Conflitti territoriali e legittimazione della strategia inclusiva. Due casi a confronto

The article analyses the decisional process concerning the construction of two large infrastructures carrying relevant negative externalities for residents and environment: the new railway line Torino-Lione and a new motorway in Genova. The cases show relevant factors in common: a long-lasting and sizable conflict promoted by citizens committees and environmental associations; the recourse to the inclusive strategy by public institutions, in order to overcome the conflict; the reformulation of the original projects by the proponents taking in account some aspects emerged in the inclusive arenas in order to reduce to some extent the negative externalities for residents. At the same time the cases highly differ as per the characteristics of the inclusive arenas fostered by public institutions and as per the level of legitimization recognized to them by opponents: high in the motorway case and very low in the railway ones. The comparative analysis suggests that the different level of legitimization is connected to the dissimilar composition and management of the arenas.