Read time: 5 mins
Based on Social risk and Australian infrastructure: Defining an emerging challenge, published 2022.
Australian communities are experiencing an unprecedented scale and pace of infrastructure delivery. Between 2021 to 2026, some 434 projects are slated for delivery, valued at about $300 billion. ANU experts have shown that the sheer number of these big projects is affecting communities’ trust in infrastructure and their acceptance of new projects. Their research highlights the virtues of a ‘place-based approach’ to planning.
Read time: 5 mins
Based on Social risk and Australian infrastructure: Defining an emerging challenge, published 2022.
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Australians experiencing four or more projects in their local area report lower levels of trust and project acceptance.
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Delays are on the rise, and industry experts agree that cumulative impacts are a factor – stakeholder and community pressure is one of the top three contributors to project delay.
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A ‘place-based approach’ to planning would build community support for infrastructure projects.
Infrastructure projects are increasing in scale, complexity and intensity. As one survey respondent told ANU Institute for Infrastructure in Society, “In the late 80s, you might have had a project that could be delivered in 15 years over 10 projects, now [it’s] one project over five years”.
This rise in ‘mega projects’ – that is, projects over $1B in capital cost – is notable. Communities are seeing bigger, more complex projects delivered more closely together than ever before. And while these projects are designed to benefit market participants and communities, it’s also creating pressures such as dust, noise, changes to greenspaces, and traffic disruptions.
The 2022 Australian Perspectives on Infrastructure Survey from ANU showed that people experiencing four or more projects in their local area report lower levels of trust in infrastructure proponents and governments.
Compared to communities experiencing fewer projects at a time, they also show lower levels of project acceptance and said they were unconvinced that their communities were being planned well.
This evidence shows that opposition is likely to be less about the qualities of an individual project and more about the cumulative effect on a community of the combined effects of all projects operating in that local area.
Industry has noticed a flow-on impact from these situations.
The 2021 State of Infrastructure and Engagement Survey from ANU showed that 81 per cent of industry members agreed that cumulative impacts were increasingly driving community opposition and affecting the delivery of major projects.
But there is a solution.
Almost two-thirds of industry representatives agreed that a ‘place-based’ approach – which considers the number of projects already happening in an area – would improve infrastructure delivery. And 74 per cent said that place-based approaches would improve the likelihood that projects are delivered on-time and on-budget.
Place-based approaches that consider the other projects in an area could equip regulatory regimes to deal with cumulative effects and reduce community opposition to projects.
Community members want increased communication, to be involved while there is time to affect project outcomes, and to feel genuinely represented by the people who are consulted.
“The evidence shows that community opposition is likely to be less about the qualities of an individual project and more about the cumulative effect on a community of every other project operating in that local area.”
