City University of New York (CUNY) CUNY Academic Works All Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects 10-2014 The Politics of Transportation Megaprojects Patrizia Christa Nobbe Graduate Center, City University of New York How does access to this work benefit ou?y Let us know! More information about this work at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/370 Discover additional works at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu This work is made publicly available by the City University of New York (CUNY). Contact:
[email protected] THE POLITICS OF TRANSPORTATION MEGAPROJECTS by PATRIZIA NOBBE A dissertation submitted to the Graduate Faculty in Political Science in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, The City University of New York 2014 ii © 2014 PATRIZIA NOBBE All Rights Reserved ii iii This manuscript has been read and accepted for the Graduate Faculty in Political Science in satisfaction of the dissertation requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Professor Christa Altenstetter ______________________ ______________________________________________________ Date Chair of Examining Committee Professor Alyson Cole _______________________ _______________________________________________________ Date Executive Officer Professor Christa Altenstetter Professor Alyson Cole Professor Joe Rollins Professor Joseph Berechman ___________________________________ Supervisory Committee iii iv Abstract "The Politics of Transportation Megaprojects" by Patrizia Nobbe Adviser: Professor Christa Altenstetter Large infrastructure investment decisions, especially for mega-projects defined as costing more than one billion U.S. dollars, are largely based on complex, unclear and non-transparent decision criteria. The project’s specific context and a variety of actors and interests add to the complexity of the decision processes. All projects deviate, to a certain degree from a “rational” decision-making process, are politically motivated and subject to multiple interests.