Participatory multi-criteria analysis methods: Comprehensive, inclusive, transparent and user-friendly? An application to the case of the London Gateway Port

M. Dean

Research in Transportation Economics, 2021, vol. 88, issue C

Abstract: The topic of how major transport projects should be assessed continues to generate disputes amongst academics, infrastructure specialists, investors and governments alike. Over the past decades, an increasing number of scholars have started to regard participatory multi-criteria analysis (MCA) as an approach capable of producing more comprehensive, transparent and democratic assessments than traditional appraisal techniques. However, whereas a number of participatory MCA methods have been devised, the large majority of them seem to have enjoyed limited practical application and there are very few studies examining their effectiveness. In order to assess the presumed benefits and the potential drawbacks of such methods, this paper considers the case of the London Gateway Port and compares the actual planning and decision-making process of this port development programme with the results of a multi-actor multi-criteria appraisal exercise, involving several project stakeholders and experts. As a result of this analysis, the paper contends that the contribution that participatory MCA procedures can potentially provide to the improvement of decision-making for large-scale transport infrastructure seems limited at best.

Keywords: Transport projects; Appraisal; Evaluation; Decision-making; Participatory processes; Multi-criteria analysis; Participatory multi-criteria analysis; London Gateway Port (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0739885920300858
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:retrec:v:88:y:2021:i:c:s0739885920300858

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/supportfaq.cws_home/regional
https://shop.elsevie ... _01_ooc_2&version=01

DOI: 10.1016/j.retrec.2020.100887

Access Statistics for this article

Research in Transportation Economics is currently edited by M. Dresner

More articles in Research in Transportation Economics from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().