Study

Certificate course in

Scenario Development, Spatial Planning Support Systems and Collaborative Decision Support

The first part of this course addresses spatial scenario development through spatial planning support systems. Planning is the innovative part of the decision-making process, as it aims at initiating, developing and analysing the possible courses of action. Development of policies, plans, projects or interventions are among the very important decisions in resource management. Planning should consider a variety of complex social, ecological, economic and cultural processes, and this requires proper tools, methods and procedures that integrate major processes in a planning support system.

The second part addresses collaborative analysis and decision making regarding scenarios. For improved decision making, the required information, tools, techniques, models and procedures have to be integrated in a user-friendly information processing system – a spatial decision support system. Such systems are linked to the new research and development in information technology, decision science and disciplinary fields, facilitating the modelling and integration of complex natural and socio-economic processes. In contrast to other geo-information systems, spatial decision support systems provide insight into judgments of tradeoffs between various decision options, which vary between actors. More importantly, they assist in aggregating data and turning them into relevant information for the decision-making processes.

For whom is the course relevant?

The course is designed for professionals involved and interested in the application of GIS, remote sensing and decision science in collaborative planning, decision making and the management of scarce resources.

What will be achieved (in general)?

On completion of parts 1 and 2, participants should be able to:

• explain the principles of planning and decision-making processes and the role of planning and (collaborative) decision support systems
• describe policy formulation, scenario development and analysis, and the collaborative choice process
• state the role of disciplinary models in the planning process
• use, assess and interpret multicriteria evaluation techniques in time and space to evaluate the impact of various scenarios from single and multiple stakeholder perspectives
• explain ways of handling uncertainty in planning and decision making.

What will be achieved (in detail)?

On completion of part 1, participants should be able to:

• describe planning concepts, approaches, elements and requirements
• describe policy formulation, and scenario development and analysis
• explain the complexity of the planning environment
• state the role of disciplinary models in the planning process
• explain ways of handling uncertainty
• explain the role of various stakeholders, and the way to consider their views in the planning process
• develop and apply qualitative/quantitative techniques for policy formulation and scenario development
• discuss the potentialities and limitations of various planning and integration approaches for policy formulation and scenario development
• develop and evaluate policy and assess its impacts in various scenarios
• apply qualitative decision rule-based methods for scenario development and analysis
• state the potentialities and limitations of qualitative methods for scenario development and analysis
• apply the knowledge and skills gained in plan formulation and analysis.

On completion of part 2, participants should be able to:

• explain the principles of decision-making process and decision support systems
• distinguish between various phases of the decision-making process and their required types of information and support systems
• discuss the linkages between GIS, disciplinary models and decision support systems
• apply spatial multicriteria decision analysis techniques to combine various layers of information ''criteria'' of different quality, format and type to support planning and the decision-making process
• classify and compare different multicriteria evaluation techniques
• use multicriteria evaluation techniques in time and space to propose an appropriate solution to a spatial problem in a single and group decision-making environment
• perform uncertainty analysis and scenario analysis
• assess and interpret the results of the collaborative multicriteria evaluation process.

What is the course content?

Part 1:

• Planning concepts, cycle, hierarchy, components, actors and required support
• Planning support systems (definition, components, architecture, and examples)
• Assessment of existing planning support systems
• Framework for planning and decision making, with examples of land and water resource issues
• Policy formulation process and procedures
• Dealing with data uncertainty, and future and various stakeholders
• Scenario definition, concepts, development and analysis
• Model-based scenario development approaches
• Multi-agent modelling approaches
• Quantitative and qualitative methods for scenario development
• Modelling the demand, supply and allocation of land and water resources
• Integrated models for planning and policy formulation, scenario development, impact assessment and analysis
• Case study in planning support systems to develop and analyse several policies and assess their impacts in various scenarios for a spatial decision problem (different case studies for people with different disciplinary backgrounds will be provided; potentially participants can even work on their own cases).

Part 2:

• Introduction to the decision-making process and decision support systems
• Assessment of some existing decision support systems (integrated model, rule-based model
• Introduction of a framework for planning and decision making
• Principles and components of multicriteria decision making
• Main multicriteria evaluation methods/techniques
• Performance assessments, indicator selection, assessment and valuation
• Theory and practice of spatial multicriteria evaluation in spatial data analysis and decision making
• Application of spatial multicriteria evaluation in planning and decision making
• Decision making under certainty and uncertainty
• Group decision making and the required information technology supports
• Collaborative spatial decision support systems and conflict management
• Application of spatial multicriteria evaluation in group decision making
• Application of the above techniques in case studies (participants can select the case according to their background and interests).

Why choose this course?

The course covers the continuum of spatial planning and decision making in collaborative environments. We use a group decision room and planning and decision-making games to help participants to understand the concepts regarding the support of collaborative scenario development and decision making that are used in this course.

Admission requirements

Academic level and background

Applicants for the Certificate programme should have a Bachelor degree or equivalent from a recognised university in a discipline related to the course, preferably combined with working experience in a relevant field.

Some courses in the Certificate programme or separate modules require knowledge of, and skills in, working with GIS and/or digital image processing of remotely sensed data.

Skills in taught or related subjects are a prerequisite for some courses in the Certificate programme or separate modules. Even if the applicant satisfies the overall admission requirements, acceptance is not automatic.

English language

As all courses are given in English, proficiency in the English language is a prerequisite. If you are a national of one of the countries in this list (PDF), you are exempted from an English language test. Please note: the requirements when applying for fellowships may vary according to the regulations of the fellowship provider.

English language tests: minimum requirements

Only internationally recognised test results are accepted.

Computer skills

Applicants lacking computer experience are strongly advised to follow basic courses in their home countries.

Collaborative planning in the decision room