A simple approach to the public acceptance of technological projects
- Paper number
IAC-12,E1,6,12,x13796
- Author
Mr. Roland Antonius Gabrielli, Institute of Space Systems, Universität Stuttgart, Germany
- Coauthor
Dr. Anja Schilling, Germany
- Coauthor
Dr. Rene Laufer, Baylor University, United States
- Coauthor
Mr. Christophe Koppel, KopooS Consulting Ind, France
- Coauthor
Dr. Dominique Valentian, France
- Coauthor
Mr. Richard Blott, Space Enterprise Partnerships Limited, United Kingdom
- Coauthor
Dr. Claudio Ferrari, SME, Italy
- Coauthor
Prof. Claudio Bruno, University of Rome “La Sapienza”, United States
- Coauthor
Dr. Frank Jansen, Institute of Aerospace Systems, Germany
- Coauthor
Prof.Dr. Georg Herdrich, Institute of Space Systems, Germany
- Coauthor
Prof. Hans-Peter Röser, University of Stuttgart, Germany
- Year
2012
- Abstract
Achieving public acceptance is a major aspect in the final realisation of a technological project. Historic experience indicates that even projects with a high merit for a given society are very likely to be obstructed or prevented if the level of acceptance is low. This is argued referring to the case example of the infrastructural project Stuttgart 21. Based upon a study of its public acceptance process and further literature research, an interdisciplinary model to understand public acceptance is proposed. \medskip The model distinguishes general, scientific and stakeholder public. It offers a rational access to seeming¬ly irrational, emotional responses of a public. It assumes a rational/emotional balance and en¬com¬passes anthropologic, technological and economic aspects. Among the anthropologic aspects, spe¬cial attention is accorded to the effect of social relations between the responsible of a project and the ge¬¬neral public, to the so called social implementation [1]. Requirements to communication and ethic behaviour are derived. The techno¬logical as¬pects cover safety issues and environmental considerations on one hand and the dis¬se¬mi¬nation of tech¬nological knowledge on the other hand. The economic aspects address trans¬pa¬rent business culture in technological projects and the justification of funding for technological projects. \medskip From the consideration of the model respective top level strategies for achieving public acceptance consisting in both directives for the project responsible and suggestions for public communication can be derived for the specific case of advanced space projects: The project responsible need to cultivate an awareness for public concerns reaching from ethics to the social implementation of the project and adopt a communication culture of transparency and public participation. On the other hand, the public should be enabled to make use of the new transparency and participation options. This makes a case for an enhancement of the scientific education of the public. \medskip The work has been conducted in the frame of the Disruptive Technologies for Space Power and Propulsion (DiPoP) project for the European Union and was approved by an international advisory board in February 2012. In this frame, the presented strategy is applied to the case of nuclear power and propulsion in space which is used as an illustration in the present paper. \bigskip {\bf Reference:} [1] B. Wynne: “{\it Redefining the Issues of Risk and Public Acceptance}”, Futures Volume 15 Issue 1, pp. 13 – 32, Butterworth & Co., February 1983- Abstract document
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