Collaborative Stakeholder Dialogue: A Catalyst for Better Transport Policy Choices

Policies that promote sustainable transport development are often contested among the different stakeholder groups in the policy process. The resulting conflict creates barriers to the implementation of innovative policies. This article investigates how, and under what conditions, closer communication and the resulting relationships between different stakeholders in the policy process can contribute to overcoming these challenges. By building on the findings of a case study in collaborative stakeholder dialogue in Munich, it proposes collaborative stakeholder dialogue as a pragmatic strategy to counterbalance the difference in influence competing stakeholder groups have in the policy process, and to so facilitate better choices.