Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Compromise not consensus: designing a participatory process for landslide risk mitigation

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Natural Hazards Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

With the escalating costs of landslides, the challenge for local authorities is to develop institutional arrangements for landslide risk management that are viewed as efficient, feasible and fair by those affected. For this purpose, the participation of stakeholders in the decision-making process is mandated by the European Union as a way of improving its perceived legitimacy and transparency. This paper reports on an analytical-deliberative process for selecting landslide risk mitigation measures in the town of Nocera Inferiore in southern Italy. The process was structured as a series of meetings with a group of selected residents and several parallel activities open to the public. The preparatory work included a literature/media review, semi-structured interviews carried out with key local stakeholders and a survey eliciting residents’ views on landslide risk management. The main point of departure in the design of this process was the explicit elicitation and structuring of multiple worldviews (or perspectives) among the participants with respect to the nature of the problem and its solution. Rather than eliciting preferences using decision analytical methods (e.g. utility theory or multi-criteria evaluation), this process built on a body of research—based on the theory of plural rationality—that has teased out the limited number of contending and socially constructed definitions of problem-and-solution that are able to achieve viability. This framing proved effective in structuring participants’ views and arriving at a compromise recommendation (not, as is often aimed for, a consensus) on measures for reducing landslide risk. Experts played a unique role in this process by providing a range of policy options that corresponded to the different perspectives held by the participants.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. The theory has sailed under a number of names: originally “cultural theory” (which unfortunately risks giving the impression that it is culture that is doing the explaining); more recently “neo-Durkheimian institutional theory” (which, while correct, is too much of a mouthful).

  2. These voices emanate from the theory of plural rationality’s typology of four forms of social solidarity: hierarchy, individualism, egalitarianism and fatalism, as they are called (for example, Douglas 1978; Thompson 2008; Ney 2009). A brief explanation of the theory itself can be found in Linnerooth-Bayer et al. (2015). For a mapping of the similarities and differences between clumsy solutions and other proposed ways of coping with this sort of plurality-“bounded rationality” (Simon 1947), see for instance, “muddling through” (Lindblom 1959), the “garbage can” (March and Olsen 1976), “mixed scanning” (Etzioni 1968), “interactive mixed scanning” (Gershuny 1978), “optimal rational decision-making” (Dror 1968). This mapping also holds for the more recent “sanguine compromise” (Margalit 2014), see Schwarz and Thompson (1990, especially chapter 4: “Beyond the politics of interest”).

  3. A letter from the municipal councillor responsible stated: “The funds have not been distributed because of the delays and oversights on the part of the regional Civil Protection. In the years that followed the emergency, the National Civil Protection did not renew the state of emergency requested for the entire territory of the Campania region. As a result, the available funds were never used” (Prot. 300 IESA, 2010).

  4. This distinction, we should mention, has also been cast in terms of wicked problems (where the terrain is contested) and tame problems (where the terrain is uncontested) with the seven distinctive characteristics of wicked problems clearly revealing that climate change is wicked/contested and the ozone hole tame/uncontested (Rittel and Webber 1973; Verweij et al 2011; Rayner 2014). In other words, these two distinctions—one originating in social anthropology, the other in planning/public administration—are interchangeable.

  5. This can be explained by: (i) the initial selection process aimed at selecting participants with different views and perspectives; (ii) the fact that the discourses were constructed based on the information collected through the document analysis, interviews and the first meeting; (iii) the reinforcement in the informal meetings outside the formal process meetings; (iv) the fact that, from the beginning, the participants knew that the mitigation packages were the starting point for the discussions that followed in the meetings and that a compromise solution was to be found.

  6. An excess of any one solidarity, the theory of plural rationality holds, will be deleterious, as too will its exclusion. The relationship, in other words, is “curvilinear”. But fatalism is to some extent the odd one out, in that, unlike the other three solidarities, it does not generate any of the three kinds of social capital—bonding (egalitarianism), bridging (individualism) and linking (hierarchy)—that are now recognized (Szreter and Woolcock 2004). Fatalism does have its part to play (see Underwood et al. 2014, where fatalism, so as not to offend certain CEOs, is re-labelled pragmatism) but, because of its social capital-eroding tendency, in much smaller doses than with the other three solidarities.

  7. Of course, if there is no clumsy solution “out there”. You will not (and the risk of sounding like Yogi Berra, who famously said “If you don’t know where you’re going you may end up some place else”) find your way to it. The claim, therefore, is that, if you can ensure those two pre-requisites—accessibility and responsiveness—you are more likely to find your way to a clumsy solution, if there is one. The participatory process in Nocera Inferiore was designed to do that, and did, as is evident from the three distinct engineering solutions. It also arrived at a clumsy solution: the compromise that incorporates elements of all three engineering solutions, but was clearly distinct from them, is evidence of that.

References

  • Aldred J, Jacobs M (2000) Citizens and wetlands: evaluating the Ely citizens’ jury. Ecol Econ 34:217–232

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ashby W (1968) Variety, constraint and the law of requisite variety. In: Buckley W (ed) Modern systems research for the behavioral scientist. Aldine, Chicago, pp 129–136

    Google Scholar 

  • Beck M, Thompson M (2015) Coping with change: urban resilience, sustainability, adaptability and path dependence. UK Government Office for Science. www.gov.uk/government/publications/future-of-cities-coping-with-change

  • Beck M, Walker R, Thompson M (2013) Smarter urban metabolism: earth systems re-engineering. Eng Sustain 166:229–241

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bloor D (1982) Polyhedra and the abominations of Leviticus: cognitive styles in mathematics. In: Douglas M (ed) Essay in the sociology of perception. Routledge and Kegan Paul, London, pp 83–102

    Google Scholar 

  • Cascini L, Ferlisi S, De Chiara G (2015) Quantitative risk analysis for hyperconcentrated flows in Nocera Inferiore (southern Italy). Nat Hazards. doi:10.1007/s11069-015-1784-9

  • Cialdini R (2000) Influence: science and practice. Allyn & Bacon, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Costa JE (1988) Rheologic, geomorphic, and sedimentologic differentiation of water floods, hyperconcentrated flows, and debris flows. In: Baker VR, Kochel RC, Patton PC (eds) Flood geomorphology. Wiley, New York, pp 113–122

    Google Scholar 

  • Coussot P, Meunier M (1996) Recognition, classification and mechanical description of debris flows. Earth Sci Rev 40:209–227

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Couzin I et al (2011) Uninformed individuals promote democratic consensus in animal groups. Science 334:1578–1580

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • De Marchi B (2003) Public participation and risk governance. Sci Public Policy 30:171–176

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dietz T (2013) Bringing values and deliberation to science communication. Proc Natl Acad Sci 110:14081–14087

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Douglas M (1978) Cultural bias. Occasional paper no. 35. Royal Anthropological Institute, London

  • Dror Y (1968) Public policy re-examined. Chandler, Scranton

    Google Scholar 

  • Dryzek J (2001) Deliberative democracy and beyond. Oxford University Press, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Dryzek J, Niemeyer S (2006) Reconciling pluralism and consensus as political ideals. Am J Polit Sci 50:634–649

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Elster J (1985) Making sense of Marx. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Elster J (1998) Deliberative democracy. Cambridge University Press, New York

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Etzioni A (1968) The active society. Free Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • European Parliament (2000) Directive 2000/60/EC of the European Parliament and of the council of 23 October 2000 on establishing a framework for community action in the field of water policy. www.eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ//LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:32000L0060:en:NOT. Accessed 15 April 2013

  • European Parliament (2007) Directive 2007/60/EC of the European Parliament and council of 23 October 2007 on the assessment and management of flood risks. www.eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ//LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:32000L0060:en:NOT. Accessed 15 April 2013

  • Fischhoff B (2013) The sciences of science communication. Proc Natl Acad Sci. doi:10.1073/pnas.1213273110

    Google Scholar 

  • Gee J (2010) An introduction to discourse analysis: theory and method, 3rd edn. Routledge, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Gershuny JI (1978) Policymaking rationality: a reformulation. Policy Sci 9:295–316

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grahame K (1908) The wind in the willows. Methuen, London (1975 edition)

  • Habermas J (1983) Moral consciousness and communicative action. MIT Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Habermas J (1996) Between facts and norms: contributions to a discourse theory of law and democracy. MIT Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Hungr O, Evans S, Bovis M, Hutchinson J (2001) A review of the classification of landslides of the flow type. Environ Eng Geosci 7:221–238

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Innes JE (2004) Consensus building: clarifications for the critics. Plan Theory 3:5–20

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Italian National Institute of Statistics (2001) 14° Censimento Generale della Popolazione e delle Abitazioni. ISTAT, Rome

    Google Scholar 

  • Ives J (2004) Himalayan perceptions: environmental change and the well-being of mountain peoples. Routledge, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Jackson S, Tan P, Nolan S (2012) Tools to enhance public participation and confidence in the development of the Howard East aquifer water plan. North Territ J Hydrol 474:22–28

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Junker B, Buchecker M, Müller-Böker U (2007) Objectives of public participation: which actors should be involved in the decision making for river restorations? Water Resour Res 43:1–11

    Google Scholar 

  • Kallis G et al (2009) Beyond the manual: practicing deliberative visioning in a Greek island. Ecol Econ 84:979–989

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lakatos I (1976) Proofs and refutations: the logic of mathematical discovery. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Lindblom C (1959) The science of ‘muddling through’. Public Adm Rev 19:79–88

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Linnerooth-Bayer J, Vari A, Thompson M (2006) Floods and fairness in Hungary. In: Verweij M, Thompson M (eds) Clumsy solutions for a complex world: governance, politics and plural perceptions. Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke, pp 181–204

    Google Scholar 

  • Linnerooth-Bayer J, Scolobig A, Ferlisi S, Cascini L, Thompson M (2015) Expert engagement in participatory processes: translating stakeholder discourses into policy options. Nat Hazards. doi:10.1007/s11069-015-1805-8

  • March JG, Olsen JP (1976) Ambiguity and choice in organisations. Bergen University Press, Bergen

    Google Scholar 

  • Margalit A (2014) On compromise and rotten compromises. Princeton University Press, Princeton

    Google Scholar 

  • Messner F, Zwinner O, Karkuschke M (2006) Participation in multi-criteria decision support for the resolution of a water allocation problem in the Spree basin. Land Use Policy 23:63–75

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mileti D (1999) Disasters by design: a reassessment of natural hazards in the United States. National Academies Press, Washington

    Google Scholar 

  • Ney S (2009) Resolving messy policy problems: handling conflict in environmental, transport, health and ageing policy. Earthscan, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Narasimhan H, Ferlisi S, Cascini L, Faber M, De Chiara G (this issue) A cost-benefit analysis of mitigation options for optimal management of risks posed by flow-like mass movement phenomena. Nat Hazards

  • Pagano L (2009) The role of rainfall history on the interpretation of flowslide triggering in pyroclastic soils. In: Picarelli L et al (eds) Rainfall-induced landslides: mechanisms, monitoring techniques and nowcasting models for early warning systems. Studio Editoriale Doppiavoce, Naples, pp 216–223

    Google Scholar 

  • Paneque Salgado P et al (2009) Participative multi-criteria analysis for the evaluation of water governance alternatives: a case in the Costa del Sol (Malaga). Ecol Econ 68:990–1005

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Parkinson J (2006) Deliberating in the real world: problems of legitimacy in deliberative democracy. Oxford University Press, Oxford

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Pearce L (2003) Disaster management and community planning, and public participation: how to achieve sustainable hazard mitigation. Nat Hazards 28:211–228

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Perri 6, Mars G (2008) Introduction. In: Perri 6, G Mars (eds) The institutional dynamics of culture, 2 vol. Ashgate, Farnham, pp 1–12

  • Potter J (1996) Representing reality: discourse, rhetoric and social construction, 1st edn. Sage Publications Ltd, London

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Putnam R (1993) Making democracy work: civic traditions in modern Italy. Princeton University Press, Princeton

    Google Scholar 

  • Rayner S (1986) Management of radiation hazards in hospitals: plural rationalities in a single institution. Soc Stud Sci 16:573–591

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rayner S (2014) Wicked problems. Environ Sci 23:4–6

  • Renn O (1992) Concepts of risk: a clarification. In: Krimsky S, Golding D (eds) Social theories of risk. Praeger, Westport, pp 53–79

    Google Scholar 

  • Renn O (1998) The role of risk communication and public dialogue for improving risk management. Risk Decis Policy 3:5–30

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Renn O (2006) Participatory processes for designing environmental policies. Land Use Policy 23:34–43

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Renn O (2008) Risk governance: coping with uncertainty in a complex world. Earthscan, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Rescher N (1995) Pluralism: against the demand for consensus. Oxford University Press, Oxford

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Rittel H, Webber M (1973) Dilemmas in a general theory of planning. Policy Sci 4:155–169

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rosenberg S (2007) Rethinking democratic deliberation: the limits and potential of citizen participation. Polity 39:335–360

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rowe G, Frewer L (2000) Public participation methods: a framework for evaluation. Sci Technol Human Values 25:3–29

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rowe G, Marsh R, Frewer L (2004) Evaluation of a deliberative conference. Sci Technol Human Values 29:88–121

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ryfe D (2005) Does deliberative democracy work? Annu Rev Polit Sci 8:49–71

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schneider R (2002) Hazard mitigation and sustainable community development. Disaster Prev Manag 11:141–147

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schwarz M, Thompson M (1990) Divided we stand. University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia

    Google Scholar 

  • Scolobig A (2015) Stakeholder perspectives on barriers to landslide risk governance. Nat Hazards. doi:10.1007/s11069-015-1787-6

  • Scolobig A, Bayer J, Cascini L, Ferlisi S (2011) Design and testing: a risk communication strategy and a deliberative process for choosing a set of mitigation and prevention measures. Deliverable 5.7, SafeLand Project, Living with landslide risk in Europe, WP 5.2, European Commission 7th Framework Programme. http://www.safeland-fp7.eu/results/Documents/D5.7.pdf, 239 pp

  • Simon HA (1947) Administrative behavior. Macmillan, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Steiner J (2012) The foundations of deliberative democracy. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Stern P, Fineberg V (1996) Understanding risk: informing decisions in a democratic society. National Research Council, Committee on Risk Characterization, National Academy Press, Washington, DC

    Google Scholar 

  • Stirling A (2006) Analysis, participation and power: justification and closure in participatory multi-criteria analysis. Land Use Policy 23:95–107

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Susskind L, McKearnan S, Thomas-Larmer J (eds) (1999) The consensus building handbook: a comprehensive guide to reaching agreement. Sage, Thousand Oaks

    Google Scholar 

  • Susskind L, Fuller B, Ferenz M, Fairman D (2002) Multi-stakeholder dialogue at the global scale. Consensus Building Institute, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Szreter S, Woolcock M (2004) Health by association? Social capital, social theory and the political economy of public health. Int J Epidemiol 33:650–667

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tan P, Bowmer KH, Mackenzie J (2012) Deliberative tools for meeting the challenges of water planning. Aust J Hydrol 474:2–10. doi:10.1016/j.jhydrol.2012.02.032

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thompson M (1979) Rubbish theory. Oxford University Press, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Thompson M (2008) Organizing and disorganizing: a dynamic and non-linear theory of institutional emergence and its implications. Triarchy Press, Devon

    Google Scholar 

  • Thompson M (2013) Clumsy solutions to environmental change. In: Sygna L, O’Brien K, Wolf J (eds) A changing environment for human society. Routledge, London, pp 424–432

    Google Scholar 

  • Thompson M, Ellis R (eds) (1997) Culture matters. Westview Press, Boulder

    Google Scholar 

  • Thompson M, Gyawali D (2007) Uncertainty revisited (new introduction). In: Thompson M, Warburton M, Hatley T (eds) Uncertainty on a Himalayan scale. Himal Books, Lalitpur

    Google Scholar 

  • Thompson M, Rayner S (1998) Risk and governance part 1: the discourses of climate change. Gov Oppos 33:139–166

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thompson M, Ellis R, Wildavsky A (1990) Cultural theory. Westview Press, Boulder

    Google Scholar 

  • UNCED (1992) The rio declaration on environment and development. www.unesco.org/education/nfsunesco/pdf/RIO_E.PDF

  • Underwood A, Thompson M, Ingram D (2014) All on the same train but heading in different directions: risk attitudes among insurance company management and implications for forming a risk culture. Intelligent Risk August: 044-052

  • UNISDR (2005) Hyogo framework for action 2005–2015: building the resilience of nations and communities to disasters. www.unisdr.org/wcdr

  • Van den Hove S (2006) Between consensus and compromise: acknowledging the negotiation dimension in participatory approaches. Land Use Policy 23:10–17

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Van Eeten M (2001) The challenge ahead for deliberative democracy. Sci Public Policy 28:423–426

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Verweij M, Ney S, Thompson M (2011) How to curb global warming: when it may or may not be occurring clumsy solutions for a wicked world. In: Verweij M (ed) Clumsy solutions for a wicked world. Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke

    Google Scholar 

  • Webler T, Kastenholy H, Renn O (1995) Public participation in impact assessment: a social learning perspective. Environ Impact Assess Rev 15:443–463

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Webler T, Tuler S, Krueger R (2001) What is good public participation process? Five perspectives from the public. Environ Manage 27:435–450

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • West J, Bergstrom C (2011) Can ignorance promote democracy? Science 334:1503–1504

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wynne B (2007) Public participation in science and technology: performing and obscuring a political-conceptual category mistake. East Asian Sci Technol Soc 1:99–110

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

The research described in this paper was supported by the European Community’s Seventh Framework Programme through the grant to the Safeland Project (http://www.safeland-fp7.eu/Introduction.html), Grant agreement: 226479. The paper reflects the authors’ views and not those of the European Community. Neither the European Community nor any member of the Safeland Consortium is liable for any use of the information in this paper. We thank the 43 local stakeholders, who devoted their precious time to the interviews and meetings. The same gratitude goes to the numerous volunteers of seven local associations providing help to collect the questionnaires, as well as for the 373 survey respondents. We gratefully thank our Safeland partners at the University of Salerno (Italy), Prof. Leonardo Cascini and Prof. Settimio Ferlisi, for their support and cooperation during all the research phases. We also thank Sandro Bösch at ETH Zürich for his creativity and patience in optimizing the figures. Finally, we would like to dedicate this work to the victims of the 2005 landslides and to their families.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Risk, Policy and Vulnerability Program, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), Laxenburg, Austria

    Anna Scolobig, Michael Thompson & JoAnne Linnerooth-Bayer

  2. Climate Policy Group, Department of Environmental Systems Science, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), Universitätstrasse 22 CHN J72.2, 8092, Zurich, Switzerland

    Anna Scolobig

Authors
  1. Anna Scolobig
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Michael Thompson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. JoAnne Linnerooth-Bayer
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Anna Scolobig.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Scolobig, A., Thompson, M. & Linnerooth-Bayer, J. Compromise not consensus: designing a participatory process for landslide risk mitigation. Nat Hazards 81 (Suppl 1), 45–68 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-015-2078-y

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-015-2078-y

Keywords

Search

Navigation