An investigation of stakeholder analysis in urban development projects: Empirical or rationalistic perspectives

The increasing research interest in multi-stakeholder analysis in urban planning reflects a growing recognition that stakeholders can and should influence the decision-making of urban development projects. Methods for identifying and prioritising stakeholders and their interests are explored in this study, and two perspectives (empiricism and rationalism) for stakeholder analysis are proposed. Two case studies, one regional renewal project and the other an infrastructure project, are presented to verify the usefulness of these two analysis perspectives. The results from the case studies show that no one method for stakeholder analysis is perfect; the selection of analytical perspective is an art with extensive considerations of ‘when, what, and how’ to choose methods to achieve the project objectives. Applying both empirical and rationalistic perspectives and comparing the analysis results when necessary are proposed as the best way to analyse stakeholders.