Planning of sport and recreational facilities informed by interdisciplinary knowledge

2019 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 349-367 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mikkel Hjort ◽  
W. Mike Martin ◽  
Jens Troelsen

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to develop a design strategy that investigates the systematic use of interdisciplinary knowledge through a transparent decision-making process. The study identifies relevant design parameters that should be considered in the development of this design strategy. Design/methodology/approach The empirical data were collected through observations of the design process of two new sport facilities, meetings with sport, well-being and aging experts and through semi-structured interviews with end-users. The development of the proposed design strategy is based on a methodology with elements from “Knowledge to Action (KTA),” “Action research” and a “List of value concepts.” The rigid timetable guaranteed systematic progress, where both knowledge from the end-users and experts were incorporated throughout the decision-making process. Findings The two case studies documented results involving end-users and experts in a systematic way. In conclusion, it was apparent that the use of interdisciplinary collaboration informed the design outcome. Practical implications Based on the two cases, the following advice can be given to the architectural profession: architects should use the KTA model or similar in order to target the search for relevant interdisciplinary knowledge and ensure that relevant evidence is involved in the design process of upcoming projects regarding sport and recreation. Architects should make the design process transparent so that one can see which design decisions have been made through the design process. This must be done to ensure that there is greater coherence between vision and practice. Originality/value The study showed how architects could import knowledge, skills and values from other disciplines such as environmental psychology and active living research to improve the decision-making process of future sport and recreation projects. It was also clear that this design decision process could be made more transparent in the effort to allow the various stakeholders to take ownership of the resulting design outcomes.

2016 ◽  
Vol 139 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jun Zhuang ◽  
Ming Hu ◽  
Fatemeh Mousapour

In general, architectural design is a loosely structured, open-ended activity that includes problem definition, representation, performance evaluation, and decision making. A number of approaches have been proposed in the literature to organize, guide, and facilitate the design process. The main objective of this paper is to seek a logical and rigorous means to aid in developing an optimized design that is acceptable to the customer or user of the product. The convention design approaches heavily involve decision making, which is integral to the architectural design process and is an important element in nearly all phases of design. There is a need to reframe the decision-making process to transform and improve the design process in order for finial building to achieve the performance goals. The first step in making an effective design decision is to understand the stakeholders' and team players' (architect, engineer, client, and consultant) different preferences based on their needs, experiences, and expectations of the project. In this paper, we first provide an overview about conventional decision-making method and process, identify the existing attributes that contribute to decision making in design, and outline the obstacles present in making optimized sustainable design decisions due to the uncertainty of different stakeholders' preferences. Then, we present one case study to identify and compare different preferences among engineering students, practicing architects, and the general public, and we analyze how the three groups attribute different weight to the major design attributes. This paper provides some novel insights into a value-driven sustainable design process, and it will be one of the building blocks for creating a framework to integrate game theory into the design decision-making process, considering multiple stakeholders' perspectives and preferences for building attributes as future research tasks.


Author(s):  
Hiroyuki Sawada ◽  
Xiu-Tian Yan

Abstract Engineering design is an intensive decision making process. A designer with an informative and insightful decision making support can usually produce high quality product design solutions with less or no rework. However, with current support designers very often face challenge or even difficulties as more and more design parameters come into design decision making process when a design progresses. This paper proposes a novel approach to providing designers with such a decision support by using under-constraint design problem solver. It is argued that design requirements represented in the form of Product Design Specifications (PDSs) can be converted into a set of related constraint expressions. These PDS constraint sets, which are usually incomplete, i.e., under-constrained, can then be solved by the solver to provide a designer with guided solutions for each design parameter, thus support a designer to make an informative and insightful design decision. A case study is finally presented in the paper to demonstrate how this approach is used to solve a real engineering design problem — a robotic finger system design.


2014 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 434-455 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pelin Gultekin ◽  
Chimay J. Anumba ◽  
Robert M. Leicht

Purpose – This paper aims to focus on the decision-making process of integrated system design. Buildings can benefit from different system integration working toward the unified goal of providing the needed conditions and improving the comfort level of occupants. It is important to engage all system needs and priorities in the design by keeping goal into consideration. Even though there is vast potential in the coordination of system design decisions, there is a need to increase the transparency of the decision-making process by developing methods to incorporate multi-dimensional design attributes. Design/methodology/approach – This is achieved by considering all system design priorities with respect to decision attributes, as well as the inter-system inputs based on information and knowledge. Data were collected through interviews, collaboration meetings and design document reviews, which helped to facilitate triangulation. Findings – This paper presents the findings of a case study of deep retrofit design process that seeks to reduce energy consumption through integrated system decisions with several system combinations. In addition, such design decisions highlighted the fact that the values need to be flexible at the system level. Research limitations/implications – This paper presents an in-depth analysis of a single case study. Multiple case studies are being investigated for the future of this research. Practical implications – This paper presents the methods used for integrated design process priorities that will enable design teams to make decisions that lead to improved energy performance in retrofit projects. Originality/value – The case study building in this paper is a showcase building with cutting edge technologies and techniques, as well as a scalable and collaborative design process. It is an example of a best-in-class retrofit process designed through whole building design principles within the target budget. The paper demonstrates system design selection criteria that are embraced by value prioritization.


2021 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 1363-1372
Author(s):  
Fan Li ◽  
Yuan Lu

AbstractArtificial Intelligence (AI) has expanded in a diverse context, it infiltrates our social lives and is a critical part of algorithmic decision-making. Adopting AI technology, especially AI-enabled design, by end users who are non-AI experts is still limited. The incomprehensible, untransparent decision-making and difficulty of using AI become obstacles which prevent these end users to adopt AI technology. How to design the user experience (UX) based on AI technologies is an interesting topic to explore.This paper investigates how non-AI-expert end users can be engaged in the design process of an AI-enabled application by using a framework called Smart Service Blueprint Scape (SSBS), which aims to establish a bridge between UX and AI systems by mapping and translating AI decisions based on UX. A Dutch mobility service called ‘stUmobiel ’ was taken as a design case study. The goal is to design a reservation platform with stUmobiel end users. Co-creating with case users and assuring them to understand the decision-making and service provisional process of the AI-enabled design is crucial to promote users’ adoption. Furthermore, the concern of AI ethics also arises in the design process and should be discussed in a broader sense.


2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (6) ◽  
pp. 2927-2955
Author(s):  
Mar Palmeros Parada ◽  
Lotte Asveld ◽  
Patricia Osseweijer ◽  
John Alexander Posada

AbstractBiobased production has been promoted as a sustainable alternative to fossil resources. However, controversies over its impact on sustainability highlight societal concerns, value tensions and uncertainties that have not been taken into account during its development. In this work, the consideration of stakeholders’ values in a biorefinery design project is investigated. Value sensitive design (VSD) is a promising approach to the design of technologies with consideration of stakeholders’ values, however, it is not directly applicable for complex systems like biorefineries. Therefore, some elements of VSD, such as the identification of relevant values and their connection to a technology’s features, are brought into biorefinery design practice. Midstream modulation (MM), an approach to promoting the consideration of societal aspects during research and development activities, is applied to promote reflection and value considerations during the design decision making. As result, it is shown that MM interventions during the design process led to new design alternatives in support of stakeholders' values, and allowed to recognize and respond to emerging value tensions within the scope of the project. In this way, the present work shows a novel approach for the technical investigation of VSD, especially for biorefineries. Also, based on this work it is argued that not only reflection, but also flexibility and openness are important for the application of VSD in the context of biorefinery design.


2015 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 174-198 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefania Veltri ◽  
Andrea Venturelli ◽  
Giovanni Mastroleo

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to propose a method to measure intellectual capital (IC) in firms involved in strategic alliances, an area that has received scant attention in the literature, as existing research is focused mainly on organizational level mainly and increasingly on macro-level unit such as regions or nations. There are very few works at the meso-level (i.e. alliances, clusters), and the paper aims to fill this void, by providing researchers and practitioners with a tool capable of combining measurement and management aims, developed at organizational level with the active participation of the researchers. Design/methodology/approach – The method of analysis is based on a model formalized through a fuzzy expert system (FES). The FES are able to merge the capabilities of an expert system to simulate the decision-making process with the vagueness typical of human reasoning, maintaining the ability to still have a numeric value as a response. Its construction requires the participation of experts, whose knowledge of the problem is accumulated in the form of blocks of rules. These features make it possible to formalize the decision-making process related to the IC valuation, handling qualitative and quantitative variables, and exploring the cognitive mechanisms underlying this process. Findings – The outcome of the application is a system designed to measure the intangible performance deriving from participation in a strategic alliance using FES. This study contributes to the broadening of the research community’s understanding regarding the alternative measurement of IC created within strategic alliances. Research limitations/implications – To the best of the authors’ knowledge, IC literature lacks methods expressly designed to measure the incremental value of IC originating from collaboration among firms. From a measurement perspective, the results may be regarded as valuable proof that IC performance within strategic alliances can be measured quantitatively. Practical implications – On the management side, the possibility of retracing the determinants of different IC intermediate indicators composing the final IC index allows strategic alliances managers to use this information for decision-making purposes. Originality/value – To the best of the authors’ knowledge this is the first study applying FES to measure IC in a firm belonging to a strategic alliance. In the authors’ opinion, fuzzy logic methodology, recently applied in empirical work designed to evaluate IC, represents a reliable methodology because of the “fuzzy” nature of IC.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hoang To Loan Nguyen

PurposeWisdom is considered as crucial in decision-making in both management and auditing practice. This research aims to investigate the concept of wisdom in auditing, thereby empirically exploring the determinants of wisdom in audit decision-making and explaining inter-relations among these determinants.Design/methodology/approachThis study employs grounded theory methodology that is based on in-depth interviews with twenty-seven practicing auditors who are audit partners, managers, seniors and assistants of auditing firms. Guided by the grounded theory, data collection and data analyses were conducted simultaneously to look into the new insights of the research phenomenon. The coding process was constantly compared until the research's theoretical saturation is reached after four rounds. At the end of the research process, the study conducted a survey to confirm the proposed framework as well as examine the inter-relationships between the defined determinants.FindingsResults suggest developing a conceptual framework to interpret wisdom-based decision-making process in auditing. A wise process of audit decision-making is defined as an integrated exercise of multiple determinants including knowledge assimilation, judgmental ability and ethical orientation. The research also explains and examines the potential interrelationships among these determinants in the audit decision-making process.Practical implicationsWisdom is a valuable tacit ability for all external auditors. The development of wise decision-making abilities of auditors should be considered an integral part of multiple virtues including knowledge and judgmental and ethical aspects.Originality/valueThe contributions of this study are original and significant because it proposes a new approach to explain for the audit decision-making process and enhances better understandings of the concept of wisdom in auditing practices and its roles in audit decision-making.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sami Wasef Abuezhayeh ◽  
Les Ruddock ◽  
Issa Shehabat

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate and explain how organizations in the construction sector can enhance their decision-making process (DMP) by practising knowledge management (KM) and business process management (BPM) activities. A conceptual framework is developed that recognises the elements that impact DMP in terms of KM and BPM. The development of this framework goes beyond current empirical work on KM in addition to BPM as it investigates a wider variety of variables that impact DMP. Design/methodology/approach A case study is undertaken in the context of the construction industry in Jordan. A theoretical framework is developed and assessment of the proposed framework was undertaken through a questionnaire survey of decision-makers in the construction sector and expert interviews. Findings The outcomes of this research provide several contributions to aid decision-makers in construction organizations. Growth in the usage of KM and BPM, in addition to the integration between them, can provide employees with task-related knowledge in the organization’s operative business processes, improve process performance, promote core competence and maximise and optimise business performance. Originality/value Through the production of a framework, this study provides a tool to enable improved decision-making. The framework generates a strong operational as well as theoretical approach to the organizational utilization of knowledge and business processes.


2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 153-174 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shahbaz Khan ◽  
Mohd Imran Khan ◽  
Abid Haleem

PurposeHigher level of customer satisfaction for halal products can be achieved by the effective adoption of halal certification through assessment and accreditation (HCAA). There are certain issues that seem detrimental towards the adoption of HCAA. The purpose of this paper is to identify the major barriers towards the adoption of HCAA and evaluate inter-relationships among them for developing the strategies to mitigate these barriers.Design/methodology/approachThe barriers towards the adoption of HCAA are identified through an integrative approach of literature review and expert’s opinion. The inter-relationship among the identified barriers is evaluated using fuzzy-based decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (fuzzy DEMATEL) technique, which categorises them into influential and influenced group.FindingsThe evaluation of inter-relationship among barriers using fuzzy DEMATEL indicates four influencing barriers and six influenced barriers towards the adoption of HCAA. Further, findings suggest an extensive government, and management support is vital in terms of commitment, resources and actions to realise the benefits attributed with HCAA.Research limitations/implicationsThe inter-relationship among barriers is contextual and based on the perception of experts which may be biased as per their background and area of expertise. This study pertains to a specific region and can be extended to the generalised certification system.Originality/valueThe empirical base of the research provides the inter-relationship among the barriers towards the adoption of HCAA which can be effectively used as input in the decision-making process by producers, manufacturers and distributor. The policy maker can analyse the cause group and effect group of barriers to formulate policies that would help in the adoption of HCAA.


2019 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 217-231
Author(s):  
Stephanie Chitpin

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to know the extent to which a decision-making framework assists in providing holistic, comprehensive descriptions of strategies used by school leaders engaging with distributed leadership practices. The process by which principals and other education leaders interact various school-based actors to arrive at a distributed decision-making process is addressed through this paper. The position taken suggests that leadership does not reside solely with principals or other education leaders, but sustains the view that the actions of various actors within a school setting contribute to fuller and more comprehensive accounts of distributed leadership. Design/methodology/approach While the application of rational/analytical approaches to organizational problems or issues can lead to effective decisions, dilemmas faced by principals are often messy, complex, ill-defined and not easily resolved through algorithmic reason or by the application of rules, as evidenced by the two stories provided by Agnes, a third-year principal in a small countryside elementary school in a small northeastern community, and by John, a novice principal in a suburb of a large Southwestern metropolitan area. Findings The value of the objective knowledge growth framework (OKGF) process is found in its ability to focus Agnes’s attention on things that she may have overlooked, such as options she might have ignored or information that she might have resisted or accepted, as well as innumerable preparations she might have neglected had she not involved all the teachers in her school. Research limitations/implications The implementation of the OKGF may appear, occasionally, to introduce unnecessary points along this route and may not be laboriously applied to all decision-making situations. However, the instinctively pragmatic solutions provided by this framework will often produce effective results. Therefore, in order to reduce potentially irrational outcomes, the systematic approach employed by the OKGF is preferable. The OKGF must be managed, implemented and sustained locally if it is to provide maximum benefits to educational decision makers. Practical implications Given the principals’ changing roles, it is abundantly clear that leadership practice can no longer involve just one person, by necessity, and it is becoming increasingly difficult to imagine how things could have been accomplished otherwise. Expecting the principal to single-handedly lead efforts to improve instruction is impractical, particularly when leadership may be portrayed as what school principals do, especially when other potential sources of leadership have been ignored or treated as secondary or unimportant because that leadership has not emanated from the principal’s office (Spillane, 2006). In this paper, the authors have striven to reveal how a perspective of distributed leadership, when used in conjunction with the objective knowledge growth framework, can be effective in assisting principals in resolving problems of practice. Social implications Different school leaders of varying status within the educative organization benefit from obtaining different answers to similar issues, as evidenced by John’s and Agnes’s leadership tangles. Lumby and English (2009) differentiate between “routinization” and “ritualization.” They argue, “They are not the same. The former erases the need for human agency while the latter requires it” (p. 112). The OKGF process, therefore, cannot provide school leaders with the “right” answers to their educative quandaries, simply because any two school leaders, facing the same issues, may utilize differing theories, solutions, choices or options which may satisfy their issues in response to their own individual contextual factors. Similarly, in a busy day or week, school leaders may be inclined to take the shortest distance between two points in the decision-making process; problem identification to problem resolution. Originality/value Should the OKGF process empower decision makers to obtain sound resolutions to their educative issues by assisting them in distancing themselves from emotions or confirmation biases that may distract them from resolving school problems, its use will have been worthwhile.


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