Abstract

This article studies two inclusive processes that were carried out in Genoa about the strongly contested projects of a motorway and a waste incinerator. It shows how inclusive processes may contribute to the de-escalation of the conflict even when stakeholders are not able to reach an agreement. In both cases inclusive processes favoured the development of win-win solutions deriving from various form of coordination that took place without reaching an agreement involving citizens committees and environmental groups. Several innovations in the motorway project that reduced the negative externalities for residents were introduced through unilateral adjustments by the proponents after the conclusion of the process. The project for a new less polluting waste facility came out from a negotiation among technicians with different orientations, even if none of them was entitled to represent the organized opponents. At the same time in both cases the opponents did not delegitimize the processes during their implementation. In fact the main actors were connected by a field of relations that nobody had the interest to break. In the case of the motorway the network was promoted by the commission that managed the inclusive process through an exchange of resources (information/legitimation). In the case of the incinerator it was promoted by the municipal administration trough an enlargement of the issue at stake.