3.2. Stakeholder Analysis
In this chapter a stakeholder analysis will be performed to gain insight over the main actors that have interest in the problem. The basic stakeholder analysis technique proposed by Bryson (2004) will be used to identify stakeholders and their interests and clarify their view on the problem. Thereafter a power vs. interest grid and a stakeholder-issue interrelationship diagram has been constructed to see more in depth what relations and positions are in place. For more reference on the used techniques we refer to Bryson (2004) in ‘What to do when stakeholders matter’.The central issue in this research and starting point in the stakeholder analysis is:
“Accessibility of the City Center of Nijmegen from the north”
3.2.1. Identified Stakeholders & Interests
Generally the word ‘stakeholder’ refers to persons, groups or organizations that must somehow be taken into account by leaders, managers and front-line staff. According to Bryson stakeholder analyses are now arguably more important than ever because of the increasingly interconnected nature of the world. Choose the public problem – accessibility – and it is clear that ‘the problem’ affects numerous people, groups and organizations. At the same time many groups and organizations are involved or affected or have some partial responsibility to act. Figuring out what the problem is and what solutions might improve the situation are actually part of the problem, and taking stakeholders into account is a crucial aspect of problem solving.
Based on this also in this research attention to stakeholders related with the accessibility problem is important. In the overview below all the identified stakeholders related to the accessibility problem in Nijmegen are summarized:
- Local Government (Gemeente Nijmegen)
- City Region (Stadsregio)
- Province (ProvinceGelderland)
- National Government
- Entrepreneurs
- Kamer van Koophandel
- EntrepreneursCityCenter
- ‘Offensief Bereikbaarheid’
- Users of the Waalbrug and routes through the center (commuters)
- Environmental organizations
- Transport companies
- Public Transport
- Transport of goods
- Public transport users
- Media
- Local Political parties of Nijmegen
As can be seen in the list above, the first stakeholder is the local government of Nijmegen. This actor is chosen to be the problem owner in this research. This is because they define policy in Nijmegen and own resources like capital, policy and decision power. In their policymaking better accessibility of the city is stated as one of the important goals.In the next paragraphs all identified stakeholders will be elaborated on in short to get a good idea of what their ideas and points of view or interests in relation with the problem are.
Local Government (Problem owner)
The municipality of Nijmegen states several goals in their policy documents with respect to the accessibility of the city center and Nijmegen in general.
Main points will be listed. First of all, the municipality states that the economy should be stimulated by making companies accessible for both customers and employees. Also, those should be accessible for transporters of goods. For the city center this means that shops and facilities must be easily accessible by several modes. In achieving this goal, attention must be paid to a good air quality, quietness, safety and livability. In realizing this, the local government prefers public transport and bike alternatives. Also, the car network should be optimized first before realizing new infrastructure.
City RegionKAN
The city region also strives for improved accessibility of important economical regions. They think the focus of solutions should be on improvement of current flows and public transport.
Province Gelderland
The province’s goals are to stimulate the economy through improved accessibility of commercial areas and facilities. In reaching this goal, there should be sustainable balance between livability, accessibility and safety.
National Government
The national government promotes a strong economy through improved accessibility. The network should be reliable and pricing can be applied where necessary. Furthermore, the national government wants to increase the use of public transport and improve livability.
Public private partnerships are preferred where possible.
EntrepreneursCityCenter (VBO Nijmegen)
VBO Nijmegen represents the entrepreneurs in the city center. Their goal is to improve the accessibility of the city center. According to them, solutions for public transport and cyclists have just marginal effect. Therefore, measures should be designed for improving the car accessibility. They find especially the improvement of the distribution of goods important. Also, they find the quality of air important, but measures to improve this should not affect parking rates.
‘Offensief Bereikbaarheid’
Offensief Bereikbaarheid is cooperation between governmental and commercial parties. They aim for a common approach against congestion and delays. The goal is to come up with so called ‘smart solutions’ like flexible work days, tele-working and alternatives for car use.
Kamer van Koophandel
The Kamer van Koophandel (KvK) represents several commercial parties and defends their interests. They claim that measures for the improvement of accessibility should be aimed at car transport. This is because for most people car transport is the only alternative. Furthermore, they are in favor of improving the public transport connections with employment areas (e.g. the city center). Also, parking management in the city center should be strict and beneficial for entrepreneurs. Furthermore, the KvK wants to separate users (pedestrians, cyclists, car users) to increase the flow of car traffic and claims that extra infrastructure should be built to comply with future demand.
Traffic on the Waalbrug and Singels with destination city center
This part of the traffic is interested in quick access routes to the city center. Also, enough parking spaces should be available as close to the center as possible. Traffic safety is also an important factor.
Through traffic on the Waalbrug and Singels
This part of the traffic is bound for other destinations and uses the routes in the city center to reach them. They are mainly interested in continuous flows on the routes through the center (Waalbrug and Singels) and a reliable network without delays.
Environmental organizations (Milieudefensie, Gelderse Milieufederatie)
The Environmental organization’s main goals are to improve the use of public transport and bike use for a better accessibility. They are against construction of new infrastructure. They claim for conservation of city characteristics, nature and more green in the city center of Nijmegen. Furthermore also a good living environment (e.g. noise, air quality) are important factors.
Public Transport companies
Public transport companies are in favor of public transport alternatives. They like dedicated public transport facilities and good connectivity with other modes. In the end, their main interest is making profit.
Public transport users (ROVER)
Public transport users (represented by ROVER) are in favor of alternatives that improve the quality or lower the costs of public transport.
Pedestrians and Cyclists (Fietsersbond)
Pedestrians and cyclists are both supporting investments in infrastructure improvements for both modes. Multi-level crossings, wider bike lanes and bike parking facilities are most favorable solutions for these groups. From the interest for traffic safety, separation of traffic flows is desirable.
Political Partiesof Nijmegen
As political parties are also related with the accessibility issue because of their role in the decision process of policy according accessibility, they are also indentified as stakeholders.
Statements of the political parties for (last) elections,derived from election programs:
PvdA
According to the PvdA, the accessibility of the city center has a high priority. The focus in this should be on new parking facilities, high quality public transport and bike network combined with transferia to improve the accessibility of the center. For the bike network, safety has priority.
SP
The SP thinks that the accessibility of the center should be improved by means of transferia on the edge of Nijmegen and the increase of bike and public transport use. There should be enough parking spaces for visitors and employees. Also, attention should be paid to traffic safety and air quality.
GroenLinks
GroenLinks is in favor of measures that have positive effects on the climate. Examples include free parking permits for electricity or natural gas powered cars. Also, there should be more parking facilities for bikes and public transport should stay free for elder people.
VVD
The VVD stands for good accessibility of the city center for all modalities. They promote the improvement of car traffic flows through redesigning the traffic situation on the roads around the city center. They are not against new infrastructure if this improves the situation. Also, more parking spaces for cars and bikes are necessary around the city center.
CDA
CDA stands for more infrastructure and especially smaller adaptions like widening roads or so called smart solutions in current infrastructure. They are not against the pricing as that leads to the user pays principle. Furthermore, they want to improve the quality of the public transport.
From the identified stakeholders above can be concluded that all these are involved somehow in the accessibility problem and are also different in origin. Several originate from governmental institutions (local government, national government and province) and others are involved business actors or civil organizations.
3.2.2. Power vs. Interest grid
The power vs. interest grid distinguishes the ‘players’ with both interest and power from the subjects (interest but little power), context setters (power but little interest) and the crowd (little interest or power) (Bryson, 2004). This way, the most important actors can be identified and it shows which players’ interest must be taken into account when defining criteria.
Figure 1: Power vs. Interest grid
The power versus interest grid above typically helps to determine which players’ interests and power bases must be taken into account in order to address the accessibility problem in Nijmegen. Actors with high interest and significant power beside the Local government are the political parties, Province Gelderland and the Environmental organizations, Offensief Bereikbaarheid en the business parties. Remarkable is the National Government, because they have a lot of power but not a high interest.
3.2.3. Stakeholder Issue interrelationship
Stakeholder- issue interrelationship diagrams help show which stakeholders have interest in different issues (Bryson, 2004). Also this diagram shows how the stakeholders might be related to other stakeholders through their relationships with the issues. The issues came from the results of the different analyses and the most important interests from the important players mentioned in the sub chapter above. Besides this also a small brainstorm session of the researchers contribute to the identified issues. The issues found are:
Accessibility- Travel time
- Travel costs
- Travel time reliability
- Air quality
- Noise
- Traffic safety
- Investments costs
- Operation and Maintenance costs
Table: Issues with sub issues
Each of the issues listed above comprehends several sub issues. These sub-issues will be elaborated and from there on the important criteria will be derived in the next chapter. Combining these main issues and the main actors with interest and power the diagram in the figure under can be drawn. The thicker the line between actor and issue, the more interest in that issue.
Figure X; issue-relationship
From the diagram above can be noticed that only the main actors are taken into account. These important actors can influence the issues and are the so called crucial actors.
Conflicts of interests
From the stakeholder analysis different conflicts can be indentified between the most important players.One of the main conflicts is between the Environmental groups on the one hand and the Kamer van Koophandel and the EntrepeneursCityCenter on the other. The former are against more infrastructures for cars and strive for more car reducing measures, whereas the latter claim that more infrastructure and other car oriented measures are necessary for increasing the accessibility of the city center for more infrastructure. The local government is situated somewhere in between those parties. In the Discussienota Nijmegen Betrouwbaar Bereikbaar(2009) they state that new infrastructure is not desired and that other measures should be looked at first. Van den Anker, local government representative, (Interview, 2010) confirms this in an interview. However, they also promote more parking availability around the city center which leans towards the point that the KvK and city center entrepreneurs make.
Also political parties are divided when solution directions are concerned. PvdA, SP and GroenLinks are against physical infrastructural measures in the city center while CDA and VVD are willing to consider measures of that kind when proved these contribute to accessibility.
Almost all political parties agree that parking space availability should increase, except for Groenlinks that does not mention it. Examples of conflicting measures include the possible affection of the city characteristics when new infrastructure is built and possible removal of nature and green in case of physical measures. Also, parties favoring bike and public transport conflict with the business parties (KvK, City Center Entrepreneurs) who claim that bike and public transport alternatives only have marginal effect and that car accessibility should be the focus.