Between Expertise and Local People: Experiences in Radiation Risk Communication

Abstract

While sociologists do not have a large presence in the practical field of urban development, they are sometimes expected by experts in urban planning to “be familiar with the community and its people.” However, it is not clear what “being familiar with the community and its people” really means. In order to articulate this, we will examine the workshops on radiation risk communication held after the F1NPP accident, where local people were confused by risks and scientific language that were beyond their previous experience, and conflicts within community were apparent. Specifically, two cases will be examined: Roundtable in Kashiwa and Fukushima Dialogue, in which Igarashi and Ando played a central role. These case studies suggest that “being familiar with the community and its people” means interactive ability to reconcile expertise with the needs of the local people based on an in-depth understanding of their reality, as well as an attitude of extracting the local people’s knowledge to integrate it with expertise.