External stakeholders in projects across sectors, such as infrastructure, policy, healthcare, communication, are the set of users, special interest groups and actors that are not a party to the contract but are socially or economically affected by the outcomes of the project. Since these projects create environmental, social and political disruptions in their environment, these external stakeholders bear a majority of the project’s negative impacts. These stakeholders express their concerns about the initial phase of the project such as compulsory acquisition of houses and parks, the disruption caused by the implementation phase of the project and its ongoing impacts in the operation phase on lifestyle, health, and wellbeing through protests and sometimes politically motivated public resistance.

Managing such stakeholders is important as the success of any project depends on how its deliverables are viewed by the communities on whom its operations impinge. Project management literature notes how visioning, physical outreach, joint co-creation, visualization, interactive workshops and social media engagement, can improve collaboration with external stakeholders in project settings. There is a need to understand the practices, challenges and opportunities for the successful delivery of these projects which this book explores.

This edited book includes contributions from authors from Australia, Canada, China, Colombia, India, Ireland, Norway, the Netherlands, Sweden, and the US, who record the practice, challenges and opportunities of external stakeholder management in projects across different sectors through case studies. The book seeks to be a valuable resource for all project management academics, researchers and practitioners who are interested in improving external stakeholder management and the successful delivery of these projects.