Doing siting better: Community civic capacity building for siting energy infrastructure

Journal Article · Thu Jul 24 00:00:00 EDT 2025 · Energy Research and Social Science

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.5022433· OSTI ID:2572963

Webler, Thomas ^[1]; Tuler, Seth ^[2]

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1. Social and Environmental Research Institute, Shelburne Falls, MA (United States)
2. Worcester Polytechnic Institute, MA (United States)

To address the driving forces of climate change and to ensure society has reliable and plentiful energy, considerable amounts of new energy infrastructure will need to be built in scores of communities over the near future. Democratic societies give communities considerable authority, influence, and autonomy on land-use decisions and regulatory policy making. Involving community members and stakeholders in decision making about facility siting and hosting is vital to minimize local opposition. But while there is much written about how to engage communities successfully, there is comparatively little attention given to understanding the civic capacities communities need to be able to participate. Furthermore, this paper reviews literatures on civic capacity and presents a new taxonomy based on six categories: leadership, knowledge, resources, civic engagement, social capital, and culture. It then proposes a systems framework to convey how capacities are developed and employed in collaborative decision making processes about siting and hosting energy facilities. Project sponsors, regulators, stakeholder groups, and communities can use these insights to better prepare and empower communities to participate as equal partners in conversations about energy facility siting.

• Research Organization: Idaho Operations Office, Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Nuclear Energy (NE)
• Grant/Contract Number: NE0009337
• OSTI ID: 2572963
• Report Number(s): ERSS-D-24-02326R2
• Journal Information: Energy Research and Social Science, Journal Name: Energy Research and Social Science
• Publisher: Elsevier BV
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES
Civic capacity
community engagement
energy facility hosting
energy facility siting
public participation