Fuzzy cognitive maps for municipal governance improvement.

This paper applies Fuzzy Cognitive Maps (FCMs) to understand the diverse behavior of municipal governments in Ecuador to find common elements that influence the well-being of citizens in the short and long term. Information gathering was conducted in two stages: in the first one, a group of 16 natio...

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Main Authors: Lenin Parreño, Federico Pablo-Martí
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2024-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0294962&type=printable
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author Lenin Parreño
Federico Pablo-Martí
author_facet Lenin Parreño
Federico Pablo-Martí
author_sort Lenin Parreño
collection DOAJ
description This paper applies Fuzzy Cognitive Maps (FCMs) to understand the diverse behavior of municipal governments in Ecuador to find common elements that influence the well-being of citizens in the short and long term. Information gathering was conducted in two stages: in the first one, a group of 16 national experts was consulted to develop the initial FCM; in the second stage, local experts from 220 municipalities were interviewed to collect information on the general validity of initial FCMs and specific values given to concepts and relationships in their municipalities. Results show the importance of certain concepts for long-term municipal performance, such as the need for a competitive entrepreneurial sector, improving human resources in the municipality, and, particularly, having a competent mayor with leadership skills and a forward-looking vision that enables the development of municipal projects required to reach an efficient and equitable coverage of goods and services throughout the city. Through the application of genetic algorithms, the FCM was calibrated to ascertain the long-term dynamics of municipal development and the optimal values of the concepts that would optimize the attainment of the set objectives. The derived outcomes suggest the desirability of the maintenance of, in principle, unwanted structures like financial transfers from the central government and the need to exploit natural resources to attain urban development.
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spelling doaj.art-1928bcaefce949fc96d25b53645834f62024-03-11T05:32:15ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032024-01-01192e029496210.1371/journal.pone.0294962Fuzzy cognitive maps for municipal governance improvement.Lenin ParreñoFederico Pablo-MartíThis paper applies Fuzzy Cognitive Maps (FCMs) to understand the diverse behavior of municipal governments in Ecuador to find common elements that influence the well-being of citizens in the short and long term. Information gathering was conducted in two stages: in the first one, a group of 16 national experts was consulted to develop the initial FCM; in the second stage, local experts from 220 municipalities were interviewed to collect information on the general validity of initial FCMs and specific values given to concepts and relationships in their municipalities. Results show the importance of certain concepts for long-term municipal performance, such as the need for a competitive entrepreneurial sector, improving human resources in the municipality, and, particularly, having a competent mayor with leadership skills and a forward-looking vision that enables the development of municipal projects required to reach an efficient and equitable coverage of goods and services throughout the city. Through the application of genetic algorithms, the FCM was calibrated to ascertain the long-term dynamics of municipal development and the optimal values of the concepts that would optimize the attainment of the set objectives. The derived outcomes suggest the desirability of the maintenance of, in principle, unwanted structures like financial transfers from the central government and the need to exploit natural resources to attain urban development.https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0294962&type=printable
spellingShingle Lenin Parreño
Federico Pablo-Martí
Fuzzy cognitive maps for municipal governance improvement.
PLoS ONE
title Fuzzy cognitive maps for municipal governance improvement.
title_full Fuzzy cognitive maps for municipal governance improvement.
title_fullStr Fuzzy cognitive maps for municipal governance improvement.
title_full_unstemmed Fuzzy cognitive maps for municipal governance improvement.
title_short Fuzzy cognitive maps for municipal governance improvement.
title_sort fuzzy cognitive maps for municipal governance improvement
url https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0294962&type=printable
work_keys_str_mv AT leninparreno fuzzycognitivemapsformunicipalgovernanceimprovement
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