This “citizen science” project of sorts has turned into a small, independent research project. The city of Rotterdam and the Rotterdam Port Authority have been trying to decide on the future of cruise ships in Rotterdam, the city where Erasmus University is located.
The decision has been framed as a location decision—should it remain where it is or should it move elsewhere—subject to feasibility constraints. In fact, recently it has been further narrowed down to the question under which conditions the cruise terminal can remain where it is.
Myths, facts, history, lobbies, climate change, a nitrogen crisis, politics and much more all come together in what sometimes appears a cauldron of intense emotions. This is mouthwatering for a professor of decision-making processes like me.
It has led to research projects for students in my Master seminar on decision-making processes and information. They investigated for example the factual basis of claims about the environmental impact of cruise ships made by cruise companies and environmental NGOs, and the construction of data on air quality in the streets where they live.
I started to investigate with a colleague from PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency robust and efficient ways of calculating the environmental damage of cruise ships.
I launched a website, www.havenstad.org, with facts about the cruise. Opinion leaders and journalists have found their way to this website. Political parties in the city council, left, right and center, show a keen interest.
My research website now also has a page with information, in English and Dutch, about cruise ships in Rotterdam, including a study of the environmental damage compared with the net contribution to the region thanks to the expenditures by cruise lines and their passengers.
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