Collaborative Modelling
Collaborative modelling approaches involve interactive and iterative processes in which stakeholder engagement and communication activities are constantly complemented by modelling and communication tools.
Ownership and acceptance of strategic plans by national and local authorities are critical preconditions for ensuring sustainable development objectives are met. Limited knowledge about water resources systems in addition to disagreements between water users, stakeholders and decision makers are frequently causes for reduced acceptance of strategic documents and master plans. Collaborative modelling approaches offer a means with which to address such shortcomings in traditional planning and decision making processes. They promote the fruitful engagement and participation of decision makers and stakeholders in the analysis and assessment of policy options. Computer-based modelling, communication and visualization tools are used to support these analyses, with stakeholders involved during one or more stages of the design, construction and use of these tools. Stakeholder involvement in these activities is typically characterized by high levels of participation, influence and control over the developed plan or product. The collaborative modelling processes employed are designed to create the necessary cooperative environments to facilitate the joint formation of negotiated solutions.
Figure 1: Collaborative modelling is situated within an improved policy analysis framework, here for Urban Climate Adaptation planning.
1-Water resources planning
structured, iterative decision or policy making processes that commence with problem definition and determine the subsequent activities necessary to analyse and achieve desired objectives in a timely manner.
Within the World Bank’s Integrated River Basin Master Plan (IRBMP) project in Pemali Comal, Indonesia, Deltares experts collaborated with regional and local government counterparts as well as other stakeholders to prepare an integrated master plan for managing operational water management issues in the river basin. River basin issues were discussed and a conceptual model of the integrated water resources system was developed. Data and modelling requirements were collectively identified prior to the co-construction of an integrated water allocation model for the basin in RIBASIM. Potential measures were co-designed, modelled, analysed and evaluated with local stakeholders in joint workshops. The structured planning process meant that the IRBMP could be finalised, approved and adopted by local and regional decision makers according to the project schedule
2-Stakeholder participation
engagement with representatives of sector interests affected by the decision making process to capture their variety of values, perceptions, concerns and needs.
To assist with disaster risk reduction in Cork, Ireland, Deltares worked with local stakeholders from various critical infrastructure sectors (energy, health, education, water, etc.) to collaboratively map interdependencies between their various facilities using our CIrcle tool. Connections between these networks are rarely identified. As each of the various sectors are typically reluctant to share network data due to the risks of misuse by third parties. As such, the impacts of flooding or other disasters due to cascading effects remained largely unknown. Having representatives from the relevant stakeholders come together in the same room to discuss these issues, Deltares’ approach made it possible for stakeholders to share only the necessary information about their respective networks. The causal effects and dependencies between the networks could then be collected in a database and coupled with an interactive modelling engine to simulate the impacts of a series of extreme flooding events. In doing so, the benefits of providing targeted protection to vulnerable pieces of critical infrastructure could be visualised and easily understood by all stakeholders.
3- Negotiation
water resources management invariably involves conflicting stakeholder interests. Our collaborative modelling approaches aim to incorporate accepted, factual information generated by the developed models to support interest-based negotiations between stakeholders.
During the Dutch Delta Programme Rivers, central government, provincial, municipal and water board representatives cooperated together in formulating an adaptive, long-term flood risk management strategy for riverine areas. Social organisations and the business community also had opportunities to provide input. Stakeholders were brought together to design and assess a large variety of dike reinforcement and spatial measures, the latter which prioritised giving back ‘room to the river ’. Many of these spatial measures involved land use changes, decisions about which were inherently political. A collaborative modelling approach was proposed that combined structured stakeholder participation in various discussion and negotiation forums, supported by a simple, fast modelling tool: the Planning Kit (in Dutch: Blokkendoos). The Planning Kit provided stakeholders with a quick and effective means to visually analyse and assess flood protection and other impacts for the many spatial measures to be considered during negotiations over the preferred strategy.
4- Informed decision making by means of models and analytical tools
Computer-based models to inform relationships between the competing interests and impacts of a particular decision or policy. The models are used to support the analysis of data, the generation of possible scenarios and options, and to support decision makers and stakeholders in evidence-based strategy making.
During the Büyük Menderes River Basin planning project in Turkey, Deltares collaborated with local experts to develop a tool for supporting the rapid assessment of measures and strategies to help achieve compliance with the EU’s Water Framework Directive. Separate hydrology and ecology working groups were set up that included representatives from Turkish universities, ministries, monitoring departments and water institutes. The developed tool consisted of two modelling suites, RIBASIM and WFDExplorer, and modelled basin hydrology, water distribution, water quality and ecology processes. It was used together with a wider group of regional stakeholders to assess the efficacy of various restoration and mitigation measures. Stakeholders could assess potential measures against a set of the agreed key performance indicators, and were familiarised with the use of the tool via a gaming approach. Having been built with the knowledge of local experts, stakeholder trust in the developed tool was high and stakeholders viewed it as a useful support for informed decision making
Collaborative Modelling in Deltares
Deltares’ portfolio of collaborative modelling approaches, tools and applications is constantly developing. We apply these to a range of software simulation products (e.g. complex physical simulation models, Bayesian network models, etc.) and topic areas (e.g. flood risk, adaptive delta planning, IWRM, water quality, environment). A non-exhaustive list of the methods we employ includes:
- Fast integrated system modeling (meta-modeling)
- Group model building and mediated modeling using system dynamics
- Interactive modeling
- Serious gaming
- Participatory mapping
- Social network analysis of critical infrastructure
Deltares employs collaborative modelling to serve several different objectives. The inclusion of stakeholder perspectives and knowledge can help to broaden system understanding, integrate cross-sector interests and lead to improved model quality, credibility and acceptance. The development and use of simple and user-friendly modelling, communication and visualisation tools can directly facilitate stakeholder learning regarding the problem under consideration and the impacts of any suggested solutions. Moreover, the discussions and negotiations taking place during these approaches can help to establish a shared stakeholder understanding of the problem, build consensus and cooperation, and even mediate conflicts. Collaborative modelling can also thereby directly strengthen decision making processes, leading to more acceptable and implementable strategic plans.
Through the collaborative modelling of water-related problems, risks, and potential solutions, Deltares aims to directly enhance the planning and decision making capacity of water users, decision makers, and other stakeholders. The combination of both expert technical and local forms of knowledge shapes the basis of our collaborative modelling approaches. Through frequent, interactive and facilitated workshops, we create transparent platforms for knowledge sharing and the balancing of competing stakeholder interests. Moreover, by directly involving stakeholders in the design, construction and use of the modelling tools, we build stakeholder trust, understanding and sense of ownership over the developed tools, which lead to their continued use by stakeholders after the conclusion to the planning project.
Deltares is a globally recognized independent institute for applied research in the field of water and subsurface. By sharing our knowledge and expertise combined with the development of software products we aim at enabling delta life. Collaborative modelling is an appropriate solution to contribute to the achievement of Deltares' mission and enhance the societal impact of our work.
The Collaborative modelling team was launched in September 2016. The team was structured based on three main circles:
- Circle A: Core team
- Circle B: Supporting team
- Circle C: Project acquisition team
During the first meeting five main objectives were proposed. Each objective encompasses a list of activities to be carried out. This memo summarizes the activities that were carried out in the year 2016 and beginning of 2017.
OBJECTIVE 1: Establish a multi-disciplinary core team with extensive knowledge on collaborative modelling and existing approaches and tools
OBJECTIVE 2: Integrate collaborative modelling into more proposals and projects
OBJECTIVE 3: Increase capacity and awareness on collaborative modelling and approaches and tools within Deltares
OBJECTIVE 4: Disseminate our knowledge externally to clients and partners while strengthening partnerships for continued knowledge exchange
OBJECTIVE 5: To develop new collaborative modelling approaches to be used with Deltares tools
Recent Projects
1- Collaborative modelling for River Basin planning in Pemali Comal, Indonesia
Indonesia has a national water security index of 2 according to the water security framework (Asian Water Development Outlook). Household and urban water security dimensions remain as the most important challenges. Only 20% of households have piped water access and 54% have access to sanitation in rural areas. In urban settings, piped urban water supply access is 36%. In terms of water quality only 34% of the water is treated in waste water treatment plants (United Nations Millennium Development Goals report). Nevertheless, since 1990 Indonesia has significantly increased the percentage of its population with access to safe drinking water, this being 70% in 1990 and reaching 85% in 2012. In Java, water security is inadequate due to persistent problems in water supply, sanitation and water quality as well as high risk of floods and droughts. The situation might be aggravated due to the impacts of climate change and future socio-economic developments. At global level, in September 2015 countries adopted the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure prosperity for all. Each goal has specific targets to be achieved by 2030.
In this context, Deltares in collaboration with national and regional governmental agencies, scientific community, local stakeholders and other consultancy companies (Royal HaskoningDHV) has completed the formulation of Integrated River Basin Management plans for 5 major river basin territories in Indonesia as part of the WISMP2-BWRMP project supported by the World Bank.
Combining technical and local knowledge for model development and use
The preparation of the Integrated River Basin Management plans involved the collaborative development and use of a RIBASIM water allocation model. The collaborative modelling approach comprised direct capacity development for key stakeholders on the development and use of the water balance model. This was combined with various collaborative workshops where policy makers, governmental agencies, universities and local stakeholders provided inputs for the development and use of the model based on their local knowledge. They were involved in the design and development of the model and data collection, as well as, in defining the water-related problems in the region and possible interventions to be implemented.
The collaborative modelling approach employed was composed of the following three main phases:
- Initial development of a common conceptual model with all stakeholders using a Group Model Building approach
- Detailed joint development of the RIBASIM simulation model with local technical stakeholders
- Joint use of the developed model in the formulation of water allocation strategies
Ultimately, the collaborative modelling approach supported the dialogue among stakeholders for informed decision making on the preparation of the Integrated River Basin Management plans.
Figure 1: Collaborative Modelling exercise for the preparation of the Rencana Operational Plan
for the Pemali Comal River Basin, Indonesia
2- Participatory modelling for River Basin planning in Buyuk Menderes, Turkey
This project involved the application of an EU-compliant tool to support the selection of cost-effective measures to meet the objectives of the Water Framework Directive for River Basin planning in Turkey. It made use of the River Basin Explorer tool, which is designed to support the river basin planning cycle, analyse and help determine the most effective measures, and ensure compliance with EU-requirements.
A participatory Companion Modelling approach was applied to ensure the preparation of a sustainable plan. This comprised two separate processes, one for model development and another for model use. The stakeholders involved during each of the planning phases varied. Stakeholders were selected based on the results of a stakeholder analysis examining their background, capacities, dependencies, and interests. Two working groups (hydrology and ecology) worked on the construction of the River Basin Explorer tool, and included representatives from universities, ministries, monitoring departments, and water institutes. The use of the model was undertaken by the representatives of the working groups together with other regional stakeholders, including WRM agencies, NGOs, local universities, organized industries and agricultural organizations.
Figure 1: Participatory modelling approach used for the formulation and selection of potential measures in Buyuk Menderes, Turkey
Figure 2: Participatory modelling approach using the River Basin Explorer, in Buyuk Menderes, Turkey
3- Participatory modelling for adaptive coastal management in Small Islands (SimpleCoast project)
The objective of the SimpleCoast project was to assist practitioners to carry out simple, preliminary assessments of problems and solutions by learning some of the basics of coastal engineering and management in combination with hands-on training on data collection, assessment of coastal problems and design of simple engineering solutions. For this, simple and freely available tools and knowledge notes were prepared and made available on a website. The participatory modelling approach focused on the collective learning about the concepts of adaptive coastal management under uncertainties (e.g. climate change, global economy) and mediation by learning the basics of negotiation between different solutions. The approach also incorporated an adapted version of the Sustainable Delta serious game for Small Islands (developed by Deltares).
Figure 1: First training for Small Island States within the SimpleCoast initiative in Sao Tome and Principe
4- Collaborative modelling for Strategic Basin planning for the Ganga River, India
The main objectives of this project include strengthening the capability of relevant central and state government agencies, undertaking comprehensive evidence-based strategic basin planning, building stronger and more accessible information and knowledge bases to guide the on-going dialogue for basin planning, and establishing the multi-stakeholder engagement processes in the basin to support strategic basin planning process. To meet these objectives, Deltares has designed a collaborative modelling approach that combines a number of complementary processes, including:
- A companion modelling approach including Group Model Building, role-playing exercises and games in combination with RIBASIM and the River Basin Explorer for basin-wide stakeholders
- An expert co-construction approach for the development of WFLOW, MODFLOW and SPHY simulation models for national technical agency staff
- A circles of Influence approach to guide the stakeholder involvement process
5- Collaborative modelling for National IWRM planning in the Philippines
The objective of this project is to strengthen capacity of national level institutions in planning for Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM). The project includes:
- Developing operational guidelines for completing and implementing IWRM planning in the Philippines
- Developing an institutional framework to support future IWRM approaches, including working through academic institutions
- Developing and delivering modules to support ‘Training of Trainers’, and
- Facilitating learning by doing by working with local institutions and relevant agencies to use IWRM approaches in pilot locations at the planning stage or in implementation.
A collaborative modelling approach has been employed during the pilot situation analysis for the Tacloban River Basin. This approach combined Group Model Building with the water security framework (AWDO). The Group Model Building process helped decision makers and stakeholders to better identify the most relevant water-related issues in the basin and understand their interactions, whilst the water security framework helped to create the links to the ambitions, goals and targets for the master plan. This approach also made use of Deltares’ Sustainable Delta serious game for adaptive planning under uncertainties.
Figure 1: Collaborative modelling approach using Group Model Building and the Sustainable Delta game in the Philippines
6- Participatory terrain data and modelling in Tanzania
The “Challenge Fund” (convened by GFDRR and DFID) funds about 20 projects that propose a new innovation in the field of disaster reduction. Deltares has teamed with VU Amsterdam, Nelen & Schuurmans, the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre and the World Resources Institute to establish a prototype tool that can engage stakeholders to combine openly available satellite based terrain data with OpenStreetMap (OSM) features, resulting in a high resolution gridded terrain dataset (approximate resolution 0.5 to 1 meter). OSM is a crowd sourced database of geospatial elements such as roads, water ways and land uses. Detailed terrain information is prerequisite to a successful hazard mapping in urban environments with flood events, driven by local rainfall.
High resolution and local data, combined with smart algorithms are key to solving this problem. Risk identification models for local risk management stakeholders are needed that allow interaction with the data, model and results through a participatory approach. Through an already developed new tool 3Di, such analyses have become feasible in data rich areas, allowing people to literally see water flowing at the street level and assessing much more exact which buildings and assets are at risk and what interventions do to reduce risk. However, lack of high resolution data in data-poor regions still hampers the applicability of such new technology such as 3Di in these circumstances.
In the Challenge Fund call, we have proposed to move towards high-resolution risk models in data-poor regions through fusion of globally available data and participatory knowledge from on-the-ground stakeholders. As far as high resolution data is concerned, the Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) community has been very active already in establishing asset-level exposure data and methods to deploy these for risk analyses. One of the main developments in this direction is InaSAFE, a tool that utilizes OpenStreetMap (OSM) features to assess how many and which assets are under risk, using a natural hazard map. In this project, we have extended the utilization of the “power of the crowd” in OSM namely: to generate high resolution Digital Terrain Models (DTM) that support building flood models at street level for the simulation of inundation at high resolution. Resulting flood maps will have an unprecedented resolution and will be further utilized for risk assessment with OSM as an exposure database.
Participatory terrain data collection and fusion: the aim of this pilot project, as described in our proposal, is to establish a best-guess high-resolution DTM at the street level, suitable for very high resolution flood risk modelling. To create this we will enable a fusion of OpenStreetMap (OSM) buildings, 30 m-resolution elevation data from the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM, or any other available satellite-based DTM), and local knowledge on the elevation of local building types around the flood-prone neighbourhoods. During the project we extended the scope to roads and drainage elements. Heights of these elements as established within OSM are collected in an inventory from local knowledgeable stakeholders using a participatory approach. The knowledge on heights of features is fused with the OSM data and global terrain data using a pilot software routine developed in this project that corrects SRTM for the locally-established building heights. The resulting DTM is resampled to high-resolution so that buildings and other features from OSM can be reintroduced in the DTM as real elevated (or lowered) features. The outcome is then a highly realistic high-resolution, local DTM that shows building thresholds, streets with sidewalks, and drainage elements.
Figure: Comparison of flood location and water depth at Kigogo, Dar es Salaam. Left the screenshots of experienced flooding, right the model results.
7- Participatory Circle Modelling for Critical Infrastructure cascading effects in Ireland
The participatory modelling approach for defining and evaluating the Critical Infrastructure effects in Cork, Ireland was based on CIrcle. The CIrcle approach comprises a set of workshops to support the process of knowledge co-creation among critical infrastructure (CI) operators and other relevant stakeholders. Expert knowledge is gathered in a participatory way about the vulnerability of the CI to floods, their interdependencies and cascading effects with one another. Through this process the stakeholders build their awareness and learn from each other about risk management measures and possible means for cooperation.
During the workshops the CIrcle tool is utilized to collect and visualise this information. Hazard maps, exposure data and maps are collected and used as input for the workshop to support the knowledge co-creation process. Animations from previous Circle sessions are sometimes shown as examples if there nothing else available. The typical output of a workshop is a visualisation from the CIrcle tool and an animation which uses the knowledge rules gathered in the session to show the cascading effects.The Circle tool can also be connected with other tools and methods such as Adaptation Support Tool.
Published Articles in Collaborative modeling
1- Collaborative modelling or participatory modelling? A framework for water resources management
"http://[http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364815217300890]
2-Collaborative Modelling for Informed Decision Making and Inclusive Water Development
"[http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11269-017-1647-0]
3-Collaborative modelling engages stakeholders in IWRM planning
"[ http://www.gwp.org/en/GWP-West-Africa/WE-ACT/News--Events/collaborative-modelling/
