Abstract
Public–stakeholder engagement is required to build a consensus on the final disposal of removed soil outside Fukushima Prefecture. This study aimed to develop a game that simulated the stepwise dialogue process, and to determine the cases that successfully made acceptable proposals and those that failed, focusing on the public viewpoint and perspective-taking of the involved parties. A three-stage “removed soil game” was created. Stages 1 and 2 are the settings of negotiations and dialogues by stakeholders in a conflict situation. Stage 3 is a setting of public discourse by the citizens with no conflict. A questionnaire survey was conducted along with gaming. The results of 12 games showed that in the games failing consensus regarding policy goals in stages 1 and 2, participants were likely to propound acceptable proposals successfully reducing the burdens of the regions in stage 3. Moreover, the results indicated that participants in successful games were likely to strongly commit to the stakeholders’ role in the early phases, and they could take a perspective on stakeholders’ positions, interests, values, and emotions in the latter phase. It was discussed how to design the problem-solving process satisfying both the public viewpoints and perspective-taking of the involved parties.
