SMEA affiliate faculty member Katie Arkema and SMEA graduate Max Perkins, alongside SMEA alumni Mikaela Freeman and Debbie Rose, have co-authored a new paper, Reimagining community-centered engagement to guide offshore wind planning and development.

Current approaches to community engagement in energy development often prioritize meeting minimum regulatory requirements, treating engagement as a procedural step rather than a meaningful process. This paper argues that more durable and effective energy solutions require shared power, transparency, and sustained relationships with communities.

To support this shift, the authors develop a practical, research-based framework for centering communities throughout the planning and development process. Their findings are informed by 25 semi-structured interviews with developers, researchers, regulators, practitioners, NGO representatives, and Tribal participants, with a focus on offshore wind development along the U.S. West Coast.

The paper identifies key opportunities to improve engagement practices and guides future planning efforts toward more inclusive, community-centered decision-making in renewable energy development. The authors also extend thanks to SMEA alumni Simon Geerlofs for his support throughout the project.