ABSTRACT
Participation in policy and planning is crucial for a democratic and inclusive society. Co-designing policies with stakeholders increases the impacts of policy interventions while enhancing their credibility. Stakeholder engagement and participation is key to dealing with complex policy and long-term planning, especially under uncertainty. Participatory methods for policymaking engage stakeholders with different (sometimes conflicting) needs and expectations. Effective policies should align with stakeholders’ perceptions of the underlying problem that the solutions aim to solve. Stakeholder engagement becomes particularly important when exploring potential implications for policy and planning, as well as regulations and operational requirements due to the introduction of disruptive technologies. Therefore, this chapter identifies critical uncertainties for drone last-mile deliveries governance considering a multiple stakeholder perspective. Using the UK air mobility ecosystem as a case study, our methodological approach integrates stakeholder engagement and co-design with Foresight methods, which allow stakeholders to think ahead and consider, model, create, and respond to future possibilities. Our research findings are expected to have a significant impact on the development of national regulations and local policies and planning related to drone technology in the UK. While this project focuses primarily on the UK, the results will be potentially transferable to other countries.
