Promoting Public Participation in NIMBY Facilities' EIA in Urban Planning: An Evolutionary Game Model

Abstract

As a way of empowerment, public participation has gained extensive application to address not-in-my-backyard (NIMBY) issues in short-term one-off and long-term strategic urban planning. Promoting public participation in environmental impact assessment (EIA) is central to high-quality urban planning initiatives. However, few studies focus on the dynamics between local governments and the public and how they interact in the context of EIA. This study established an evolutionary game system based on bounded rationality theory, detected two players' (i.e., local governments and the public) behavioral strategies, and explored the effects of initial conditions and parameters on the game system's evolution. The results show that (1) local governments are dominant in motivating public participation in NIMBY's EIA, subject to the trade-off between costs and benefits; (2) public pressure on local governments has been a critical factor driving the system to evolve; (3) understanding the public's needs and developing mutual trust between these two players are prerequisites for promoting public participation; and (4) it is reasonable for local governments to give the public incentives that are slightly lower than the cost of public participation. The study sheds some light on urban planning systems by improving public participation in NIMBY's EIA to facilitate greener urban planning and development.