Abstract
Dilemmas are pervasive in decision making. Although they offer the potential of reflecting on issues at stake from different perspectives, dilemmas often lead to paralysis for those encountering them. This study presents a three dimensional collaboration tool specifically developed to surface dilemmas in a multi-actor context. The assumption is that revealing and debating dilemmas encourage finding solutions that bridge the apparently competing demands that resulted in dilemmas in the first place. Our tool, called the ‘dilemma cube’, is based on cognitive mapping principles and allows a diversity of participants to share their interpreted actions, effects, and connections among different issues at stake. We tested our tool in a collaborative workshop for a multifunctional land use project in the Netherlands. Our results show that the ‘dilemma cube’ guided participants to share their interpretations about the project, revealing the interdependence of issues at stake. Revealing the socially-constructed nature of dilemmas in multi-actor contexts is the stepping stone to explore strategies that stimulate deliberation, and realize the opportunities of exploiting opposites in light of dilemmas.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 37-49 |
Journal | Futures |
Volume | 87 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 1 Mar 2017 |
Externally published | Yes |
Funding
We would like to thank the reviewers for their helpful comments. We are grateful to the participants of the “BlueValley” project who accepted to be part of our research. We would like to thank prof. Pelle Ehn for his valuable comments and inspiration for the design of the dilemma cube. Moreover, we are grateful to dr. Trudes Heems for introducing us to the project and supporting us during the workshop session. This work was supported by the Dutch Technology Foundation STW, being part of the research program on “Integral and Sustainable Design of Multifunctional Flood Defenses” (project 12181).
Funders | Funder number |
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Stichting voor de Technische Wetenschappen | 12181 |