Public Consultation Design and Legitimacy Perceptions in Climate Adaptation Planning: Survey Experiment

Abstract

Climate adaptation planning necessitates unprecedented levels of socio-economic transformation and infrastructure investment, raising critical questions regarding democratic legitimacy and public acceptance. As local governments increasingly deploy public consultation mechanisms to solicit citizen input on adaptation strategies, the precise relationship between consultation design features and subsequent public perceptions of policy legitimacy remains underexplored. This study investigates how variations in public consultation design influence citizens perceptions of legitimacy in the context of climate adaptation. Utilizing a randomized survey experiment with a nationally representative sample, the research manipulates three core dimensions of consultation processes: inclusivity of participation, transparency of information, and the degree of citizen empowerment. The findings demonstrate that simply holding a consultation is insufficient to generate legitimacy. Instead, highly structured consultations that guarantee demographic inclusivity and provide binding decision-making power to participants significantly elevate perceived legitimacy. Furthermore, the analysis reveals that transparency acts as a critical mediating variable, amplifying the positive effects of empowerment. These results provide vital empirical evidence for public administration scholars and policymakers, suggesting that the institutional design of participatory mechanisms must move beyond superficial engagement to foster genuine democratic legitimacy in environmental governance.