable. The link between project governance and social acceptability is still challenging to quantify and understand; however, current research suggests that they are closely intertwined.

This research project aims to better understand the process and responsibility of governance, the role of institutional actors and project managers, and the means to deploy to promote the social acceptability of major public infrastructure projects. Case studies of local major transportation projects will highlight the dynamics among the stakeholders.

The primary contributions will be theoretical, as we still know little about the dynamics of governance and their effects on the acceptance of major infrastructure projects. From a practical perspective, this research will lead to the development of a set of recommendations regarding the implementation of public policies, communications, and participatory and inclusive approaches surrounding major projects.

Keywords: Governance; major projects; public projects; social acceptability; mobilization; stakeholders; case studies; social impacts

The research team is composed of:

Maude Brunet, Professor at HEC Montréal
Sofiane Baba, Member of the Scientific Committee, Université de Sherbrooke
Nathalie Drouin, Full Professor and Chairholder at ESG UQAM

References:

Brunet, M., Baba, S., Drouin, N. (2024) “Projet Northvolt: Peut-on réussir un mégaprojet sans acceptabilité sociale? The Conversation, 19 mars 2024. https://theconversation.com/projet-northvolt-peut-on-reussir-un-megaprojet-sans-acceptabilite-sociale-225405