Engagement starts with Why

Over the past several years we’ve been fortunate to advise on some of Auckland’s biggest urban regeneration and transport projects. Centred around developing much needed housing and infrastructure, these types of projects are critical to the future of Auckland and creating a smart, quality, compact urban area. They also require thoughtful and strategic stakeholder and community engagement. 

While complex and transformative with many moving parts, these projects can often hinge on how the broader community feels about and embraces change. Looking at Australia’s infrastructure sector, research from the Australian National University shows that the cost of community outrage - think delays, project cancellations, salaries and clean-up work, stands at a whopping $30 billion AUD over the last 12 years.

Building homes on an empty piece of land is pretty straightforward. Building new (and many more) homes in an existing community, not to mention the infrastructure and amenity required to support them...needs to be a carefully curated exercise in meaningful engagement to bring about the required behaviour change and social acceptance for projects to succeed. 

We are creatures of habit with a strong sense of familiarity with our surroundings. Even when a proposed change is highly beneficial – modern infrastructure, better transport options, more shops and community facilities – there is a natural skepticism attached to something that will alter the status quo. Not just about what it will look like in the future, but also what disruption it may bring along the way.

Quality community engagement for large-scale projects revolves around understanding the ‘why’. Why you want to engage with the community, and why they would want to engage with you. The reasons will be slightly different, and the key is acknowledging and addressing each party’s ‘why’ in your approach.

For example, an organisation undertaking a transformative urban project, whether private or public, will look to establish social license to operate and better understand opportunities and challenges within the community. This can take time and needs to be tailored to the communities involved to be successful.

A savvy or construction-fatigued community will see through glossy brochures and token gestures. Engagement needs to be genuine to truly understand and appreciate their why, and although there are some common engagement principles we advise our clients to adopt, a cookie cutter approach won’t do.

At the same time, local residents will expect to be well-informed on what is taking place, understand what can and cannot be influenced, and what the short- and long-term impacts will be. Things like timely and consistent communications, opportunities for community collaboration and rapid resolution of queries and issues are key. Most importantly, an open line to talk about what change means all along the way. 

To achieve a modern city that works for everyone, we need transformative urban projects to succeed. As part of that, we also need to understand that change is hard and requires active listening, learning and responsiveness to support our communities on a journey towards Auckland’s future.

Once you define the ‘why’ for each, you can advance strategies to achieve success for all.