Map making and map use in a multi-actor context: Spatial visualizations and frame conflicts in regional policymaking in the Netherlands

In this thesis, the practice of map-making and map use is studied among actors involved in spatial planning and water management. The socio-technical mechanisms between knowlegde production and policymaking in Dutch regional planning make up the central object of study, with map images as observable artefacts. In many instances, maps seem to be...

Very long term development of the Dutch Inland Waterway Transport System: Policy analysis, transport projections, shipping scenarios, and a new perspective on economic growth and future discounting

This thesis addresses how a new method for the evaluation of policies with a very long term impact on the Dutch Inland Waterway Transport (IWT) system can be developed. It proposes an outline for a very long term transport model, prepares a number of very long term scenarios, and indicates that a different perspective on economic growth and...

Actor analysis for water resources management: Putting the promise into practice

Water related problems such as floods, droughts, declining groundwater tables or polluted rivers have a major impact on numerous societies throughout the world. Despite these serious problems, policy makers seem to make scant use of the knowledge that is available with water experts. Conversely, water experts face the task of finding out how...

Matching research and policy in integrated water management

Bridging Boundaries: Making scale choices in multi-actor policy analysis on water management

This thesis synthesizes different perspectives on scale choices (spatial boundary setting, temporal boundary setting and the selection of the level of aggregation) in policy analysis. Scale choices influence the content of a study: the problems on the agenda, the options found and the impacts addressed. This also affects the process, because...

Decision Support for Collaborative Airport Strategic Planning

An airport’s operation and development impacts many stakeholders. Therefore, an airport should be treated as a socio-technical system. An airport operator and its stakeholders should strategically plan and develop the airport together. This dissertation describes the development of the HARMOS Decision Support System that can facilitate such...

Adjusting Life Cycle Assessment Methodology for Use in Public Policy Discourse

Purposive interaction in multi-actor decision making: Operationalizing Coleman's linear system of action for policy decision support

Purposive Interaction in Multi-Actor Decision Making; Operationalizing Coleman's Linear System of Action for Policy Decision Support, started out with a ball and a web, a policy domain moved by a network of actors. How can the ball maintain its pace? Who are the actors that make the difference? How can policy annalists support them in moving the...

Safety Analysis of Transport Corridors

Relating Actor Analysis Methods to Policy Problems

For a policy analyst the policy problem is the starting point for the policy analysis process. During this process the policy analyst structures the policy problem and makes a choice for an appropriate set of methods or techniques to analyze the problem (Goeller 1984). The methods of the policy analyst are often referred to as the toolbox or...

Exploring the evolution of biofuel supply chains: An agent-based modeling approach

One of the challenges of the twenty-first century is the transition to a sustainable energy system. Road transport biofuels can play an important role in this energy transition. Indeed, biofuels have the largest global share as a mitigation measure in the road transport sector. In 2012, biofuels accounted for 3.4% of global road transport fuel...

Modelling Human-Flood Interactions: A Coupled Flood-Agent-Institution Modelling Framework for Long-term Flood Risk Management

The negative impacts of floods are attributed to the extent and magnitude of a flood hazard, and the vulnerability and exposure of natural and human elements. In flood risk management (FRM) studies, it is crucial to model the interaction between human and flood subsystems across multiple spatial, temporal and organizational scales. Models should...