Multi-Stakeholder Engagement: A case study in Friuli Venezia Giulia region (Italy)

This study presents the results of a qualitative research based on forty interviews conducted in two municipalities of the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region (Italy), namely the cities of Lignano Sabbiadoro and Trieste, between October 2024 and November 2025. The research, developed within the framework of the RETURN Project (Multi-Risk Science for Resilient Communities under a Changing Climate) (https://www.fondazionereturn.it/), aims to explore, systematize and critically analyze the multiple perspectives on Disaster Risk Management (DRM) and Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) of local stakeholders operating within the analysed context. Consistently with established theoretical approaches that conceptualize disaster risk as a socially constructed and governance-dependent process (Blaikie, Cannon, Davis and Wisner, 2004, https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203714775), the study focuses on how risk knowledge, responsibilities, and practices are articulated across institutional and societal domains.

The stakeholders involved are categorised into different societal categories defined as the Knowledge Production domain (public and private actors with demonstrated scientific expertise), the Knowledge-Based Decision-Making domain (public and private actors vested with formal responsibilities and decision-making authority), and the Knowledge Transfer and Learning domain (actors engaged in communication activities and in the dissemination of risk culture). The identification and selection of interviewees followed an integrated approach combining competence-based, positional, and reputational criteria. Specifically, the selection was based on the analysis of existing databases (e.g. research databases as IRIS or Scopus for the identification of scientific actors), the examination of institutional organizational charts (aimed at selecting actors with relevant technical and decision-making competencies), and a snowball sampling mechanisms (peer recognition and informal referral dynamics within and across the considered categories).

To ensure both comparability and sensitivity to the specificities of each group of actors, semi-structured interview schemes were developed, differentiated according to the typology of actors. The final sample included decision-makers (n.6), university professors and senior researchers affiliated with research institutions (n.12), media professionals (n.6), associations and third-sector organizations (n.5), tourism sector experts (n.6), and technical-operational experts in the management of risks related with natural hazards (n.5).

The interviews were analysed following a thematic qualitative approach, which allowed for the identification of recurrent patterns, convergences, and divergences in stakeholders’ perspectives of DRM and DRR. The analysis highlighted several key dimensions, such as the level of widespread public awareness regarding natural hazards, their possible impacts, and the appropriate response behaviours.

Overall, the adopted approach allowed for the emergence of latent organizational, cognitive, and relational dynamics at local level. While the findings are not  generalizable, they provide analytically rich insights into the ways in which different actors frame risk, negotiate responsibilities, and interact across institutional and sectoral boundaries.
Future research may expand the empirical base through additional interviews and comparative analyses, in order to deepen and consolidate these findings.