Development of an Integrated Spatial Decision Support System (ISDSS) for local government in New Zealand

Overview & Synopsis

Tools that incorporate information from different disciplines can greatly assist policy development of today's complex and interconnected issues and result in more informed decision-making. Over the past years the councils of the Waikato region in New Zealand have, in collaboration with several research organisations, developed an Integrated Spatial Decision Support System (ISDSS). The ISDSS forms part of an overall process that links qualitative scenarios and deliberative methods to quantitative systems modeling. The aim of the ISDSS tool is to: (1) inform strategic planning; (2) communicate and inform stakeholders and community; (3) identify links between the economy, the environment and society, expose trade-offs and enable win-win situations; and (4) enhance local government capability and capacity. The ISDSS consists of a spatially explicit systems model operating at four scales: global, regional, district and local (200 m grid cells). The current temporal resolution is one year and its horizon is set at 2050. In the development of the integrated model there has been a strong emphasis on the linkage and feedback loops between the different components (e.g., climate, hydrology, water quality, economics, population, land use and biodiversity), rather than on modeling all elements to the highest detail possible. Although ISDSSs are rapidly gaining traction for planning and policy making only few are actually being used. The paper discusses some key factors that determine the success or failure of the implementation of an ISDSS and outlines to what extent the current version of the Waikato ISDSS fulfils these requirements.