Research methods for understanding and supporting decision processes in African cities

This review examines both decision-making process methods – those that describe and provide insights about empirical cases of decision-making – and decision-making support methods – those that analyse normative dimensions of how a decision could be made.

Presenting key conceptual and theoretical insights drawn from multiple disciplines, the authors argue that contemporary decision-making is characterised by:

1. the increasing complexity of problems – the rise of so-called “wicked” problems,
2. the necessary shift away from linear models of decision-making, and
3. the rise of “risk” as a central concept for dealing with uncertainty.

Read the working paper (PDF, external link)