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Community participation in Health Impact Assessment

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapterAcademic

Abstract

Community participation is important in Health Impact Assessment (HIA). Participation provides communities with options to be informed about projects or policy plans, and to develop agency. In addition, citizens and communities may increase their knowledge, get in touch with a broader variety of views and strengthen their social networks. Community participation helps to better understand the local context and improve the quality of the HIA, leading to socially robust knowledge. Nevertheless, poorly performed participation processes without visible results may lead to consultation fatigue and withdrawal by community members. Successful HIA, with (community) support for results, requires a careful participation process. This chapter discusses several examples from the Netherlands. It summarises steps towards future meaningful community participation in HIA. One step is to invest in more long-term community participation, continuing after the completion of the HIA. We recommend linking HIA to public health foresight studies and the evaluation of national or regional policies.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationHandbook of Health Impact Assessment
EditorsBen Cave, Francesca Viliani, Mirko Winkler
PublisherEdward Elgar Publishing
Chapter12
Pages180-195
Number of pages15
ISBN (Electronic)ISBN: 978 1 03532 860 4
Publication statusPublished - 12 May 2026

Publication series

NameResearch Handbooks on Impact Assessment series
PublisherEdward Elgar Publishers

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