scholarly journals Investigating Decision Mechanisms of Statutory Stakeholders in Flood Risk Strategy Formation: A Computational Experiments Approach

Water ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (10) ◽  
pp. 2716
Author(s):  
Ifigeneia Koutiva ◽  
Archontia Lykou ◽  
Chris Pantazis ◽  
Christos Makropoulos
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Flood Risk ◽  
Strategy Formation ◽  
Protection Measures ◽  
Agent Based ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
Decision Mechanisms ◽  
User Friendly ◽  
The City

Cities at risk of extreme hydro-meteorological events need to be prepared to decrease the extent of the impacts. However, sometimes, authorities only react to catastrophes failing to proactively prepare against extremes. This can be a result of both absent structural protection measures and problematic governance. While for the first, models exist that can simulate the effect, the effect of the latter is difficult to quantify. This work aims to explore the effects that typical authorities’ behaviour has on the decisions for preparing and protecting a city against floods. This behaviour includes how the different authorities decide, for example, on whether or not to cooperate with each other, build something, assign funding to something, etc. These decisions affect directly the preparedness against and the protection from flood events. For that matter, the institutional analysis framework was used to conceptualise the decision-making processes of authorities responsible for flood risk management. Based on this, an agent-based modelling tool has been created, enabling the exploration of the system’s behaviour under different scenarios. The tool is used as a case study of the responsible authorities for flood protection in the city of Rethymno on the island of Crete, Greece. The tool has a user-friendly interface enabling the end-users to explore the drivers of decision-making processes under different conditions.

scholarly journals Capturing flood risk dynamics with a coupled agent-based and hydraulic modelling framework

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tamara Michaelis ◽  
Luigia Brandimarte ◽  
Giuliano Di Baldassarre ◽  
Maurizio Mazzoleni
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Flood Risk ◽  
Flood Protection ◽  
Hydraulic Modelling ◽  
Protection Measures ◽  
Agent Based ◽  
The Real ◽  
Modelling Framework ◽  
Levee System ◽  
Over Time

<p>Floods are one of the costliest natural hazards worldwide, affecting millions of people every year. To plan flood risk reduction strategies, there is a need to understand how risk changes over time. In traditional flood risk assessment, vulnerability is often unrealistically considered constant in time, which does not reflect patterns observed in the real world. The coupled human and natural flood system is complex and determined by two-way interactions between the two subsystems. Floodplain dynamics may affect human behavior (e.g. by triggering the implementation of protection measures at different scales) which changes exposure and vulnerability, while they are also in turn influenced by human activities (e.g. land-use changes or flood protection structures). Here we explore how these two-way interactions influence changes in flood risk over time, with a focus on the role of individual and governmental decision-making, by developing a coupled agent-based and hydraulic modelling framework.</p><p>In our framework, household agents are located in a floodplain protected by a levee system. Individual behavior is based on Protection Motivation Theory and it comprises (as a response to floods) the options to do nothing, invest in private flood protection measures, or file a complaint to the government. The governmental decision making process about the implementation of technical flood protection measures, i.e. reinforcing the levee system, is a compromise between a Cost-Benefit-Analysis and relative number of filed complaints from the households. The agents take decisions at every time step of a long time series of annual maximum water levels: in case of levee breach, the floodplain water level is estimated by the LISFLOOD 2D hydraulic model, which is dynamically coupled into the agent-based model.</p><p>We show that this coupled model is capable of replicating adaptation and levee effects, which have been empirically observed by several scholars in numerous floodplains around the world. Thus, our framework provides a useful explanatory tool for assessing different spatial and temporal dynamics of flood risk in a socio-hydrological system. Moreover, the new modelling approach can explicitly simulate the spatial distribution of flood risk which allows for the analysis of conflicting interests in neighbouring communities. First, efforts have been made to include farmer agents into the model to simulate conflicts between urban and rural areas. Further, we exploit data from the real word in order to assess the credibility of our model and, lastly, use the model to investigate the effects of different climate scenarios on these types of conflicts.</p><p> </p>

scholarly journals Citizen Participation and Machine Learning for a Better Democracy

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Procter ◽  
Miguel Arana-Catania ◽  
Felix-Anselm van Lier ◽  
Nataliya Tkachenko ◽  
Yulan He ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Machine Learning ◽  
Citizen Participation ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Information Overload ◽  
City Council ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
Development Goals ◽  
Democratic Systems ◽  
The City

The development of democratic systems is a crucial task as confirmed by its selection as one of the Millennium Sustainable Development Goals by the United Nations. In this article, we report on the progress of a project that aims to address barriers, one of which is information overload, to achieving effective direct citizen participation in democratic decision-making processes. The main objectives are to explore if the application of Natural Language Processing (NLP) and machine learning can improve citizens? experience of digital citizen participation platforms. Taking as a case study the ?Decide Madrid? Consul platform, which enables citizens to post proposals for policies they would like to see adopted by the city council, we used NLP and machine learning to provide new ways to (a) suggest to citizens proposals they might wish to support; (b) group citizens by interests so that they can more easily interact with each other; (c) summarise comments posted in response to proposals; (d) assist citizens in aggregating and developing proposals. Evaluation of the results confirms that NLP and machine learning have a role to play in addressing some of the barriers users of platforms such as Consul currently experience.

The Heterogeneous Nature of Urban Poor Families

2012 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 94-118 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rodrigo Salcedo ◽  
Alejandra Rasse
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Urban Poor ◽  
Poverty Reduction ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Poor Families ◽  
Heterogeneous Nature ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
Different Cultures

This paper addresses the scholarly debate on cultural homogeneity or heterogeneity of urban poor families. While authors such as Lewis (1959) or Wacquant (2000 ; 2001) claim that structural disadvantages are linked to a particular type of identity or culture, others such as Hannerz (1969) , Anderson (1999 ; 2002) , or Portes ( Portes and Manning, 1986 ; Portes and Jensen, 1989 ) believe that it is possible to find different behaviors, expectations, decision–making processes, and outcomes among people living in seemingly identical structural conditions ( Small et al., 2010 ). Using Santiago, Chile, as a case study, we differentiate five different cultures or identities among the poor. Those identities seem to be the product of different historical and political circumstances, as well as of different types of public policies. The paper ends with a discussion of the need for poverty reduction policies to consider these differences among the poor.

scholarly journals Pasteloza – refurbishing of the PPR heritage

2019 ◽  
Vol 63 (1) ◽  
pp. 51-64
Author(s):  
Sara Nikolić
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Thermal Insulation ◽  
Citizen Participation ◽  
Civic Participation ◽  
The Other ◽  
Geometric Figures ◽  
State Administration ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
The City ◽  
Housing Estates

Abstract Colourful zigzags, arcade game motifs, geometric figures, pseudo-frames of windows and even infantile drawings of flora and fauna – those are just some of the visible symptoms of the aesthetical and urbanistic chaotic condition also known as Polish pasteloza. One of the most common readings is that the excuse of thermal insulation is being (ab)used in order to radically erase the urbanistic, cultural and political heritage of Polish People’s Republic (PPR) from the city landscape. On the other hand, inhabitants of ‘pastelized’ housing estates claim to be satisfied not only with the insulation but also with their role in decision-making processes. A sense of alienation from one’s home seems to have gone away, together with the centralized state administration, and it is being replaced by citizen participation. The possibility of vindication of pasteloza’s ‘crimes against aesthetics’ will be deliberated in this paper – in order to pave a path for more complex understanding of this phenomenon that could offer a solution for achieving a compromise between aesthetics and civic participation in post-transition processes.

Implementation of Business Intelligence in Product Services a Banking (Case Study: PT Bank Sumsel Babel Baturaja Branch)

2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sekar Sari Wiradarma ◽  
Ken Dhita Tania ◽  
Dinna Yunika Hardiyanti
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Business Intelligence ◽  
Quality Information ◽  
Product Data ◽  
Product Service ◽  
History Of ◽  
Adaptive Nature ◽  
User Friendly ◽  
Intelligence Application

AbstractBusiness Intelligence (BI) is a collection of theories, methodologies, processes, architectures, and technologies that convert raw data into quality information for business purposes. BI can handle a large amount of information that can help in identifying problems and developing new opportunities. In designing and implementing Business Intelligence (BI) concept for monitoring banking product service using reference business intelligence roadmap approach. Business intelligence roadmap is one example of BI development that can be emulated because of its agile and adaptive nature and is intended to support the development of BI. By utilizing Business Intelligence application on transaction history of banking product data, it is hoped able to produce information that can support in giving recommendation and decision making appropriately. The data and information generated also become more accessible and easier to understand (user friendly).Keywords: business intelligence, business intelligence roadmap, OLAP, banking products

Examining the Implications of Process and Choice for Strategic Decision Making Effectiveness

2013 ◽  
pp. 344-359
Author(s):  
Paul L. Drnevich ◽  
Thomas H. Brush ◽  
Alok Chaturvedi
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Academic Research ◽  
Decision Processes ◽  
Strategic Decision ◽  
Strategic Decision Making ◽  
Political Decision ◽  
Agent Based ◽  
Response Choice ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
Using Data

Most strategic decision-making (SDM) approaches advocate the importance of decision-making processes and response choices for obtaining effective outcomes. Modern decision-making support system (DMSS) technology is often also needed for complex SDM, with recent research calling for more integrative DMSS approaches. However, scholars tend to take disintegrated approaches and disagree on whether rational or political decision-making processes result in more effective decision outcomes. In this study, the authors examine these issues by first exploring some of the competing theoretical arguments for the process-choice-effectiveness relationship, and then test these relationships empirically using data from a crisis response training exercise using an intelligent agent-based DMSS. In contrast to prior research, findings indicate that rational decision processes are not effective in crisis contexts, and that political decision processes may negatively influence both response choice and decision effectiveness. These results offer empirical evidence to confirm prior unsupported arguments that response choice is an important mediating factor between the decision-making process and its effectiveness. The authors conclude with a discussion of the implications of these findings and the application of agent-based simulation DMSS technologies for academic research and practice.

‘Stepping on the heads of our Gods'

2015 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 40-56
Author(s):  
Yangji Doma Sherpa ◽  
A. John Sinclair ◽  
Thomas Henley
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Rapid Development ◽  
High Mountain ◽  
Court Cases ◽  
The Public ◽  
Mountain Environments ◽  
Hydroelectric Dam ◽  
Decision Making Processes

The Himalayan region of India is experiencing rapid development in tourism, agriculture, highway construction and hydroelectric dam construction. This research considered the role of the public both within and outside of development decision-making processes in these high mountain environments using the proposed Himalayan Ski Village (HSV) in Manali as a case study. The qualitative data revealed that there has been an extensive array of public participation activity related to the HSV project over approximately 10 years. Very little of this activity has evolved, however, through the formal decision-making process. Rather, most participation activities, such as general house meetings, objection letters, public rallies, court cases against the proposed project, and a religious congregation were instigated by the public to protest the proposed development. The findings also show that involvement in the participatory activities undertaken by the public and project proponent fostered instrumental and communicative learning outcomes.

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