A computerized methodology for multiobjective analyses as an aid to resource development planning.

Abstract

The civil planning process has evolved in a way that has increased its depth without adequately increasing its breadth. Correspondingly, the planner has been provided with tools that constrict his ability to be responsive to societal requirements. The ramifications of this failure are becoming ever more evident. In many cases, it can be shown that modern technology has been applied without comprehensive rationality and caution so that the environment has been degraded and its habitability decreased. Likewise, other attributes of social welfare have been inadvertently debased by too narrow-minded decision making made in attempts to move forward. Stated briefly, the primary objective addressed by this study consists of expanding the scope of water resources development planning. However, the responsiveness, cost, and quality of that process are also of concern here. The primary objective is accomplished by identifying an all inclusive set of social goals and a set of measurable parameters which can be used to reflect the degree of attainment of those goals. Relating the two domains has been effected by applying functions derived via a procedure known as the Delphi process. The computerized product of the above efforts provides the planner with a responsive information access capability, a methodology for aggregating a very large number of data elements into a very few, and an analysis technique for comparing alternative proposals.