Wang, Yuhong; (2024) Stakeholder collaboration in community greenspace regeneration: the networks and complex systems. Doctoral thesis (Ph.D), UCL (University College London).

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Abstract

Cities worldwide are regenerating greenspaces to enhance citizens' health and quality of life. It has become increasingly evident that multi-stakeholder collaboration, particularly in community greenspace regeneration, delivers greater benefits compared to isolated efforts. However, such collaboration also introduces competition and conflict due to the complexity of stakeholder relationships. Despite available co-design toolkits and governance schemes, stakeholder networks continue to face challenges, and thus a deeper understanding of this complexity is necessary. This research aims to address these challenges in stakeholder collaboration by better understanding the stakeholder network, the challenges in collaboration, and the interaction and causal structures of these challenges. The study focuses on Pen Garden in Shenzhen, China, using stakeholder theory, network perspective, and systems thinking to examine collaboration among government, NGOs, professional teams, and the public. It combines qualitative analysis, social network analysis, especially exponential random graph models, and qualitative system dynamics. The research yields five key insights: in Pen Garden's highly connected stakeholder network, central stakeholders, while facilitating decision-making, do not make decisions themselves, promoting inclusiveness and diverse perspectives. Network genesis depends on various factors, including stakeholders' motivations and their levels of participation. Another network analysis of challenges and relationships identified five key challenges substantially impacting collaboration effectiveness. Furthermore, qualitative system dynamics models for these challenges highlighted three out of sixteen stakeholder-proposed interventions that can provide leverage for collaboration. This study advances multi-perspective analyses of stakeholder collaboration in community greenspace regeneration, contributing to exploring networks and systems approaches in urban governance. These findings provide theoretical and practical insights for enhancing stakeholder collaboration, which in turn would aim to address challenges effectively in the transition to collaborations in community greenspace regeneration. In addition, the innovative application of network analysis to prioritise focus areas in system dynamics modelling aids in navigating research in complex, large-scale systems.

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