Stakeholders

Stakeholders include all impacted individuals and groups. Depending on the circumstances, they may include neighborhood associations, interest groups, business associations, government agencies, social service entities, educational institutions, elected politicians, small business owners, and individual residents. 

Identifying stakeholders entails identifying their interests, needs, limitations, and capacities. It should be emphasized that assessing the influence and interests of stakeholders is potentially useful for the governance sustainability of the planning process (Mathur and others, 2007).

Enabling Meaningful Public Participation In Spatial Planning Processes (2023) by UN-Habitat dedicates a chapter to identifying stakeholders in spatial planning policies. The stakeholder groups they identify include: 

Public Institutions

Agency: national, regional, and local governments 

Role: Lay down the enabling conditions for participatory process in urban planning; mediate between different interests; and facilitate the identification of common and shared strategies for future actions. 

Private Sector 

Agency: land developers, land owners, investors, and every private actor looking to benefit from urban development

Role: Due to their economic assets and capacity, the private sector plays a central role in directing urban development. 

Relying on private sectors in urban development could result in power asymmetries, which undermine the planning process in three ways: exclusion, capture, and clientelism (World Bank Group, 2017):

• Exclusion - systematically sidelines some individuals or groups from policy decisions that affect their interests. 

• Capture - enable influential groups to make urban development serve their narrow interests. 

• Clientelism - short-term benefits are exchanged in return for political support. It can be reflected in political donation that is acquired in exchange for better infrastructure and facilities in wealthy areas. 

Civil Society Organizations

Agency: civil society organization is any non-profit, voluntary citizens’ group, such as community-based organizations, environmental groups, women’s rights groups, faith-based organizations, labor unions, co-operatives, and professional associations

Role: link public authorities and the public, monitor local needs and priorities, raise awareness, mobilize public opinions, and voice the concerns of the public (UN-Habitat, 2015). 

Knowledge Institutions

Agency: Universities. Research centers, and think tanks

Role: Provide highly skilled labor and technological innovations; leverage knowledge for capacity-building, applied research, policy advice, knowledge management, and dissemination (UN-Habitat, 2011)

Public or Grassroots movement 

Agency: All members of the public who have a stake in planning issues 

Role: Bring local knowledge to the process. It is likely that this group represents those who have a high stake in the issue and has insufficient resources for effective participation. Special attention should be paid to this group, to ensure that the process is accessible at any phase for children, young people, women, older persons, people with disabilities, the poor, the landless, migrants, internationally displaced people, and indigenous people.