One of the main ones weaknesses in the construction of works in Italy is the lack of a formal process of involving the population in the planning phase. This emerges clearly especially if we compare the practices and legislation of the main European countries.
When it comes to local consensus and the involvement of the population, the most popular tool is certainly the French one of the Débat public. One of the first public inquiry or debate tools for carrying out participation and comparison procedures was introduced in France in 1995 and perfected in 2002, through the establishment of the Débat public in the specific field of major works. The Commission nationale du débat public (CNDP), transformed into an independent Authority, is the main organ of French public debate.
It is made up of twenty-one members from various backgrounds and acts as a third guarantor between the public and the client of the work. Once the question has been raised, the CNDP can decide at its discretion whether or not it is necessary to organize a public debate on the basis of the criteria indicated by the law (national interest of the project, its territorial impact, etc.). If so, he can decide to organize it directly, entrusting it to a specifically established territorial commission, or to the client himself.
The public debate takes place in the initial phase of the project, when all options and solutions are still possible; therefore, in the first place it concerns the opportunity (or not) of the construction of the work itself, as well as the methods and characteristics of its realisation. The procedure serves to guarantee full and transparent information on an intervention being planned to all citizens living in a specific area, giving them the opportunity to express their opinion on the intervention, and to make the subject who implements the various needs present in the area. At the end of the debate, the Commission has two months to prepare a report which gives an account of the progress of the debate and makes known the positions expressed by the population.
Other countries have also developed effective consent management tools. There Britain has for some time been pursuing a consolidated tradition of public consultation in which a key role is played by information, consultation and discussion practices with stakeholders. An example of this is the Code of Practice on Consultation, a code of conduct published by the British Government in 2000, to regulate the forms of consultation of the main public works, including transport infrastructures.
The code, signed up by various Ministries, Departments and Intergovernmental Agencies, has become the gold standard for participation in England. The consultations can last from a minimum of twelve weeks to a maximum of thirty, providing for the collection of written opinions but also the holding of numerous live confrontations (meetings, assemblies, hearings).
In Germany, the “citizens' report” (Bürgergutachten) represents a model of participatory democracy. This report contains a series of recommendations and advice from citizens who, drawn by lot from a population register, express their opinion on a specific public policy issue, such as urban planning. The recommendations of citizens, informed by experts on all the relevant aspects of the matter, are summarized and published in a report which is subsequently submitted to the attention and examination of the client. In addition, a preventive public participation for infrastructure and industrial plants (frühe Öffentlichkeitsbeteiligung) has been introduced, to be carried out at an early stage of the procedure, even before an application is submitted.
THEHolland considers participation as one of the elements of the decision-making process. The moments of participation concern both the definition of national policy objectives and the choice of projects. The engagement tools range from the request for comments to the public inquiry on the English model. Finally, in the transport sector in Sweden, once the Trafikverket agency has produced and verified the CBAs of the individual projects, the list is sent to a committee which draws up the national plan document. This committee also organizes consultation procedures with a large number of stakeholders, from counties to regions to various interest groups.
In Italy on the contrary, there is a lack of methods of concertation with the territory; in the event of disputes, the proponents tend not to dialogue, but to defend their positions, causing a further deterioration of the situation. Historically, the reaction to this approach is the triggering of forms of opposition on the part of both the institutions and citizens, which in some cases has led to the blocking of the work. Also in Italy it would therefore be appropriate to use a method of involving the population, which would allow consensus to be built right from the initial stages of the project, involving the populations concerned and entrusting a specific body (for example, a regional public body ) the task of "monitoring" the entire process. However, something starts to move.
In the Bill on the new Procurement Code approved by the Senate in June, in fact, the public debate procedure is envisaged to encourage the involvement of local communities already in the planning and design phase of large strategic infrastructures. These issues will be the subject of the first QPLab Workshop, which will be held in Rome on 30 September at the Via Veneto Auditorium (visit the event website).
