Stakeholders

Stakeholders are actors with a specific interest (which may be expressed or not) in the development of an objective, policy or measure. So stakeholders include a wide array of public and private organisations (municipalities and authorities, universities and institutes, associations, enterprises, chambers etc.), individuals (politicians, experts etc), and the media and, of course, the public (citizens and visitors to the city or urban area). Stakeholders can be organisations or individuals. There can be simple reasoning applied to identify stakeholders (see below), and there are practical steps to progress and encourage stakeholder involvement, which can include processes such as activating opinion surveys.

Possible stakeholders in an Urban Environment
Government	Business	Communities	Others
European Union	National Business Associations	National Environmental NGOs	Universities
Department of Environment/Planning	Major employers	Trade unions	Experts
Other National Departments	Private Financiers	Media	Research Specialists
Regional Authorities	International/National Business	Local Authority Forums	End-user or Ultimate Building Occupier
Local Authorities/Municipalities (Departments include: planning, housing, transport, environment, water & sanitary, and community & recreation etc)	Regional/Local Business	Local Community Organisations
Proximate Urban Area Authorities	Retailers	Local Interest Groups
Transport Authorities	Utilities Companies	Citizens
Law Enforcement	Contractors	Visitors
Politicians (Councillors)	Urban Planning Consultants	Citizens in Proximate Urban Areas
Other Decision Makers	Developers	Disabled People
Partnership Bodies		Landowners
Project Managers		Parents/Children
Professional Staff		Elderly Persons
Emergency Services
Health and Safety Executives

How to identify stakeholders

Stakeholders may be identified by checking (groups) of people against the following interest categories:

• Proximity - People who live, work or spend time in or near to an area which may be affected;
• Economic - People whose business, livelihood, property value or cost of living may be affected;
• Use - People who use or may use facilities which will be affected;
• Social/Environmental - People who may be affected by secondary impacts;
• Values - People who have a moral, religious or political interest in the project or its effects;
• Legal mandates - People who are legally required to be involved in the process.