ENVIRONMENTAL CONFLICT MANAGEMENT AS A SOCIAL LEARNING OPPORTUNITY

The paper deals with social conflicts, assumed as important development opportunities rather than as consequences to be avoided. Through the analysis of a frequent set of conflicts related to interventions on the built environment, some recurrent critical factors have been highlighted and discussed, in order to identify the learning potential that lies in conflict management processes. As the built environment is a complex system, the analysis adopted a systemic approach, paying particular attention to relationships and dynamics that develop between actors. The main cause underlying conflicts seems to be the use of an exclusive approach, consequently their management requires the use of inclusive tools, as participation. The development of participatory processes can help to manage conflicts related to interventions on the built environment by improving the effectiveness of communication between the actors, opening decision-making processes to different groups of stakeholder and contributing to better define the problems involving different and complementary knowledge systems. The development of a participatory approach is indeed a learning tool, since communities and groups involved can benefit from an increase in social capital.