Mapping the Knowledge Domain of Affected Local Community Participation Research in Megaproject-Induced Displacement

Abstract

Megaproject-induced displacement of populations will now occur more frequently due to massive infrastructure investment in the post-COVID-19 era. The participatory process for megaprojects starts with those in the vicinity; local communities who are directly involved. However, few studies have attempted to map the global knowledge of local community participation in the planning stage of megaprojects. A systematic literature review of public participation in the context of megaproject-induced displacement was conducted to determine these features, and to provide local community insights which are useful for managing social issues around megaprojects and the effects of participation. A total of 32 journal publications were analyzed from the Web of Science (WoS) database, drawing from an initial group of 456 based on citations from 2012 to 2022 to identify the evolution of knowledge trends. It was found that the nonfulfillment participatory process always fails to recognize groups of residents and assess the impacts of megaproject-induced displacement caused to local communities. This lack of recognition at the governmental level contributes to conflict; placing the local community at risk of uncertain megaproject environments. Broader public participation involves local communities, who be harmed by the development strategies of megaprojects, catalyzing their willingness to participate and encourage greater inclusiveness in their interactions, as well as balancing the megaproject’s economic, ecologic, and social interests. The study results demonstrate a consensus was reached, and the effects of megaproject-induced displacement can be mediated.

1. Introduction

Consistent with global projections, rates of internal displacement are rising around the world as a consequence of increasing amounts of land that have been acquired for megaprojects. The land acquisition process for megaprojects displaces a large number of people, whether in rural or urban areas [1]. In 2019, it is estimated that globally around 15 million people have been forced to displace due to the construction of megaprojects in their home countries [2]. Internal displacement following a construction project develops when residents are required to move or when their access to land is restricted, to avoid immediate and foreseeable impacts [3]. While Australia has not been typically portrayed as a nation at risk of internal mass displacement, it is the case that internal displacement by megaproject developments annually occurs. For example, in 2011, more than 200 residents in the town of Acland in Queensland, and except for one man who refused to be displaced, were relocated to give way to the Acland Coal Mine, 35 km away from their original living suburb [4]. A more recent example is the Western Sydney Airport, completed in 2022, which resulted in a higher rate of local resident displacement than at any other time in Australian history. The population whose physical displacement was affected by the Western Sydney Airport, as reported by ABC News [5] and similar to estimates made by Census QuickStats 2016, consisted of 234 households [6].

According to Infrastructure Australia [7], there has been an urgent call on regional projects planning to affect megaproject-induced population movements. As a result of displacement, changing demographics could necessitate a greater focus on the holistic needs of communities and places, which requires a shift in the broader community participation practices in the early planning stage of a megaproject [4,8,9]. According to Infrastructure Australia [10], public participation should be placed at the center of project decision-making. Having greater community participation is essential during each phase of project development, from problem identification to project delivery, and including ideas generation, strategic plan development, and implementation [11]. This demonstrates the urgent need to understand the affected local community’s participation in megaproject-induced displacement, so that attempts can be made to reduce the vulnerability of the at-risk communities.

Nevertheless, although public participation is a widely accepted procedure of construction management, currently, efforts to understand the impacts of megaprojects at the local community level is still under-researched. Focusing on local communities caught up in megaprojects is important from both a theoretical and managerial perspective, because they can negatively impact the megaprojects. This impact could be mitigated through public participation, but research has remained scarce. This study aims to map a complete picture of existing research materials through an interrogation of the literature, and to identify salient knowledge domains pertaining to affected local community participation in megaprojects-induced displacement contexts. This paper is organized as follows: Section 2 provides a background regarding public participation in the megaproject context; Section 3 explains the research approach utilized and indexing strategy; and Section 4 presents the research findings and discussions to provide a complete picture of current research interests and publication trends. Section 5 outlines possible future research directions, and Section 6 concludes the findings.

2. Background

2.1. Displacement of Local Communities Due to Megaproject Development

Displacement due to megaproject development can impact local communities in terms of loss of land, income, and employment, as well as traditional living patterns and culture [12,13]. Jaiswal [14] stressed that the acquisition of largely agricultural land for megaprojects has led to a separation from traditional sources of livelihood and a loss of income. Tagliarino [2] highlighted that inadequate compensation from megaprojects could increase the exposure of vulnerable locations to more frequent and severe impacts on the local community.

The historical impacts of displacement include, but are not limited to, local residents who risk impoverishment and division [15,16]. This social division can make the community vulnerable to aboriginal culture transformation [17]. In addition, if a community perceives an infrastructure project to come at a cost, they are likely to oppose it [18]. Interestingly, infrastructure projects facing public opposition also face risks, such as impacts on a project’s budget, schedule, and scope.

Following a megaproject, despite being financially compensated and supported by the government, internal displacement still disrupts a local community’s way of life [12]. It is critical to understand perceptions of changes caused to infrastructure services by displaced persons, as well as their technical impact on infrastructure systems [19,20]. While the planning for displacement or resettlement by megaprojects usually undergoes numerous iterations before being finalized, how the broader public perceives these projects depends on the efficiency of community participation, and the communication of relevant information in the planning and implementation phase of the project.

2.2. Public Participation Mechanism in Megaproject

Public participation mechanisms for internal displacement are essential for preparing for and preventing the impacts on local communities due to the development of megaprojects [21,22]. In the context of construction management, public participation is generally organized by the government to disclose crucial information, share decision-making power, and approach a mutual consensus [23]. Public participation is applied as a generic, inclusive term describing the broad range of interactions between decision-makers and other groups involved in megaprojects [24]. As described in Figure 1, this can include various phases during the megaproject: (1) preparing project development schemes; (2) evaluating environmental, traffic, heritage, and other kinds of impact assessments; and (3) agreeing on decisions. In principle, public participation involves everyone, though it is impossible to reach all individuals, and only some are permitted to provide limited input [25]. Furthermore, failure to muster greater social support during the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) can result in the forced internal displacement of communities. For example, the displacement of 10 indigenous communities and approximately 10,000 people for Malaysia’s Bakun Hydro-electric Project (BHP) [26]. Therefore, involving the affected communities is more practical for current megaprojects due to stringent cost-effectiveness and time-saving requirements, as well as accommodating social interests [27].

Historically, developed countries have not been portrayed as nation’s at risk of low participation during megaproject-induced displacements; however, massive infrastructure investment has occurred during the post-COVID-19 era. The East West Link megaproject in Australia was suspended, after incurring over AU$ 1.1 billion, due to concerns raised by some communities in Victoria regarding the nonfulfillment of consultations and non-transparent participation [29]. Public participation is deficient and ineffective, and often results in an adversarial situation that may lead to conflicts among governments and the public. If not handled properly, these protests may ultimately escalate. In the case of the East West Link, the government had to redesign the whole project at tremendous cost when protests revealed inadequacies in terms of public participation [30]. Therefore, public participation in megaprojects is becoming increasingly critical [31].

This study aims to map a full picture of the existing research by interrogating the literature; thus, two main objectives were set:

• To identify the knowledge domain pertaining to the affected local community during participation in megaproject-induced displacement contexts; investigating the evolution of public participation adopted in megaprojects over the last decade.
• To provide insights into the potential research directions for affected local communities; by deducing research themes, the existing practices of affected local community participation in megaproject-induced displacement can be improved.

3. Research Methodology

3.1. Literature Search and Data Retrieval

In approaching the study objectives, a systematic literature review (SLR) of selected articles published in last decade (from 2012 to 2022) was used to analyze and synthesize extant research content. For the philosophical design for this research, a two-fold categorization of explanations was used: functionalist and interpretivism. The fundamental notion of interpretivism is that the investigator has little control over events, and when the focus is on a contemporary phenomenon, it emphasizes qualitative analysis over quantitative analysis [32]. In this research, qualitative research was deemed to be much more fluid and flexible than quantitative research; emphasizing discovery rather than verification. From a methodological point of view, a systematic literature review was chosen to achieve the research goals, using an explicit and reproducible methodology.

The Web of Science (WoS) was the database adopted for this research to retrieve literature related to public participation during displacement processes. This was because WoS is regarded as a scientific and comprehensive citation indexing service incorporating the most relevant and influential publications, including literatures collected by the Conference Proceedings Citation Index, the Science Citation Index (SCI), the Social Science Citation Index (SSCI), the Book Citation Index, etc. The dataset analyzed in this paper was retrieved from WoS, and the search results were refined to only consider English papers in peer-reviewed articles. According to the four-stage method for content analysis outlined by Mok et al. [33], these journals had been assessed by other academics, enhancing quality control and presenting legitimate analysis in the research community.

The search terms consisted of a first word, which was “Public Participation”, and then other words, which were megaproject-related words; e.g., “major construction projects”. The wildcard character * was used to ensure all relevant papers were captured for the review, such as “megaproject” and “megaprojects”. In this study, the final searching string built by Boolean operator *AND*/*OR* [34] was a combination of the following words: “public participation” AND “mega*” OR “major construction projects” OR “major infrastructure projects”. Eligibility criteria included: (1) articles from WoS. The database was chosen based on reputation among the largest online sources that provide peer-reviewed materials [34]. (2) English papers in peer-reviewed articles which had been published between January 2012 and April 2022. (3) Public participation concepts in megaprojects management.

3.2. Framework of Research Method

A comprehensive overview of the literature collection and the filtering retrieval method are outlined in the framework below (Figure 2). This research comprised four distinct steps:

Step 1: This research involved the retrieval of peer-reviewed journals on the topic during the period 1 January 2012–7 April 2022. The scope of the English papers in peer-reviewed articles was limited to high-quality journals to ensure the reliability and quality of the elicited studies. A total of 456 published research papers were retrieved as a result of searching topic keywords in the WoS database. Two categories (i.e., public participation and megaprojects-related words) of keywords were used to retrieve relevant articles. These keywords were: “public participation”, “stakeholder engagement”, “stakeholder interaction*”, “involvement”, “public engagement”, “megaproject*”, “mega*”, “major construction project*”, “major infrastructure project*”, and “public infrastructure megaproject*”.

Step 2: The articles were then downloaded and indexed into EndNote X9 reference manager for record-keeping and the full text of the articles were attached. The titles, key-words, and abstracts were scanned using the abovementioned keywords. This step involved a secondary search of online index engines to retrieve construction management articles. Articles not containing the keywords in either the title or the abstract were screened out. After the abstract review process, exclusion criteria as detailed above were applied; a total of 343 articles remained.

Step 3: A brief review of the retained 343 publications involved full-text content, excluding the less relevant and irrelevant papers. The remaining publications were reduced to 132 through a manual search; more than one researcher conducted this step. Criteria for exclusion were based only on studies relevant to mega construction projects management, and excluded papers investigating projects such as supply chains, banking, Mega-Regional Trade Agreements, regional structures, or mega regulations. Additionally, publications mainly focused on public and private partnership (PPP) procedures.

Step 4: The study recognized 132 articles after screening out irrelevant publications after an examination of the content, thus leaving publications which focused on public participation concepts in mega construction management. Microsoft Excel Version 2208 was used for data extraction and analysis throughout this process. After checking for duplications, 35 representative publications with relevant local community content during megaprojects were included in this review for further analysis. The data extracted from these representative publications included paper title, authors, year of publication, data source, journal, keywords, research gap, major findings, and contribution, and were recorded in the Excel spreadsheet.

4. Findings and Discussion

Timespan analysis is a useful way to find predictive trends. Figure 3 shows the number of articles published between 2012 and 2022 in this field with a quadratic trend, and the cumulative number is presented by the brown line. Before 2016, less than 10 papers were published, which can be viewed as an explorative phase in local community participation as it played a fundamental role in the field of megaprojects management, providing the basic research targets and methods. From 2016 to April 2022, a total of 26 articles were published, which was more than four times more compared to the previous research articles. In general, interest in local community management in megaprojects has been rising over the last decade.

Content analysis of the final retrieved 32 articles was deductively conducted by assessing affected local community perceptions pertaining to five key themes: (1) Community Participation; (2) Information Acquisition; (3) Barriers to Participation; (4) Expectation of Practice; and (5) Impacts of Megaprojects. Within these key themes, various sub-benchmarks were identified which related to the overarching themes. These are outlined in the thematic map below (

Table 1. Summary of key themes shortlisted from the literature.

#	Category	Li, Ng [25]	Di Maddaloni and Davis [35]	Swapan [36]	Chan and Oppong [37]	Komendantova, Vocciante [38]	Lee, Won [39]	Wei, Liu [40]	Wei, Liu [41]	O’Donnell and Stokowski [42]	Xue, Shen [43]	He, Mol [44]	Xiahou, Tang [45]	Natarajan [46]	Musekene [47]	Zhu and Huang [48]	Wu, Jia [49]	Wang, Cai [50]	Pereira [51]	Li, Ng [52]	Kati and Jari [53]	Wu [54]	Attia and Ibrahim [55]	Foster [56]	Leung, Yu [57]	Terzić, Jovičić [58]	Holden, Scerri [59]	Le Bivic and Melot [60]	Zeković and Maričić [61]	Hübcscher and Ringel [62]	Leifsen, Sanchez-Vazquez [63]	Nawaz, Su [64]	Tokumaru [65]
1	Community Participation
P1	Building trust		√	√	√		√							√		√			√			√	√		√						√	√	√
P2	Enhance justice	√	√								√	√		√		√	√			√			√				√			√
P3	Express opinions			√		√	√		√	√	√	√		√	√		√	√		√	√	√	√	√	√	√							√
P4	Understand obligations	√	√	√					√	√	√		√								√	√	√				√						√
2	Information Acquisition
In1	Information transparency	√	√		√	√					√	√			√	√	√	√	√	√			√	√	√		√		√	√	√	√
In2	Information consistency		√	√	√							√		√			√						√	√	√	√	√	√	√	√	√
In3	Clear displacement schemes	√	√	√			√		√	√					√	√			√		√							√
In4	Alternative project solutions	√		√		√								√	√		√								√							√
3	Barriers to Participation
B1	Lack of expertise			√		√				√	√							√			√		√	√	√			√				√
B2	Lack of participation policy	√							√					√			√	√			√				√				√
B3	Lack of technical support		√	√		√	√							√	√										√	√			√			√
B4	Lack of time and cost		√	√													√								√			√				√
4	Expectation of Practice
E1	Availability of job opportunities	√	√			√				√		√			√			√								√				√
E2	Reasonable compensation and relocation plan/strategy	√	√	√	√	√	√	√		√		√			√								√			√		√	√
E3	Bringing benefits to social stability	√	√		√							√						√				√						√
E4	Guarantee residents’ rights			√	√					√	√	√	√					√	√		√	√	√			√							√
5	Impacts of Megaprojects
Im1	Economic impacts		√		√		√	√	√	√	√		√		√			√		√	√		√			√							√
Im2	Environmental impacts	√	√	√	√	√	√	√	√		√	√	√					√	√	√	√		√				√				√		√
Im3	Social impacts		√	√	√			√	√		√	√	√			√		√	√	√	√		√									√	√
Im4	The quality of daily lives	√				√	√	√		√		√			√	√	√	√		√	√						√					√	√

).

4.1. Community Participation

Community participation in megaprojects is more sophisticated than common construction projects; it affects what projects can be put in place and how successful implementation is worldwide. Arnstein’s [66] “ladder of citizen participation” was the inception of research efforts by Western countries which helped to define participation as seeking a channel for “the redistribution of power that enables the have-not citizens … to be deliberately included in the future”. Megaprojects need to solicit comments from the public and strengthen decision-making and implementation [67]; such empowerment strategies are called public participation.

Adopted from the definition of public participation, community participation in this study holds that affected communities who are required to move, or when their access to land is restricted, have a right to be involved in the decision-making process, and their participation will influence the decisions [54,68]. However, many affected residents deem that displacement reports need to be expanded to case-specific examples and fully absorb their opinions, so that a sufficient record of the experiences of the affected community is kept [49]. This reflects global public participation, whereby affected communities are mainly accounted for and communicated with through institutional arrangements [31].

Such participation offers a means by which the affected communities can better express their opinion and understand their obligations. The content analyzed in this study also highlights the importance of trust, and enhances notions of justice in addressing the participation of affected communities in the megaproject-induced displacement period. Failure to do so can result in no trust being built between the government and residents experiencing megaproject-induced displacement, which is the key to successful practice. Scholars have critiqued the inclusion of resident participation to avoid discussions being dominated by construction professionals; negative assessments and reports by experts will have negative effects on the behaviors of the local community [52]. Residents and affected communities should be responsible for participatory activities that could be better managed with considerable government support. Furthermore, mobilizing affected communities to engage in participation is essential to coordinate the positive relationship between the government and the affected communities. The findings in the literature help to revise pertinent strategies to promote community participation and enhance its generality.

4.2. Information Acquisition

It has been argued that national-level information on megaprojects displacement, which tracks land-use planning, the number of displaced people, and their geographic and demographic characteristics, can better inform decision-makers on improving the support received by displaced people [35,51]. However, while this acknowledges the need for information collected from the affected communities, it does not offer ways for professionals to implement information sharing activities on the ground. The process of participation has been generally perfunctory and vague, and usually just informs or placates affected communities [52]. Therefore, the issue lies in the information imbalance between professionals and the affected communities.

The clear displacement schemes are essential information offered to affected communities during their participation in megaproject-induced displacement. Previous studies have proved that the escalated concerns of communities’ regarding decision-making is a pressing problem that requires significant scholarly attention [33]. Due to the imbalance of information, the scope of the problem and the impacts of displacement are not well understood. Affected communities rely instead on information available via mass media discourses in the preconstruction stage. Researchers argue that an acknowledgment of how the issue of displacement intersects with other social issues is essential in providing durable solutions. There is a gap in the services provided that address intangible and non-monetary values for people experiencing prolonged construction periods, and these non-monetary values are often underestimated [53]. The literature pertaining to construction project management studies highlights the lack of such reliable and usable information; targeted and inclusive responses to reduce the risk of megaproject-induced displacement are unlikely to occur, placing affected communities at risk of experiencing a permanent or protracted limited transparency environment [50,54].

4.3. Barriers to Participation

Participation clearly involves a multi-directional process of interaction and understanding. Communities tend to avoid participating in megaproject-induced displacement processes due to a lack of technical support in the planning system [46]. The missing technical support tier of government has added to the feelings and attitudes of the affected communities in a negative way [39]. A lack of lay knowledge is known to raise concerns regarding being heard during participation [42]. Statements expressing frustration highlight the poor expertise of residents, especially in the villages, and ought to be considered in debates on the subject. Additionally, where residents participate in all phases of displacement and perceive processes not to be clear or understandable enough, it poses a direct challenge to the legitimacy of the lifecycle of megaproject planning [69].

The literature provides suggestions regarding the development of a participation policy and how to prevent conditions that may cause population displacement through adopting basic participation policies aimed at protecting and enhancing megaproject accessibility [50]. However, these fail to address the underlying socio-cultural factors constraining local communities’ capacity to adapt or become ‘resilient’. Often, interventions are made by local affected residents [55]. It has been argued that such participation policies have to also respond to forms of participatory, well-organized, and often temporal interventions made by the affected communities [25]. Two of the most relevant challenges indicated in this research are time and cost. Greater interaction with the affected communities can result in the collection of more public perspectives, but it inevitably requires more time and resources to achieve a compromise and attain a commitment on the final decisions. For example, in reference to [36,43], scholars have critiqued participation input as being ignorant of the true representation of all the affected lower community levels, whereby local input struggles in an administratively centralized and top-down–oriented context. Viewed in this way, it is clear that if government authorities do not provide a participation policy to invite affected local communities to voice their opinions, their actions will produce unwanted and uncertain situations, which ultimately impedes the overall project.

Broadly speaking, participants are wary of megaproject displacement, and attempt to smooth the path to consent from local communities during the participatory process. This research highlights that the sub-themes of expertise upgrades, technical support to prevent displacement risk, and strategies to build individual and community participation and preparedness through time and cost-saving approaches must be thoroughly investigated.

4.4. Expectation of Practice

Expectations are regarded as the interests or strong beliefs that something will happen. Although expectations are far from uniform and can further influence perceptions during megaproject-induced displacement, expectations primarily focus on individual preparedness options to mitigate risk; and are the focus of this paper. Project-affected communities were most concerned about the compensation levels of their private lands and relocation plans [40]. Local residents should be resettled to other areas delivering more than just material assets [45]. Under a rational allocation approach to land resources, the value of properties along these lines is likely to improve [37].

Taking a similar view to Musekene [47], any program needs to provide a basic income, paid in direct wages to those who participate in the projects. Although these incomes are necessary to supplement other household earnings from various sources, participants have failed to acknowledge these focal points of expectations. As shown by Musekene [48], the affected residents still believed that their voices were being neglected and asked decision-makers to improve their rights during participation. When possible, construction organizers should recruit project participants from the affected communities and provide more job opportunities [34]. Therefore, such a participatory process in the megaproject context should be investigated. It could balance the expectations and requirements of the affected communities by satisfying their expectations regarding further practices and perceived benefits to social stability.

4.5. Impacts of Megaprojects

Many researchers have discussed the application of public participation to megaprojects, given that place-related interests often attract abundant public attention motivated by community desires to mitigate megaproject risks that have substantially direct and indirect impacts on the economy, environment, and society [57]. The affected communities living in and around the megaproject area are often more concerned about the potential effects on their quality of life [70].

Investing in megaprojects to stimulate the general economy is one of the many responses to the COVID-19 recession [71,72,73] for two main reasons. One is the notion that construction megaprojects improve job creation and employment [74]. The second is upgrades to facilitate the efficient movement of people and goods, leading to greater tax revenues that help pay for infrastructure projects. Despite the capability of these projects to generate economic benefits and political aspirations, megaprojects often limit or interrupt access to such benefits for vulnerable people, which is especially not well received by the affected communities [75,76].

Megaprojects require vast amounts of land, which often involve insufficient environmental assessments. Affected communities are often reluctant to accept megaprojects as the most suitable solution for development as, for them, the negative impacts exceed the benefits provided [77,78]. Economic impacts include changes in local real estate, and land use may be temporary or irreversible [79] and cause environmental impacts on atmospheric emissions, increasing noise and air pollution, and affecting waste disposal [80]. The impacts of megaprojects on the environment are substantial and have received considerable attention among researchers. As Temper et al. [81] outlined, the socio-ecological cost of such projects is staggering, with over 3251 documented global socio-environmental conflicts between megaprojects and communities.

Social impacts are highly project-related and locally defined. In a sense, megaprojects have not typically focused on solving existing issues; instead, they yield substantial social problems [82,83]. As evidenced in a recent and controversial case, Sydney’s WestConnex toll road [84], residents were informed that the temporary disruption to their lives would be worth it. In contrast, information on the project’s impact on their housing situation was difficult to access [85]. The lives of project-affected people are influenced by massive deficiencies in service delivery, which condition the everyday lives of residents [86]. The lives of affected communities are also marked by massive deficiencies in quality of life [65]. Other scholars have addressed the fact that affected residents are invariably either displaced, are unable to financially transition, or are exposed to environmental hazards [87,88].

5. Future Research Suggestions

In this study, the thematic analysis highlighted themes of participation, information, barriers, expectations, and impacts that were evident in affected local community participation perspectives in megaproject-induced displacement areas. However, national responsibility for internal displacement is not being effectively implemented in megaprojects. Arguably, this is because existing participation processes mainly focus on displacement at the planning response phase, and fail to account for this throughout the project’s management. Further study could bridge the gap in current participatory research in five significant ways, as illustrated in Figure 4 and explained in the following discussion.

5.1. Willingness

Previous studies have suggested the facilitation of public participation using a process that empowers people, allowing them to build trust and confront challenges. Based on Arnstein’s [66] ladder of participation theory, these studies have focused on recharacterization, which can be classified based on higher degrees of participation in participatory processes [38]. Nonetheless, a high degree of community participation does not mean more effective community participation. For instance, most studies have simply categorized willingness to participate into “yes” or “no” (liked or disliked, actively supported or passively tolerated) [89,90,91], which reduces meaningful participation.

Therefore, it has been suggested that megaproject-induced displacement research needs to be expanded to include the reginal culture or case-specific examples of internal displacement [36], so that a better understanding of the willingness to participate in displacement can be understood within distinct affected local communities, as well as their perspectives. In light of recent research, a growing body of literature has noted the participation of affected communities [55]. However, there is still a lack of identification regarding which factors influence communities’ willingness to participate. Further study will be necessary to investigate the discrepancies between affected communities’ willingness and prior key determinants across different megaproject contexts.

5.2. Dynamization

With the great uncertainty and complexity of the lifecycle of megaprojects, a more robust information tool is needed to guide proactive and dynamic management. Insufficient exploration and sharing of information with the affected community might result in hindering the implementation of megaprojects. This is perhaps unsurprising, given that the issue for existing information tools is that they cannot provide dynamic measurements, due to insufficient and unrepresentative samples in traditional qualitative survey-based approaches, which lead to inconsistent findings [33]. However, uncertainty is also increased by ineffective or overburdened community participation that is out of control [49]. This is because the cost of community participation is highly correlated with the time and resources being provided. Such an engagement process takes approximately 3–6 months to complete and, with the long time gap between the conceptual and public participation stages, the local community then doubts whether the government wants to engage with them in delivering megaprojects. Furthermore, there is limited understanding of the number of people displaced by megaprojects; the geographic, demographic, temporal, and social and economic characteristics of affected populations; or the success or failures of these communities’ recovery from megaproject-induced displacement. Effective participation creation requires deeper insight into these issues so that decision-makers can plan for land acquisition progress and resettlement schemes, and then protect transparency, accountability, and participation.

These issues highlight the challenges presented by poor information sharing and participatory approaches in the national megaproject context, especially in formal participation settings. One proposed future direction for research is to use building information modeling (BIM) and related information technologies to accurately and instantly collect and provide information [92]. BIM combines network analysis and an advanced integrated information tool to improve megaproject performance. It is therefore crucial to have a dynamic information platform to share, transform, update, and modify the megaproject plan.

5.3. Inclusiveness

Inclusiveness management is especially required in high-income nations such as Australia, as there has been little academic, organizational, or governmental research focused directly on the phenomenon of internal displacement in the context of megaprojects. Despite democratic governance in high-income nations, no direct policy or legislation regarding internal displacement exists at the national level. Affected local communities usually contest the closed decision-making and siting procedure, and recent studies have critiqued governance processes [34,35].

Taken together, the findings of this study emphasize the necessity to address and manage specific barriers faced by the affected local communities in order to accommodate conflicting and diverse interests and improve inclusiveness so as to achieve the best value project outcome. Further research can be performed on the Benchmarks of National Responsibility that governments implement to fulfill their responsibilities regarding displacement and internally displaced people during large construction projects [93]. Hence, government cooperation is significant for maintaining a relationship across different regions, and preserving a sense of inclusiveness with the affected communities. It is proposed that governments need a national policy or action plan in place that builds on national legislation for the affected communities. The action plan should detail the roles and responsibilities of different groups and departments. The plan should be based on the local community character and provide guidance for all phases of displacement (e.g., displacement schemes, alternative project solutions, reasonable compensation for those who have been displaced, and resettlement approaches).

5.4. Consensus

Researchers have argued that an acknowledgment of how the interests of affected communities correlate with other social issues is essential in terms of providing durable solutions and reaching a majority consensus. However, conflicts occur when a specific situation is of major concern in a given megaproject environment. It is evident that addressing the expectations of the affected communities to avoid conflict and contribute to a conscious can achieve better megaproject performance. This would require access to affordable housing and relocation options following the initial participation phase. However, although bottom-up participative strategies have been implemented in the last decade, research is now focused more on greater economic value within the megaprojects environment [53].

Furthermore, scholars have critiqued the conflict that arises from communities responsible for place-attached activities that could be better managed at the governmental level, or at least with the government facilitating any effective public participation. For decisions on megaprojects, resident response is an especially important factor [46]. Strategies and frameworks that referenced resources for people who were experiencing megaproject-induced displacement focused on programs to address immediate needs, or guaranteed residents’ rights in the affected communities. Policy development must also occur in tandem with local input to achieve consensus.

5.5. Sustainability

Sustainable development in this study refers to limiting megaproject-induced displacement and minimizing its adverse effects on the quality of life of affected communities in three areas: society, economy, and environment. As revealed in the literature, affected community groups participated if they perceived their daily lives were affected, probably due to the growing tendency to try and influence the implementation of megaprojects of various types according to their individual interests. Governments need to develop schemes to prevent conditions that may cause the displacement of affected communities and mitigate adverse impacts when displacement has occurred. Due to the lack of identifiable impacts on megaproject-induced displacement, the scope of the problem and the negative impacts of displacement have not been fairly addressed.

Although research could serve as a basis for developing effective megaproject management approaches across national boundaries, discrepancies in opinion about sustainability criteria prevail among the pre-existing literature [37]. With the current emphasis on social stability and sustainability, affected local community participation must be extensively studied to acknowledge megaproject-induced displacement, focusing on the affected communities themselves. This is so they can better understand their rights and entitlements, and how they can socially impact the development of sustainable megaprojects.

6. Conclusions

The literature review conducted in this study covered key research themes in the field of megaproject management. By collating perspectives from affected local communities, five specific knowledge domains were identified and discussed: Community Participation; Information Acquisition; Barriers to Participation; Expectations of Practice; and Impacts of Megaprojects. This study primarily used secondary data, which could be strengthened by empirical studies. Moreover, suggestions were provided to achieve the broader participation of affected communities during the megaproject process. It was determined that understanding the perceptions and actions of the affected communities, as they are important stakeholders in the process, represents a preliminary and necessary step toward more extended interactions and collaborations with local community groups. The willingness to participate of on the part of the local community affects their behavior, and communications contribute to shaping the performance and the long-term success of megaproject-induced displacement. In addition, the network of this dynamic relationship determines the quality of sustainability outcomes. In future, more effective approaches can be designed by conducting extra research in order to enhance community participation.