Making Decisions on Location

This chapter addresses how political actors manage location issues and decisions. It discusses efforts to avoid painful decisions by searching for alternatives, delegating the problem to other actors or delaying the process as long as possible. The difference between two decision-making models is introduced—one based on conflict where the winning side decides and the other based on compromise between stakeholders—and how the two models may affect transparency and accountability in different ways is discussed. The chapter ends with a discussion on the prospects of public involvement as a means to generate legitimacy for location decisions.