The Dilemma of Noise Pollution: Commentary on Alders Roundtable

By Hans Heerkens on November 15, 2008

In the Netherlands, the parties that determine the future of the national hub Schiphol Airport have been wrestling for decades with the dilemma that growth means more noise pollution, at least in the short term. In a new effort to reconcile the irreconcilable, the Dutch Cabinet asked former minister Hans Alders to devise a plan for making future controlled growth of the airport possible, and to do this in co-operation with interested parties such as the airport and inhabitants of the surrounding municipalities. Last October, this ‘Alders-table’ delivered its report. Highlights are that Schiphol should be allowed to grow to 510.000 aircraft movements in 2020 (430.000 in 2007) and that the present legally set noise control instruments be replaced by a constellation of agreements between the airports and the people living around it.

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Hans Heerkens

Scientific Interests

1: Decision processes. Decision makers judge alternatives by their relevant attributes. How do these actors assess the importance of attributes? Can importance assessment processes be improved so that their quality or acceptance increases? How do designers make importance assessments, and do experienced designers differ from their inexperienced colleagues in this respect?

2: The aerospace industry. How are aircraft used by organizations for achieving their goals? Technical attributes of aircraft and organizational and policy variables interact with each other. Issues of special interest are aircraft design and acquisition choices, strategic alliances between airlines and between manufacturers, and government aerospace policy.

3: Methodology of research and problem solving. Hans teaches on these subjects for several postgraduate institutions.

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