Drawing The Picture: Public Engagement Experiences As Tools Towards An Emerging Framework

This chapter is a bridge between the two first sections of the book and it introduces the readers to the core of this volume, that is the collection of eleven case studies on public engagement with geothermal energy around the globe (i.e. Australia, Canada, Greece, France, Japan, Iceland, Italy, New Zealand, Philippines, Switzerland and Turkey). These studies are excellent examples of activities and research carried out across the world but the collection is not to be considered exhaustive. Evidently there are other participatory experiences in the field of geothermal energy that have been conducted and an overview of references is included in the chapter. The studies on the societal aspects of geothermal energy have significantly increased in the last years, however the development of a comprehensive framework is becoming urgent. We consider this collection of case studies as a first step towards the construction of a novel and comprehensive framework on public engagement with geothermal energy in both local and international contexts.