Public communication and participation activities in siting controversial facilities in the United States and Western Europe

This paper reviews literature discussing the siting of controversial facilities in the United States and Western Europe in order to identify lessons regarding the role of public communication and participation. Sources found that effective public communication and participation are extremely important to successful facility siting, although they do not guarantee it. Lessons fell into four categories: recognizing and addressing public concern; meeting the communication and participation needs of key publics; creating an effective siting process; and recognizing the limitations of public communication and participation. The authors discusses specific lessons, with examples from the literature, in each category