Promoting Public Participation in NIMBY Facilities' EIA in Urban Planning: An Evolutionary Game Model
Publication: Journal of Urban Planning and Development
Volume 150, Issue 1
Abstract
As a way of empowerment, public participation has gained extensive application to address not-in-my-backyard (NIMBY) issues in short-term one-off and long-term strategic urban planning. Promoting public participation in environmental impact assessment (EIA) is central to high-quality urban planning initiatives. However, few studies focus on the dynamics between local governments and the public and how they interact in the context of EIA. This study established an evolutionary game system based on bounded rationality theory, detected two players' (i.e., local governments and the public) behavioral strategies, and explored the effects of initial conditions and parameters on the game system's evolution. The results show that (1) local governments are dominant in motivating public participation in NIMBY's EIA, subject to the trade-off between costs and benefits; (2) public pressure on local governments has been a critical factor driving the system to evolve; (3) understanding the public's needs and developing mutual trust between these two players are prerequisites for promoting public participation; and (4) it is reasonable for local governments to give the public incentives that are slightly lower than the cost of public participation. The study sheds some light on urban planning systems by improving public participation in NIMBY's EIA to facilitate greener urban planning and development.
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Data Availability Statement
Some or all data, models, or codes that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
Acknowledgments
This work is supported by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (No. 2022CDJSKPT25).
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Journal of Urban Planning and Development
Volume 150 • Issue 1 • March 2024
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© 2023 American Society of Civil Engineers.
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Received: Nov 4, 2022
Accepted: Sep 25, 2023
Published online: Dec 27, 2023
Published in print: Mar 1, 2024
Discussion open until: May 27, 2024
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