Epsilon Archive for Student Projects

Abstract

This thesis investigates process design choices and their justifications for a participatory process in climate change adaptation. Participation in climate change adaptation is necessary to manage climate change locally. However, climate change adaptation challenges the ideal of participation and pushes planners into a dilemma of exclusion. A local case in Germany is examined by combining 9 semi-structured interviews with planners, participants and non-participants and a document analysis. Planners were directed by municipal and governmental guidelines but also made independent choices on the format of the examined events. My analysis discovers multiple process design choices leading to exclusions in the dimensions of issues, people and outcomes in the examined expert forums and one public hearing. Generally, issues were pre-chosen, focusing on technical aspects, and outcomes were achieved in a non-conflictual, partnership-based approach, mainly with acquainted people in representative positions. Yet, the influence participants had on the final result was limited. Thus, common challenges in participation in CCA have been echoed in the result. The findings point to how some exclusions are inevitable based on available resources for a participatory process, while there are ways to creatively address them as in the chosen case. Overall, there is a need for reflection to be transparent about these potentially excluding process design choices.