Stakeholder Acceptance of Large-Scale Floating Developments: Insights from Social Theory and Realized Projects in the Netherlands

The potential of floating structures to provide climate-resilient living space has recently been acknowledged by the United Nations and the IPCC. The technical feasibility of small-scale floating structures has already been demonstrated in many projects all over the world. These projects support different functions such as housing, recreation, and energy production. What is lacking to apply this technology at a larger scale is the required integrated governance, technical, social, and ecological insights for upscaling, in order to address societal challenges such as land scarcity and climate impacts. These insights are needed to move from “proof-of-concept” to “proof-of-scale”. Although the technical challenges of upscaling floating structures have already received attention in the international research community, and some research results have been published about the ecological impacts recently, the social aspects and stakeholder acceptance of large-scale floating developments are still considered a knowledge gap. This article therefore explores the social conditions that would enable the stakeholder acceptance of large-scale floating developments. By a scientific literature review, we investigate which insights and lessons can be derived that influence stakeholder acceptance of large-scale floating developments. Theoretical frameworks and concepts that are studied include the following: resilience, transformation, receptivity theories on social value and governance. Additionally, we will draw lessons from realized projects in the Netherlands and discussions of the Thinktank “Governance of Floating Cities”. While the investigated projects still have a relatively small scale, we expect that some of the success factors are also relevant for the upscaling of floating structures internationally. Finally, based on the results, we will draw up recommendations for future research on this topic.