AN AGENT-BASED DECISION SUPPORT MODEL FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF E-SERVICES IN THE TOURIST SECTOR

This paper regards cultural heritage as a strategic development tool for urban tourist policy. It highlights the use of e-services as a central instrument in a competitive tourist sector. The appropriate choice of e-services – and packages thereof – depends on the various strategic considerations of urban stakeholders (agents) and may differ for each individual city. The paper offers a systematic analysis framework for supporting these choices and deploys multi-criteria analysis as a systematic evaluation methodology, in particular the Regime method. The evaluation framework is exemplified through an application to three field cases in Europe, viz. the cities of Amsterdam, Genoa and Leipzig. Our analysis concludes that tailor-made packages of e-services that serve the needs of the stakeholders can be made with the help of our evaluation tools.

An Agent-Based Decision Support Model for the Development of E-Services in the Tourist Sector

This paper regards cultural heritage as a strategic development tool for urban tourist policy. It highlights the use of e-services as a central instrument in a competitive tourist sector. The appropriate choice of e-services - and packages thereof - depends on the various strategic considerations of urban stakeholders (agents) and may differ for each individual city. The paper offers a systematic analysis framework for supporting these choices and deploys multi-criteria analysis as a systematic evaluation methodology, in particular the Regime method. The evaluation framework is exemplified through an application to three field cases in Europe, viz. the cities of Amsterdam, Genoa and Leipzig. Our analysis concludes that tailor-made packages of e-services that serve the needs of the stakeholders can be made with the help of our evaluation tools.cultural heritage, e-services, city marketing, agent-based decision support model

Nomadic firms in a globalizing economy: A comparative study

The location patterns of modern firms appear to exhibit floating patternswith a tendency towards footlooseness. The spatial-economic dynamics - sometimes across teh border - of firms is encapsulated in the term 'nomadic firms'. This paper adresses the issue of nomadic behaviour of firms against the background of globalisation trends. After a critical discussion of globalisation phenomena and a review of the literature on nomadic entrepreneurial behaviour, the paper sets out t formaulate a series of relevant hypotheses of spatial relocation behaviour of international firms in a globalizing network economy. The analytical framework is tested by means of interviews among actual or potential nomadic firms, in both the Netherlands and abroad. Infrastructure quality and geographical accessibility appear to play an important role, but also opportunity seeking behaviour has a prominent place in nomadic behaviour. The comparitive study among the various firms located in various countries, which aims to identify the critical relocation factors, is based on principles of modern meta-analysis.

Social costs of land use claims for transport infrastructure: a survey for The Netherlands

In this paper the social costs of land use claims for transport infrastructure are investigated for The Netherlands. This is a complement to the study on ''''Efficient pricing of traffic: estimation of the social costs of the use of transport modes" carried out in The Netherlands by CE (1999). In the present study we pay attention to the acquisition costs of land for infrastructure, the indirect costs of land use caused by infrastructure and the costs of infrastructure as barriers in - and the fragmentation of - the landscape. The paper gives an overview of the problems associated with measuring the land related costs of transport infrastructure. Estimates are given of the land use claims %28in m2) for various types of transport infrastructure. In addition some of the land related cost categories are estimated. These costs are allocated to the various transport modes (cars and trucks of various types, barges, rail and aircraft).

Price Discrimination in Aviation: The End of the Loyalty to the National Carrier

In this study differences in airfares between citypairs will be analysed. We distinguish three types of city pairs: pairs within western Europe, pairs within eastern Europe and pairs between western and eastern European cities. In this study the differences in airfares of the national carriers are analysed. For instance, the fares of KLM and Lufthanse for the city pair Amsterdam - Berlin, in both directions. The fares are analysed for both economy and business class travellers. Explanations in differences are, amongst others, sought in the differences in income level, other competing airlines, the loyalty to the own national carrier, et cetera.

Costs of Road Infrastructure for Passenger and Freight Transport in The Netherlands

In this paper the costs of construction, maintenance, governance and land use of road infrastructure in The Netherlands are allocated to several transport modes in passenger and freight transport. Opposed to earlier research, a considerable number of weight categories are distinguished regarding freight transport. The results show that costs per kilometre allocated to the heavier truck categories are considerably higher than those allocated to the lighter truck categories. De reason behind this is that fairly large parts of building costs and maintenance costs are allocated to the different transport modes on the basis of 4th power axle loads. Furthermore, large relative differences in average truck loading between the different weight categories have a significant influence on the results. Concluding we can state that when the distinction between weight categories made in this study is ignored, then a large part of the costs caused by heavy truck categories is allocated to lighter trucks and passenger transport modes.

A Comparative study of Integrated River Basin Projects in Europe

Since climate changes became more obvious and since growing concern about our responsibility for the environment started, water management became more important. Projects carried out in river basin areas often impose changes in spatial functions that are situated in these areas. The analysis of scarcity issues regarding spatial functions observed in a river basin area is at the core of economic and spatial sciences. Water functions are predominant in a river basin area and problems related to these functions highlight the increasing scarcity of water in the world. Scarcity could be a shortage of water quantity, but also a shortage of water of a certain quality or protection against an abundance of water. Evaluation processes are the heart of public decision-making when spatial projects are carried out. For decades, project evaluation was carried out by measuring tangible streams of cost and benefits summarised in a cost-benefit analysis. Recently, environmental and social aspects gradually get more attention in the public decision making process by means of for example multi-criteria analysis. This method is a tool to evaluate the scores of totally different indicators with the great advantage that they do not necessarily have to be expressed in streams of costs. In this paper we carry out a comparative analysis of evaluation techniques for projects carried out in river basin areas. We evaluate for which projects certain techniques are used and to which extend the chosen technique is related to for example environmental, institutional and communicative indicators. The method used for this evaluation is a rough set analysis. For this analysis projects concerning river basins, carried out in different river regions of Europe, with different kind of problems are used, to obtain a broad overview.

Social disorganization, social capital, collective efficacy and the spatial distribution of crime and offenders

Six different social disorganization models of neighbourhood crime and offender rates were tested using data from multiple sources in the city of The Hague, in the Netherlands. The sources included a community survey among 3,575 residents in 86 neighbourhoods measuring the central concepts of the six models. The data were aggregated to ecologically reliable neighbourhood measures and combined with census data. Crime rates and offender rates were calculated on geo-coded police-recorded data on crimes and apprehended suspects. Spatial regression models were applied to test social disorganization theories in a Western-European city. The findings reveal that social disorganization models do not fit the data well, and indicate that crime rates and offender rates may be caused by distinct urban processes