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Research projects

Societal Decision making in Planning Processes, 2008-10

About this project

Project information

Project status

Completed

Contact

External

The purpose of this research project was to formulate a transparent democratic decision model for societal decision making in planning processes, including the development of a new method for the elicitation of (imprecise) weight statements. An often demanding task for decision-makers in the use of decision analytic tools concerns the elicitation part of the decision process, i.e. the assessment of numerical values and preferences to be used as input to the analysis layer. The elicited values are often dependent on the method of assessment. In addition, unrealistic numeric precision is most commonly required from these methods, which is somewhat paradoxical as people´s preferences have more imprecise semantics. Consequently, there has been a call for simpler elicitation methods, more applicable in real settings.


The model was implemented in the Municipality of Örebro and in the City of Stockholm in two consecutive case studies. In Örebro, we tested how to support a decision making process regarding a long-debated problem on how to improve the water quality of Svartån, a river running through the city. For the politicians there was simultaneously a need to reach a more sustainable (long-term) solution with improved quality of the water in general. In Stockholm, we tested how the model could support city traffic planning as a consequence of the construction of the Norra Länken (Northern link) in alignment with the overall city visions.

Collaborators

  • Love Ekenberg, KTH