Collaborative modelling or participatory modelling? A framework for water resources management

Decision Support Systems, and, more recently, participatory and collaborative modelling have emerged as a response to increased focus on stakeholder participation in modelling activities for certain fields like water resources management. Researchers and practitioners frequently use buzzwords such as participatory modelling and collaborative modelling. In some cases, both terms are used interchangeably, largely due to unclear distinction between them in literature. This article draws the line between participatory and collaborative modelling by using levels of participation and cooperation as conditioning dimensions. Based on this methodology, a new generic framework is presented. This framework can help identify determinant features of both modelling approaches currently used in water resources management. It permits analysis of these approaches in terms of context, specific use, information handling, stakeholder involvement, modelling team and means. The article concludes with an application of the framework to a collaborative modelling approach carried out for a groundwater study in the Netherlands. Participatory and collaborative modelling as a response to challenges encountered with traditional DSSs and stakeholder engagement methods.Participatory modelling differs from collaborative modelling by considering participation and cooperation as conditioning factors.A generic framework for participatory and collaborative modelling approaches in Water Resources Management is proposed.

[1]  Pieter W. G. Bots,et al.  Participatory Model Construction and Model Use in Natural Resource Management: a Framework for Reflection , 2008 .

[2]  Anthony J. Jakeman,et al.  Participatory Modelling in Natural Resource Management: A Comparison of Four Case Studies , 2003 .

[3]  Catherine Macombe,et al.  Participatory methods, guidelines and good practice guidance to be applied throughout the project to enhance problem definition, co-learning, synthesis and dissemination , 2005 .

[4]  Rodolfo Soncini-Sessa,et al.  Computer-Aided Water Reservoir Management: A Prototype Two-Level DSS , 1991 .

[5]  Tran Ngoc Trung,et al.  Participatory Simulation of Land-Use Changes in the Northern Mountains of Vietnam: the Combined Use of an Agent-Based Model, a Role-Playing Game, and a Geographic Information System , 2005 .

[6]  Anthony J. Jakeman,et al.  Selecting among five common modelling approaches for integrated environmental assessment and management , 2013, Environ. Model. Softw..

[7]  E. Beek,et al.  Water Security: Putting the Concept into Practice , 2016 .

[8]  Vincent C Tidwell,et al.  Cooperative modeling: linking science, communication, and ground water planning. , 2008, Ground water.

[9]  John Ward,et al.  Towards understanding participatory processes: Framework, application and results. , 2015, Journal of environmental management.

[10]  Henry Mintzberg.  Beyond Implementation: An Analysis Of The Resistance To Policy Analysis† , 1980 .

[11]  A. Jonoski.  Hydroinformatics as sociotechnology: promoting individual stakeholder participation by using network distributed decision support systems , 2002 .

[12]  George P. Richardson,et al.  Model-building for group decision support: Issues and alternatives in knowledge elicitation , 1992 .

[13]  C. Pahl-Wostl,et al.  Research, part of a Special Feature on Social Learning in Water Resources Management Social Learning in European River-Basin Management: Barriers and Fostering Mechanisms from 10 River Basins , 2007 .

[14]  C. V. D. Brink.  Land use an groundwater quality : How technical instrumentation and scientific knowledge can support groundwater planning , 2001 .

[15]  Andreja Jonoski,et al.  Sociotechnical Framework for Participatory Flood Risk Management via Collaborative Modeling , 2013, Int. J. Inf. Syst. Soc. Chang..

[16]  Peter G. W. Keen,et al.  Decision support systems: The next decade , 1987, Decis. Support Syst..

[17]  C. Maksimovic,et al.  Collaborative modelling for active involvement of stakeholders in urban flood risk management , 2012 .

[18]  M. Chan,et al.  Stakeholder analysis for natural resource management in developing countries , 1995 .

[19]  Michael R. Walsh.  Toward Spatial Decision Support Systems in Water Resources , 1993 .

[20]  M. Zeitoun,et al.  Transboundary water interaction I: reconsidering conflict and cooperation , 2008 .

[21]  George P. Richardson,et al.  Scripts for group model building , 1997 .

[22]  J. Edelenbos,et al.  Managing Stakeholder Involvement in Decision Making: A Comparative Analysis of Six Interactive Processes in the Netherlands , 2006 .

[23]  Steven L. Alter,et al.  Decision support systems : current practice and continuing challenges , 1980 .

[24]  E.W.L. Nijland.  Participatory modelling to support group decision making processes in Climate Resilient Urban Design , 2017 .

[25]  Nuno Videira,et al.  Scoping river basin management issues with participatory modelling: The Baixo Guadiana experience , 2009 .

[26]  Dean Tjosvold,et al.  Book review : Group model building : facilitating team learning using system dynamics , 1998 .

[27]  Herbert A. Simon,et al.  The Structure of Ill-Structured Problems , 1977 .

[28]  M. Douglas,et al.  Risk and Culture: An Essay on the Selection of Technological and Environmental Dangers , 1983 .

[29]  Anne Leitch,et al.  Mental models: an interdisciplinary synthesis of theory and methods , 2011 .

[30]  George P. Richardson,et al.  Teamwork in group model building , 1995 .

[31]  R. Chambers.  The Origins and Practice of Participatory Rural Appraisal * ROBERT CHAMBERS ? , 1994 .

[32]  E. Mostert.  The challenge of public participation , 2003 .

[33]  Christian Jolk,et al.  Planning and Decision Support Tools for Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) on River Basin Level in the Southeast-Asian Region on the Example of Vietnam - Tools for Water Quantity and Quality Risk Assessment , 2012 .

[34]  C. Pahl-Wostl,et al.  Social Learning and Water Resources Management , 2007 .

[35]  Leonard A. Malczynski,et al.  Commentary: Cooperative Modeling Lessons for Environmental Management , 2007 .

[36]  Daniel P. Loucks,et al.  Decision support systems : water resources planning , 1991 .

[37]  Jac A. M. Vennix,et al.  Group model-building: tackling messy problems , 1999 .

[38]  N. Mukherjee,et al.  Participatory rural appraisal: Methodology and applications , 1993 .

[39]  François Bousquet,et al.  Modelling with stakeholders , 2010, Environ. Model. Softw..

[40]  M. Etienne.  Companion Modelling: A Participatory Approach to Support Sustainable Development , 2010 .

[41]  C. Sadoff,et al.  Cooperation on International Rivers , 2005 .

[42]  Jery R. Stedinger,et al.  Water Resources Systems Planning And Management , 2006 .

[43]  G. Rowe,et al.  Evaluating Public-Participation Exercises: A Research Agenda , 2004 .

[44]  S. Arnstein,et al.  Ladder of Citizen Participation , 2020 .

[45]  Simon Peck,et al.  Group Model Building: Facilitating Team Learning Using System Dynamics , 1996, J. Oper. Res. Soc..

[46]  E. Gaddis,et al.  Lessons for successful participatory watershed modeling: A perspective from modeling practitioners , 2008 .

[47]  A. Armour.  The Citizens’ Jury Model of Public Participation: A Critical Evaluation , 1995 .

[48]  Nuno Videira,et al.  Participatory Modelling in Environmental Decision-Making: The Ria Formosa Natural Park Case Study , 2003 .

[49]  Pla,et al.  PARTICIPATORY RURAL APPRAISAL , 2012 .

[50]  Saskia Hommes.  Conquering complexity : dealing with uncertainty and ambiguity in water management , 2008 .

[51]  R. Hoppe,et al.  Beleid en Politiek. Een Inleiding tot de Beleidswetenschap en de Beleidskunde , 1996 .

[52]  L. Yuanyuan,et al.  River Basin Planning Principles: Procedures and Approaches for Strategic Basin Planning , 2013 .

[53]  R. Heller.  A Cost-Benefit Analysis of Face-to-Face and Virtual Communication: Overcoming the Challenges , 2010 .

[54]  Christophe Le Page,et al.  Co-constructing with stakeholders a role-playing game to initiate collective management of erosive runoff risks at the watershed scale , 2010, Environ. Model. Softw..

[55]  Library Irc.  PARADOXES OF PARTICIPATION : QUESTIONING PARTICIPATORY APPROACHES TO DEVELOPMENT , 1999 .

[56]  H. Gupta,et al.  Decision Support Systems in Water Resources Planning and Management: Stakeholder Participation and the Sustainable Path to Science-Based Decision Making , 2011 .

[57]  William Werick,et al.  National Study of Water Management During Drought: Managing Water for Drought, , 1994 .

[58]  Michael B. Abbott,et al.  The democratisation of decision-making processes in the water sector I , 2001 .

[59]  Alice N. O'Connor,et al.  SIEVE: Collaborative Decision-making in an Immersive Online Environment , 2008 .

[60]  C. Wendling,et al.  The Use of Social Media in Risk and Crisis Communication , 2013 .

[61]  Rebecca Jordan,et al.  Using fuzzy cognitive mapping as a participatory approach to analyze change, preferred states, and perceived resilience of social-ecological systems , 2015 .

[62]  J. Eyles,et al.  Deliberations about deliberative methods: issues in the design and evaluation of public participation processes. , 2003, Social science & medicine.

[63]  John Bromley,et al.  Participatory modelling to support decision making in water management under uncertainty: two comparative case studies in the Guadiana river basin, Spain. , 2013, Journal of environmental management.

[64]  J. Snepvangers,et al.  MIPWA : A Methodology for Interactive Planning for Water Management , 2007 .

[65]  Nuno Videira,et al.  Participatory decision making for sustainable development—the use of mediated modelling techniques , 2006 .

[66]  Jean-Pierre Briot,et al.  Participatory simulation for collective management of protected areas for biodiversity conservation and social inclusion , 2007 .

[67]  Ayalew Kassahun,et al.  Quality assurance in model based water management - review of existing practice and outline of new approaches , 2005, Environ. Model. Softw..

[68]  Alexis Drogoul,et al.  Using emergence in participatory simulations to design multi-agent systems , 2005, AAMAS '05.

[69]  Andrea Castelletti,et al.  Bayesian Networks and participatory modelling in water resource management , 2007, Environ. Model. Softw..

[70]  Natalie A. Jones,et al.  Evaluating Participatory Modeling: Developing a Framework for Cross-Case Analysis , 2009, Environmental management.

[71]  M. V. D. Belt,et al.  Mediated Modeling: A System Dynamics Approach To Environmental Consensus Building , 2004 .

[72]  Krystyna Anne Stave,et al.  Participatory system dynamics modeling for sustainable environmental management: Observations from four cases , 2010 .

[73]  Richard N. Palmer,et al.  Collaborative Modeling for Decision Support in Water Resources: Principles and Best Practices , 2013 .

[74]  Anthony J. Jakeman,et al.  Integrated assessment and modelling: features, principles and examples for catchment management , 2003, Environ. Model. Softw..

[75]  Brian S. McIntosh,et al.  Synthesis, part of a Special Feature on New Methods for Adaptive Water Management From Premise to Practice: a Critical Assessment of Integrated Water Resources Management and Adaptive Management Approaches in the Water Sector , 2008 .

[76]  A. Jonoski,et al.  Web‐based stakeholder collaboration in flood risk management , 2015 .

[77]  Aris P. Georgakakos,et al.  Decision support systems for integrated water resources management with an application to the nile basin , 2007 .

[78]  Christian Jolk,et al.  Planning and Decision Support Tools for the Integrated Water Resources Management in Vietnam , 2010 .

[79]  B. Bruns.  Water Tenure Reform: Developing an Extended Ladder of Participation , 2003 .

[80]  Peter Lonsdale,et al.  Engaging Learners with Everyday Technology: A Participatory Simulation Using Mobile Phones , 2004, Mobile HCI.

[81]  H. A. Lingstone,et al.  The Delphi Method: Techniques and Applications , 1976 .

[82]  Joseph H. A. Guillaume,et al.  Fit for purpose? Building and evaluating a fast, integrated model for exploring water policy pathways , 2014, Environ. Model. Softw..

[83]  M. Hare,et al.  Forms of Participatory Modelling and its Potential for Widespread Adoption in the Water Sector , 2011 .

[84]  C. Giupponi,et al.  Models and Decisions Support Systems for Participatory Decision Making in Integrated Water Resource Management , 2008 .

[85]  M. Lamers,et al.  Beyond dry feet? Experiences from a participatory water-management planning case in The Netherlands. , 2010 .

[86]  Suzanne A. Pierce,et al.  Modelling with stakeholders e Next generation , 2015 .

[87]  M. Paolisso.  Blue Crabs and Controversy on the Chesapeake Bay: A Cultural Model for Understanding Watermen's Reasoning about Blue Crab Management , 2002 .

[88]  John Ward,et al.  Evaluating participatory research: Framework, methods and implementation results. , 2015, Journal of environmental management.

[89]  Judith A. Rees,et al.  Regulation and private participation in the water and sanitation sector , 1998 .

[90]  M. Hare,et al.  Exploring the Gap Between Water Managers and Researchers: Difficulties of Model-Based Tools to Support Practical Water Management , 2007 .

[91]  Ramesh Sharda,et al.  Decision support system effectiveness: a review and an empirical test , 1988 .

[92]  Daniel P. Loucks,et al.  COMPUTER ASSISTED NEGOTIATION OF MULTIOBJECTIVE WATER RESOURCES CONFLICTS1 , 1992 .