Seminar - Ramaswany Nagarajan - Modeling Community Perceptions of Large Capital Projects Using Soft Computing Tools

Wednesday, April 28, 2004, 1.10 - 1.50 pm
Civil Engineering Lecture Room 3

Abstract

The presentation is based on the survey of Community Perceptions of Large Capital Projects in Sydney, carried out in 2003. The respondents were selected at random from the neighbourhood of seven selected projects in metropolitan Sydney - four road projects and one each of railway, nuclear and sewerage projects. The survey looks at changing environment values of the community in the last decade in New South Wales, shifts in the perception of environmental issues of importance, personal environmental concerns and perceptions of government performance in regard to environmental factors, proximity and awareness of projects in the community, and changing perceptions of the impact of projects. While some strong and emotional opinions were expressed, they seemed to be balanced by pragmatic economic and utilitarian considerations, with environment remaining a key long-term issue for action by the government. The results provide an interesting kaleidoscopic view of the Sydneysiders' environmental concerns. The presentation looks at the differences in the perceptions of environmental issues among demographic groups, the views of the general public vis-a-vis the proponent and activist views as well as of a comparison of the perceptions of the expected and the actual impacts of the projects and concludes with a brief look at the options for modeling community perceptions using soft computing tools.