海角社区

NIMBYs aren’t the problem: your project didn’t secure a social license to operate.

Friday 2.35pm-3.15pm

Leisa Prowse
Sophie Perissinotto

Under the theme of revolutionary planning practices, this workshop will walk planners through the process of developing a place-based community engagement approach to receiving a social licence to operate (SLO). Planners play a vital role in securing social licence for infrastructure, development and planning projects. In this workshop, we will share the:

• links between lack of social licence and project delays, loss of funding, targeted campaigns, political influence, impact on chosen approval pathway and blockades
• enduring consequences of proceeding without a SLO
• methodology to understand the community and their connection to a project’s footprint
• importance of a place-based community engagement approach that engages communities from the project's inception to secure a SLO.

We will draw from case studies to explore the timelines of projects that did not have a social licence to operate. Through this case study, we will investigate how a perceived lack of legitimacy and acceptance can lead to financial and legal impacts.

The workshop activity will upskill attendees in how to look further than demographic data and local stakeholder or community groups to better understand the landscape where their project takes place. We will describe the short-term and long-term benefits of developing and delivering a place-based approach to community engagement in planning projects.