Stakeholder Engagement Use Cases for Research in Residential and Infrastructure Projects

Urban growth is supported by “infrastructure,” which has a wide range of applications. Thus, there is an extensive and diverse body of study on infrastructure development. However, as infrastructure expands, user demands and needs expand and change as well. For this reason, it is critical for researchers to be able to include stakeholders while investigating such growth, appropriately interpret their needs, and reflect and receive feedback on these interpretations. Furthermore, the current global push towards net-zero and decarbonisation of infrastructure and energy systems calls for innovative solutions with minimal negative impact on the quality of life of their occupants. However, this will require massive infrastructure developments and improvements in key sectors such as: a) the housing sector; b) the retrofitting and transformation of the energy system towards cleaner and renewable energy; c) the water sector to improve and optimise the technologies and components used to deliver water to its customers; and lastly, d) the transportation sector to enable the transition of public transportation such as railways to move towards automation and digitalisation. This paper investigates and discusses the role and importance of stakeholder engagement in research from the perspectives of four different domains: 1) the housing domain, 2) the energy domain, 3) the water domain, and 4) the railway transportation domain. It then compares the four approaches and draws conclusions, thus adding to the evidence of the importance of stakeholder engagement and its role in increasing research impact. This paper has found that stakeholder engagement is challenging and recommends early stakeholder involvement. Furthermore, this paper recommends tailoring stakeholder engagement approaches to context-specific needs, though there are overarching principles that can be applied across sectors.