The Role of the Consultant in the Consensus-Building Process

Abstract
Concerning the problems over the construction of waste disposal and treatment facilities, there are not only the ideology of the consensus-building or what it should be, but also quite a number of technical problems such as communication between the opposing parties, techniques of citizen participation, and management of "the place" of consensus-building. In this paper, a case study was analyzed, which is about the consensus-building process concerning bottle and can selection facilities planned to be constructed in a residential area. Moreover, the role of the consultant as a mediator between citizens and administration was examined.
Referring to the analysis, some of the important roles of the consultant are: 1) to bridge the gap of information and technical knowledge between citizens and administration, and ensure that both parties are able to discuss on an equal footing, 2) to act as a third party, analyzing the structures and factors of the problem objectively and suggest a strategy to the approach of the examination, 3) to elicit self-governing consciousness of the citizens and adjust the opinions in terms of public interests, and 4) to provide the techniques by which various issues can be verified empirically.

Key words: consultant, coordinator, techniques of consensus-building, Advocate planning, local governance