Title: Employing analytic tools in large-scale engineering public policy-making

Authors: Giampiero E.G. Beroggi

Addresses: School of Technology, Policy, and Management, Delft University of Technology, P.B. Box 5015, 2600 GA Delft, Netherlands

Abstract: This paper examines the interactions of analytic approaches and policy-making for large-scale engineering projects. It is thereby argued that the efficiency of policy-making can be increased if a fruitful synergy between analytical decision analysis and political opinion forming can be achieved and nourished along the whole policy-making life cycle. The discussion is built around the NEAT rail project in Switzerland. Relevant analytic tools are addressed in terms of a newly proposed taxonomy. The appropriateness of those tools is then discussed in terms of the decision makers and environmental characteristics. Ways to improve the synergy between analysis and decision-making are based on the study of the life cycle of the project and the potential for successful analytic support.

Keywords: analytic tools; large-scale systems; public policy-making; decision support; rail infrastructure.

DOI: 10.1504/IJTM.2000.002814

International Journal of Technology Management, 2000 Vol.19 No.3/4/5, pp.336-356

Published online: 07 Jul 2003 *

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