Title: Designing critical policy infrastructures by participatory systems analysis: the case of Fukushima's reconstruction

Authors: Toshiyuki Yasui; Seiko Shirasaka; Takashi Maeno

Addresses: Graduate School of System Design and Management, Keio University, Collaboration Complex, 4-1-1 Hiyoshi Kohoku-ku, Yokohama City, 223-8526, Japan ' Graduate School of System Design and Management, Keio University, Collaboration Complex, 4-1-1 Hiyoshi Kohoku-ku, Yokohama City, 223-8526, Japan ' Graduate School of System Design and Management, Keio University, Collaboration Complex, 4-1-1 Hiyoshi Kohoku-ku, Yokohama City, 223-8526, Japan

Abstract: Recent developments in service science and social design have resulted in new policy design methodologies. On the service science side, the concept of co-creation has appeared. On the social design side, methodologies of participatory systems analysis have emerged. Based on these developments, this paper proposes a participatory systems analysis model for public policy design (PSP), a new methodology that employs Bayesian network modelling. We select Fukushima, one of the northeastern areas of Japan most devastated by the Great East Japan Earthquake of 11th March 2011, to verify and validate the empirical efficacy of this methodology. The results show that it fosters both creativity and a sense of collaborative ownership of policy design, which are the core values for a better community.

Keywords: Bayesian belief networks; causal relation diagrams; co-creation; design perspective; earthquakes; leverage point; participatory systems analysis; PSA; public policy design; social systems; critical infrastructures; nuclear power plants; NPP: Fukushima reconstruction; nuclear energy; nuclear accidents; service science; Japan; tsunami.

DOI: 10.1504/IJCIS.2014.066337

International Journal of Critical Infrastructures, 2014 Vol.10 No.3/4, pp.334 - 346

Received: 18 Feb 2013
Accepted: 22 Feb 2013
Published online: 14 Jan 2015 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article