How does a single community grant multiple social licences for a problematic metro project? Reflections from a dynamic perspective.

Gaining a social licence to operate (SLO) is important to ensure a smooth-going metro project, yet few relevant studies exist. Using a small but eventful case from Nanjing, China, this study considers how a metro station construction project is assigned overlapping and fluid social licences by a local community and how these social licences interact with the project. The analytical framework is underpinned by two 'continuum' theories, one developed by Thomson and Boutilier and one by Dare et al. , and incorporates the perspective of the project life cycle and movements of social resistance. The results reveal that a uniform, community-level SLO diverged into multiple SLOs with different characteristics. However, the changes in the SLO were decoupled from the life cycle of the metro project, as work was not only halted due to opposition but also resumed amidst such opposition. The governmental interventions, manipulative resistance and unqualified impact assessments were the main driving forces in the dynamic procedure. Based on the results and analysis, we highlight several policy implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]