6. Infrastructure Delivered Through Networks: Engagement of Stakeholders

Public awareness of infrastructure projects, particularly roads, many of which are delivered through networked arrangements, is high for several reasons. Such projects often involve significant public investment; they may involve multiple and conflicting stakeholders and can potentially have major environmental impacts. To produce positive outcomes from infrastructure delivery, it is imperative that stakeholder “buy in” be obtained particularly about decisions relating to the scale and location of infrastructure. Given the likelihood that stakeholders will have different levels of interest and investment in project outcomes, failure to manage this dynamic could potentially jeopardize project delivery by delaying or halting the construction of essential infrastructure. Consequently, stakeholder engagement has come to constitute a critical activity in infrastructure development delivered through networks. To guide infrastructure governance networks in the undertaking stakeholder engagement, this paper proposes and tests a domain-based model of stakeholder engagement.