Understanding Collective Decision Making
A Fitness Landscape Model Approach
Published on 28. July 2017
Book
Hardback
256 pages
978-1-78347-314-4 (ISBN)
Description
Collective decision making seems a straightforward matter: people come together and decide. But why is it that today's winners can turn into tomorrow's losers? Why can't you always get what you want? How does the interaction between the decision makers influence the outcome? And are opportunists better off than stubborn decision makers? This book takes a refreshing look at collective decision making by using models of evolutionary biology and naturalistic decision making to analyse real-world cases. These cases include the rise and fall of the Dutch high-speed railway project and the unexpected effects of introducing public-private partnerships to connect the new Thai national airport to Bangkok. Gerrits and Marks successfully guide the reader towards an in-depth understanding through rich empirical research and uncover the beautiful complexity of collective decision making.
Understanding Collective Decision Making will be of great interest to academics working in public administration, political science and evolutionary theory. Public managers will also find this book helpful to understand why and how collective decisions are formed.
Understanding Collective Decision Making will be of great interest to academics working in public administration, political science and evolutionary theory. Public managers will also find this book helpful to understand why and how collective decisions are formed.
Reviews / Votes
'In Understanding Collective Decision Making, Lasse Gerrits and Peter Marks provide a powerful analytical framework to help one examine and interpret processes of collective decision-making, with a particular focus on urban transformations.' -- Sofia Pagliarin, Regional Studies 'This is a remarkable book that deserves in-depth scrutiny and critique.' -- Public Administration Review 'Brilliant! Grounded in the concept of fitness landscapes - as well as the latest advances in case-based modeling and critical realism, and also visual and social complexity - this book is a significant breakthrough in the study of collective decision making, particularly as it unfolds across conceptual time/space. To do so, Gerrits and Marks appeal to the readers' intuition, helping them navigate two fictional worlds (clock and cloud) to arrive at four different real-world empirical examples, which are wonderfully illustrated. There is also a web-based software package (un-code.org), which the authors developed and which readers can now use to employ these new tools. An absolute must-read!' -- Brian Castellani, Kent State University, US 'For a while, complexity theory holds the promise of a new paradigm for the planning sciences. This book is a major step forward in that endeavour. It provides a unique blend of analytical reasoning and in-depth case studies within an original and coherent framework.' -- Koen Frenken, Utrecht University, the NetherlandsMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
Cheltenham
United Kingdom
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 156 mm
ISBN-13
978-1-78347-314-4 (9781783473144)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Lasse Gerrits, Professor Governance of Complex Urban Transformations, Academic Director, Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies, Erasmus University Rotterdam and Peter Marks, Department of Public Administration, Erasmus University Rotterdam, the Netherlands
Content
Contents: 1. An uphill struggle 2. Models of social evolution: fitness landscapes 3. The transformation of fitness landscapes 4. The model 5. Memory of a dream: High-speed rail in the Netherlands 6. Enter in time: Analysing dynamics in three empirical studies 7. Evolution in collective decision making Index