Spatially Explicit Fuzzy Cognitive Mapping for Participatory Modeling of Stormwater Management

Corey T. White, Helena Mitasova, Todd K. BenDor, Kevin Foy, Okan Pala, Jelena Vukomanovic and Ross K. Meentemeyer
Additional contact information
Corey T. White: Center for Geospatial Analytics, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695, USA
Helena Mitasova: Center for Geospatial Analytics, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695, USA
Todd K. BenDor: Department of City and Regional Planning, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA
Kevin Foy: School of Law, North Carolina Central University, Durham, NC 27707, USA
Okan Pala: Center for Geospatial Analytics, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695, USA
Jelena Vukomanovic: Center for Geospatial Analytics, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695, USA
Ross K. Meentemeyer: Center for Geospatial Analytics, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695, USA

Land, 2021, vol. 10, issue 11, 1-29

Abstract: Addressing “wicked” problems like urban stormwater management necessitates building shared understanding among diverse stakeholders with the influence to enact solutions cooperatively. Fuzzy cognitive maps (FCMs) are participatory modeling tools that enable diverse stakeholders to articulate the components of a socio-environmental system (SES) and describe their interactions. However, the spatial scale of an FCM is rarely explicitly considered, despite the influence of spatial scale on SES. We developed a technique to couple FCMs with spatially explicit survey data to connect stakeholder conceptualization of urban stormwater management at a regional scale with specific stormwater problems they identified. We used geospatial data and flooding simulation models to quantitatively evaluate stakeholders’ descriptions of location-specific problems. We found that stakeholders used a wide variety of language to describe variables in their FCMs and that government and academic stakeholders used significantly different suites of variables. We also found that regional FCM did not downscale well to concerns at finer spatial scales; variables and causal relationships important at location-specific scales were often different or missing from the regional FCM. This study demonstrates the spatial framing of stormwater problems influences the perceived range of possible problems, barriers, and solutions through spatial cognitive filtering of the system’s boundaries.

Keywords: flooding; geospatial analytics; GRASS GIS; knowledge elicitation; spatial scale dependency; socio-environmental systems; climate change; urban growth; socio-hydrology (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (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)

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