---
title: Stakeholder Engagement – The Key to Successful Placemaking
url: "https://www.systra.com/uk/expert_insights/stakeholder-engagement-the-key-to-successful-placemaking/"
type: expert_insights
date_published: 2023-03-30
date_modified: 2023-09-14
schema:
  @type: WebPage
language: en-GB
word_count: 431
reading_time: 3 min
canonical: "https://www.systra.com/uk/expert_insights/stakeholder-engagement-the-key-to-successful-placemaking/"
featured_image: "https://www.systra.com/uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/11/2023/06/liveable-cities-illustration-e1686756669244.png"
type-insight:
  - Creating Places That Thrive
---

# Stakeholder Engagement – The Key to Successful Placemaking

**Wide ranging, inclusive and innovative stakeholder engagement will shape your Local Transport Plan. If you’re going to create vibrant liveable spaces that people want to be part of, it’s obvious that you need to involve them and listen to their views. But if you’re thinking seriously about stakeholder engagement, the first thing you should do is take the plan you used for your last project, and throw it in the bin!**

It’s not because it was a bad plan necessarily. But the biggest mistake we all
make when it comes to engaging with our stakeholders is to imagine that ‘one
size’ fits all. It doesn’t. You need to think hard about who your stakeholders
are and why you need to engage them. They may be elected representatives,
operators, business, or the general public, but none of those groups are
generic. The politicians and businesses involved in your project are not the
same ones with the same priorities and pressure as the ones you engaged with in
the last. The general public is not so general – it has a specific complexion
that is particular to the local area.

![liveable-cities-illustration](https://www.systra.com/uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/11/2023/06/liveable-cities-illustration-e1686756669244-1024x502.png)

The second thing you should do is engage sooner. Early engagement allows you to
respond to what you hear, and if you are not going to change your plans in
response, what’s the point of engagement? Few things are more frustrating than
having your opinion canvassed and then ignored. Not only should you respond, but
you should communicate clearly on how you have responded, and build that into
your plan too. Last but not least – don’t forget to let the stakeholders know
how they contributed, investing them in your project, and your project in them.

Of course, some stakeholders are easier to reach than others. Public engagement
especially is dogged by the problem of self-selection. Some individuals or
communities may be excluded by the data or terminology you use, or by
restricting languages to just English. Anticipating these difficulties is not so
hard, but it underlines the dangers of simply relying on the strategy that was
used before in a different place populated by different people.

So, engage the way you would like to be engaged and you are more than halfway
towards forming a successful strategy. Remember why you are doing it – to make
changes and, ultimately, to deliver sustainable, liveable communities and
economic growth.

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