Citation

Timmermans JS, Beroggi GEG. Safety Sci. 2000; 35(1-3): 175-192.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2000, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Planning of infrastructures typically involves many organizations with conflicting interests and diverging control over crucial issues, such as technological and social safety, economic potential, and environmental concerns. Traditional planning assumes that all conflicts must, and can, be resolved and that the resulting master plan represents a compromise solution being carried by all parties. In this paper we apply a new methodological approach which departs from this unrealistic assumption. Instead of aiming at resolving all conflicts, we try to manage all planning conflicts by searching for an optimal exchange of control which minimizes the remaining differences among the planning organizations. The focus is on analyzing dependencies among different actors involved in the planning process. We discuss the application of this approach to the urban center melioration project for Alphen on the Rhine, in The Netherlands. Fourteen actors, representing seven planning agencies, governmental departments, and business associations, participated in a workshop for the urban center amelioration project for Alphen on the Rhine (NL). The applied methodology allowed the participants to gain insights in their mutual dependencies. Moreover, post-workshop analysis allowed us to conclude that the current configuration of actors and issues provides little potential to reduce the tension caused by conflicting planning objectives. The most important recommendation to the urban center amelioration project for Alphen on the Rhine (NL) is to broaden their approach to include additional actors and planning issues.