On Applied Engineering Decision Making for Society

Authors

Michael H. Faber and Marc A. Maes

Abstract

Engineering decision making is considered from the perspective of providing an informed basis for the identification of optimal societal developments. Taking basis in the Bayesian decision theory the basic constituents of decision making are outlined and discussed in this context. Specific consideration is given to critical aspects of decision analysis such as the treatment of risk perception, system representation, epistemic uncertainties and consequence modeling. A new generic and indicator based risk assessment framework is suggested which appears to be generally applicable for societal decision making. Finally optimal decision making is addressed from a sustainability perspective and it is illustrated how preferences in regard to intergenerational equity may be formulated such as to facilitate identification of socioeconomical optimal decisions.

Published in/by

Proceedings 12th IFIP WG7.5 Working Conference on Reliability and Optimization of Structural Systems, Aalborg, Denmark, May 22-25, 2005.