Constructive conflict in large infrastructure projects: Transcribing rich interview data from the Future Alliance – Oosterweel evaluation study.

The domain of urban planning is filled with conflicts between citizens and policy-makers on how to organize the environment and the public values that should guide decision-making. Conflict is typically perceived as something negative to avoid through professional and effective process management. Recent studies, however, demonstrate that trying to avoid policy conflicts often does not work. Conflict does not disappear just because policy-makers steer clear from it. Avoiding conflict is not only difficult in practical terms, but also questionable from a normative viewpoint. While conflict undoubtedly has potentially destructive qualities (e.g. generating distrust), it may also be managed constructively to trigger creativity, engagement and transparency. Despite the abundance of real-world examples of conflict gone wrong, however, very little is known about how to get conflict right. The funding would allow the applicant to have recent interview data transcribed from an evaluation study of the Future Alliance ('Toekomstverbond' in Dutch) transcribed. The Future Alliance case concerns the de-escalation of the dramatic Oosterweel conflict in Antwerp, a context well studied within our Politics & Public Governance (PPG) research group. Being able to analyze these data on the de-escalation of the Oosterweel conflict in an academically sound way would move forward the academic scholarship on how policy conflicts can be managed effectively when it comes to de-escalation (in terms of institutional design, leadership etc.), while also contributing to insights on how to de-escalate policy conflicts while continuing to reap the benefits of constructive conflicts. The following research questions are addressed: (1) How can we understand, and what can we learn from, the role of constructive conflict in the de-escalation of the Oosterweel conflict through the Future Alliance framework? (2) What role did the institutional design of the Future Alliance (inter alia through the working communities) play in dealing with conflict effectively? In addressing these questions, the applicant will move forward the academic and practitioner understanding on policy conflicts, by making sense of the theoretical mechanism at play in in the de-escalation of policy conflict, a topic that has received less theoretical development than conflict escalation.The proposal presented here is aimed at acquiring the resources necessary to hire job-students that will assist in transcribing 64 hours of recorder interview material collected during an evaluation study earlier this year. The resulting dataset will provide rich data to be used for theoretical development and academic output. One contribution to a special issue in a top Public Administration journal is already in the pipeline, based on the data that will result from this proposal. This funding would also jumpstart the search for additional funding to continue my research interest in conflict management.

Keywords:PUBLIC PARTICIPATION, AUTHORITIES (LOCAL), CONFLICT ANALYSIS, CITIZEN INVOLVEMENT

Disciplines:Local and urban politics, Democratic innovations, Public management