Topic

Support of the co-operation between the mobile telecommunication actors by the local agenda 21

Start

01.07.2004

End

31.12.2006

Project Management

Agenda Transfer - Agentur für Nachhaltigkeit GmbH

Objective

The objective of this research project was to support the cooperation and communication process at local level in connection with the choice for mobile communication transmitter sites. To achieve this, experience and potentials from local Agenda 21 processes should be evaluated so that recommendations can be made for the co-operation between mobile communication participants (communities, mobile communication providers, citizens, citizens action committees). The focus hereby was on the evaluation of options for an improved cooperation between network operators, communities and citizens using examples of best practise as well as the on the deduction of factors contributing to success and barriers. It is particularly important to make use of practical experience from the Agenda 21 process, such as the organisation of "Round Tables" or the rapprochement and consensus building of participants with diverging interests as well as the knowledge of processes and communication paths and structures on the local level.

Results

A Methodology

Selection of communities to be investigated

At the beginning of the research project, an in-house research of about 300 communal files, research at a variety of institutions and establishments as well as an internet search with the keywords “local Agenda 21” and “mobile communication” was undertaken. Using secondary research and predefined criteria, 37 communities were selected for further investigation and asked per telephone about organisational structures, political initiatives and steps of implementation. From the 20 cities and communities selected this way, the contractor chose 8 cities with complex mobile communication dialogue structures and agenda experience, which were distinct in number of inhabitants, size and geographical location. Qualitative interviews were conducted with 37 people from those 8 cities, using interview guidelines. Furthermore, interviews were conducted with 6 representatives of mobile phone operators (2 from T-Mobile, 2 from Vodafone and one from O2 and E-Plus respectively).

Analysis of potentials

The potentials of the local Agenda 21 were analysed using selected publications with reference to organisational and working structures, dialog processes, participants and methods.

Based on this analysis, the 43 interviews and the results of two expert conversations, a potential analysis was outsourced in order to have the material evaluated by a third party. Furthermore, the contractor awarded an expertise on communicative demands to participants in site disputes and potentials of the local Agenda 21, ensuring that this important aspect of the research project was also supported by a third party.

Expert events

During the research project, two expert conversations, three regional workshops and one expert workshop took place. The participants in those events were the 37 interviewees from the eight communities, the six interviewed representatives of the mobile phone operators as well as further representatives from communities, network operators, initiatives and scientific institutions. A total of 40 communities and 140 experts involved in the project, dealt with the interim result and shared their experiences using three feedback loops. This meant that challenges and opportunities for the mobile communication dialogue were presented in a practice-oriented manner.

B. Results

The research findings show that experience from local agenda processes have a considerable potential for the mobile communication dialogue and can be transferred to it. Moreover, the big majority of the mobile communication participants involved stressed that there was no alternative to the dialogue method when looking for an appropriate regulation of the mobile communication dispute.

Experience from local agenda process is helpful for communities who are establishing and implementing working groups, a round table or open forums. Moreover, agenda communities have learned to approach the participants concerned, social groups and citizens, to inform them in time, build confidence, deal with them objectively and fair and not only to organise a dialogue procedure, but to control it successfully.

Agenda structures are furthermore helpful in providing impulses to the issue, to establish a contact point for the public and to hold informative events. This enables the community to gain access to important social groups and participants in order to start and conduct the mobile communication dialogue.

Furthermore, communities can use the knowledge from experience with local agenda processes to deal with disputes between network operators and citizen’s initiatives in a solution-oriented fashion using constructive dialogue and playing a moderating, goal-oriented role in the dialogue process.

The advantages gained by local agenda processes on the political side are the recovery of the ability to act, the control over dialogue and planning processes as well as the management of stake-holding and implementation.

Through the so-called dialogue method, the communities are able to obtain the necessary agreement for site decisions from the public, political compromise, as well as planning security and an improvement of the overall dialogue and dispute culture. In the process, citizen’s initiatives need to be recognised as equal local participants and their health concerns should be taken seriously. This way, it can be possible to stop them from "protesting". This procedure can result in an improved planning security for network operators.

In order to realise these advantages for the mobile communication participants, it is necessary that a community controls the dialogue from the start and furthermore that all parties involved in the dialogue become aware of the demands made on them. For a better preparation and a goal-oriented implementation of the dialogue, it is helpful to structure the process into preparation, into the dialogue and decision-making process and the dispute-handling. The tasks, actions and goals required to achieve this, must be defined and communicated in order to, amongst others, set the expectations of the mobile communications participants on a realistic level.

The final report can be downloaded as a PDF file (1702 KB) in German.

Conclusions

Dialogue methods do not only focus on the site dispute, but also on the roles, interests and opinions of the participants involved. For that reason, communities are required to develop necessary social and communicative skills and to facilitate dialogue in accordance with mobile communication participants. Experience from the local agenda 21 process can support communities and their employees in this. However, even without a local agenda-21 process in the community, the findings of this project support the improvement of cooperation and communication between mobile communication participants.