Fostering Participation and Dialogue Using Strategic Environmental Assessment

Sammanfattning: Various international conventions and several theories and approaches from the planning and environment fields of study have focused on enhancing the public’s access to information and its participation in strategic decision making. However, it seems that it is challenging to encourage a meaningful public participation in decision making processes, since it is difficult to engage civil society in strategic discussions, it is complex to institutionalise participative processes, and it is demanding to include traditionally marginalised groups in current debates on development. Despite this, it appears that deciding how participative approaches should be designed and when these approaches should be applied is of crucial importance to secure appropriate forums for dialogue. To study these claims and foster participation and dialogue, a study was carried out to examine the development of flexible, adaptable and participative strategic environmental assessment processes. Even though designing the processes demanded time and constant adaptation, it is argued that adequately conceptualising and implementing flexible, adaptable and participative approaches to strategic environmental assessment can lead to inclusive, legitimate and anchored outputs that can significantly influence decision making processes.