Playing with Complexity. Management and organisation of large infrastructure projects

Internationally there is a huge desire to increase mobility by constructing new infrastructure. The European Union has an investment program of approximately € 600 billion up to 2020. At the same time we notice that while ambitions are high, the requirements put on new infrastructure have been rising over the years. This increase in demand is, for example, visible in the additional rules and legalisation that need to be complied with, such as those relating to flora & fauna, archaeology and soil decontamination. Additional pressure comes from the higher profile and more professional behaviour of stakeholders who are affected by Large Infrastructure Projects (LIPs) such as communities, pressure groups and environmental protection agencies. Apparently, in the implementation of LIPs ‘good’ is not ‘good enough’ anymore. Studies show that the results of LIPs are often regarded as disappointing in terms of money spent (cost overruns), late delivery and a general dissatisfaction from the stakeholders involved. On the basis of these facts, we can conclude that we are facing a potential deadlock between an enormous need for mobility on the one hand, and great difficulties in implementing LIPs to meet this need on the other. A possible solution to break this deadlock is by increasing fundamentally the quality of management of LIPs ... etcetera.