12

The participation of stakeholders in the public policy initiatives of territorial development programs is an important issue. How can it be apprehended? What can we infer from how stakeholders participate in the dynamics of territorial development? To answer these questions, this article offers a temporal and multi-criteria analysis of stakeholders’ participation in the development process of the “Projet Alimentaire Territorial du Grand Clermont et du Parc Naturel Régional Livradois-Forez” project, selected as an instrument of agriculture and food-related territorial public policy. The results underline the importance of the framework established by the project managers, how participation changes over time, as well as the diversity of the participating stakeholders and the dynamics of this diversity. These findings highlight the benefits offered by a temporal and multi-criteria analysis of participation, both in terms of the territorial development at work and the links to the notion of social innovation.