Large Scale Decision Making in Participatory Environmental Design

Decision-making involves choosing between one ore more alternatives, to achieve one ore more goals. This process is composed of a series of steps, ranging from the identification of the problem itself, going trough the definition of criteria that characterize possible solutions to the problem, to the decision-making itself, in which a possible solution to the exposed problem is finally adopted. These steps can be performed by a single person or by a group of people. In group decisions, the solution choice at the end of the process must be effectively made by the group. To support this process, there are decision support systems that employ different approaches, supporting groups or not. This paper defines the decision-making process, presenting benefits of group decision and describes a system to support decisions in large scale groups. Participatory design in the BamPetro environment preservation project seeks to bring a large number of end users into the design process to take into account different perspectives, and help the group cope with multi-objective decisions. These decisions demand synergy among users of the environment preservation project, even though they represent different areas, competencies, political agendas and social interests.