2.5 Stakeholder Analysis This part of the chapter identifies all actors involved in the project proposal described in this master thesis, be they the ones who potentially will support the case discussed or the ones who might back down the project. As an important tool of project management, a stakeholder analysis helps in identifying, prioritizing and understanding all the stakeholders involved. However, knowing your stakeholders is only the first step toward conducting a good stakeholder analysis. After listing all the stakeholders, who presumably will have an interest and power towards the topic of WSUD implementation in Tirana, they were categorized in three groups: 1 Public Entities; 2 Individuals; 3 Organizations
The next step of the analysis would be mapping all the stakeholders, based on their level of interest and needs on the matter. They are further analyzed in a tabular form, which helps to identify their concerns and respectively the way of dealing with each of them. For each of the identified stakeholder, their level of interest and power on the matter is categorized as low, medium, high, or very high. The stakeholders that are classified under the ‘Public Entities’ group, are the ones that have the highest power into the topic of flooding risk adaptation and WSUD project implementation, but not necessarily the highest level of interest. The Municipality of Tirana is the entity responsible for proposing and implementing any project or regulation that concerns the quality of public spaces in Tirana. However, the implementation of such big scale projects needs the approval of the National Territory Council (AKPT, n.d.), where the chairman is Prime Minister, Edi Rama. Based on previous cases, the approval of these projects goes not
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without a big discussion regarding the fairness of the competition. Moreover, considering the fact that this large-scale intervention in the city is especially presumed to come with a high cost for the budget of a developing country like Albania, it might face shortcomings in its early phase, if the government fails to find the right investors. Therefore, the interest of public institutions on initiating the implementation of WSUD infrastructure as a solution for tackling flooding risk and other climate change effects in the capital, might be lacking. On the other hand, all the citizens of Tirana, from the ones that are residents in the study area to the visitors, students, workers or even tourists, are the ones who presumably have the highest interest on the topic. The deployment of WSUD infrastructure in urban systems has benefits on many levels, which, directly or not, impact the everyday life of all residents. However, their voice on initiating such large-scale transformations in the city is not always heard. Even though public hearings are conducted, most of the time they lack transparency, are just a formality and fail to voice the actual needs of the public. There have been cases where the citizens have been protesting projects approved by the government without the consent of the public and without a transparent competition process (Block, 2020). Unfortunately, almost in all these cases the government’s will has won. The third group includes all NGOs and mass media entities. These stakeholders have power over the matter. By mainstreaming topics related to sustainability at an urban level, people become more aware about the impact that a more sustainable city will have on their everyday life, hence they might become more responsible and engaged in such topics. This way, the public pressure on the government might increase. Table 6 depicts in a compacted way all the identified stakeholders supposedly involved in the proposal of this master thesis.
