Integrating knowledge, interests and values through modelling in participatory processes: dimensions of legitimacy

Abstract

This paper examines two participatory environmental planning cases in which modelling played an important role. The cases occurred in Vermont. They provide contrasts in the use of technology to model future scenarios: magic markers and mylar for forest mapping as compared to computer modelling for watershed assessment. The paper describes how modelling and models were employed to integrate knowledge, interests and values in each case. It explores two dimensions of legitimacy, procedural and scientific expertise, in these modelling processes. It concludes with the implications of decision-making authority for legitimacy and the integration of knowledge and values.

Keywords:

• participatory processes
• modelling
• legitimacy
• forest planning
• watershed planning

Acknowledgements

The author acknowledges Hilary Harp Falk, Erica Brown Gaddis, Julie Roberts and Alexey Voinov for collaboration on the research projects that generated data for the analysis in this paper. She thanks Erica Brown Gaddis and anonymous reviewers for comments on the manuscript, the Northeastern States Research Cooperative, which provided funding for the watershed modelling project, and the people who shared their experiences through interviews.