Stakeholder participation in the implementation of urban property development projects

In urban property development projects, attention to the needs and aspirations of local communities is often neglected. Although some developers still consider local community stakeholders to be a potential threat to their developments, in many developed countries, stakeholder participation is embedded within statutory processes such as the formal planning process and is increasingly regarded as a component of sustainable development. Even though the local community is widely recognized as an important project stakeholder, little has been done to understand how to engage effectively with this stakeholder group to resolve their concerns. The purpose of this study is to investigate practitioners’ perceptions and actions on local community participation in urban property development projects. The study is conducted through interviews with 12 actors in the southern part of Sweden. The findings show the importance of early involvement of local communities, the relevance of building community networks, trust and relations, the challenges to stakeholder participation and the need to formalize stakeholder participation in the organizations.