Policy analysis for participatory policy making

The thesis develops a set of guidelines for improving policy analysis supporting policy making on spatial issues. For this first the main problems in the field of policy processes on spatial issues and the way analysis contributed to them or helped alleviate them were analysed. Analytical practice is shown to be generally related to these problems. To develop the guidelines four aspects were distinguished on which every policy analytical approach should make choices. These were the problem area(s) to which it should/could be applied, the type(s) of policy process for which it is considered fitting, the policy-making style of one or more parties in those policy processes it intends to support, and the type of outcomes the approach should help bring about. With respect to those aspects guidelines were developed from theory and existing empirical material. From this guidelines derived that are considered fitting for use in policy analysis supporting "real life", chaotic and only partially rational, participatory policy making on spatial issues. These were next applied to four cases. In the end, of the 24 guidelines developed largely in the course of the theoretical chapters, and partly as a result of case findings, exactly half, 12, were found to be supported by the case findings convincing enough to be deemed "robust". On the rest the findings were inconclusive, so far. It is recommended that in every participatory policy process all robust design guidelines for policy analytical support should be heeded, and as much of the optional guidelines as possible