Defining, identifying and mapping stakeholders in the assessment of urban sustainability

The assessment of sustainability requires that the diverse values of the stakeholders
are represented in the context-specific interpretation of sustainability and in the
choice of a desired course of action. Sustainability is a broad concept, and the
stakeholders in sustainability are many. In order to have effective stakeholder
engagement, it is crucial that all the relevant stakeholders are identified early in the
process. In urban development projects, some stakeholders may be obvious, but
there might be others who are excluded from the usual decision-making processes
and may bear disproportionate environmental, social or economic costs leading to
inequitable outcomes. This situation has created the need for a systematic approach
to defining and identifying stakeholders for different contexts. This paper evaluates
existing approaches for defining and identifying stakeholders in development projects
and the requirements of a sustainability assessment process. From this analysis, an
approach for defining and identifying stakeholders appropriate for sustainability
assessment has been developed.
The paper also argues that it is important to map out the levels of interest of different
stakeholders in relation to the power that they hold. This is useful in determining the
appropriate engagement techniques at each stage of a project and also in
understanding any potential conflicts. It is thus important to understand the
relationships between the different stakeholders because this can affect the success
of the engagement process. Such a mapping of stakeholders can also be useful in
anticipating their expectations.