Experiences of stakeholder participation in multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) processes for water infrastructure

Abstract

The process of multi-criteria decision analysis is commonly utilized in planning processes for technical infrastructure. This includes water infrastructure, which is currently impacted by global changes in environmental conditions. Consequentially, technical and conceptual options have been developed with the focus on sustainability by closing water and material cycles. The inclusion of stakeholder perspectives in the planning process would be supported by purposeful MCDA implementation. This paper examines initial stages of the MCDA with a focus on the multi-stakeholder-group-driven collaborative development of a set of objectives (SOO). Additional emphasis is given to participatory methods for each stage of the two, presented case studies examined in this paper. An attempt has been made to describe perceptions and outcomes of the case studies. The developed SOOs are presented and discussed with special regard to the development process and the evaluation outcomes.