Lacking Common Ground: Temporally-Situated Value-Systems in an Unwanted Project

Abstract

Although prior research suggests stakeholder engagement can align divergent perspectives, differences persist in unwanted projects. Through a case study of Sydney’s Rozelle Interchange, we examine incompatible understandings of success and failure between the project team and local community at project closure and opening for use. Drawing on pragmatic sociology, we show how these are grounded in distinct value-systems. We conceptualize temporally-situated value-systems as logics of evaluation, justification, and legitimacy that mobilize different pasts and futures. Thus, we contribute to theorizing the lack of common ground: explaining how incompatible understandings are structured, why they are hard to reconcile, and why they persist in unwanted projects.