Vol. 11 (2024) No. 4
A strategic approach to stakeholder engagement and scenario planning
Strategic thinking is crucial for urban planning in a world characterized by uncertainties. To address these uncertainties, long-term visionary planning is essential, enabling the creation of resilient and adaptable strategies. Involvement of stakeholders, such as businesses, NGOs, and local governments, in participatory governance has become a widely used method in Western democracies. This approach fosters collaboration between various actors, enabling diverse viewpoints in decisionmaking processes. Strategic foresight has emerged as a valuable tool for managing uncertainty by developing plausible future scenarios. These scenarios help decision-makers understand potential paths and create strategies that can succeed in different future contexts. This paper illustrates the process of developing methodological tools that integrate strategic foresight and stakeholder engagement to shape the future of sustainable urban mobility. It showcases the creation of an online questionnaire and structured workshops involving business leaders, decision-makers, and NGOs to generate multiple alternative scenarios for Budaörs' sustainable urban mobility by 2030. The case study highlights the importance of structured methodologies in guiding participants through effective scenario-building, ensuring outcomes that are both actionable and aligned with broader strategic goals. This approach not only encourages future-oriented thinking but also provides a comprehensive framework for urban planning at the municipal level.
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