Learning in iterated consultation procedures - The example of the German electricity grid demand planning

Abstract

Public participation has become a conditio sine qua non when planning infrastructure projects. However, current research is concerned with one-time experiments and can not elucidate long-term effects of iterated consultations. Our argument is that consultations have learning effects over time. We test our argument using the German procedure for electricity grid demand planning as a case. Using dictionary coding and a quantitative analysis, supplemented by a qualitative text analysis, we show that participants get better in framing their contributions by using the ``right'' keywords. Hence, consultations evolve over time and improve in terms of the output legitimacy they generate.