Enhancing municipal decision-making through an intelligent conflict support system

Abstract

Most conflict scholars, practitioners, and parties dedicated to the thematic of conflict agree that alternative means of solving and managing conflicts other than the traditional court system offers an efficient and cost-effective way to manage and resolve conflicts. However in the area of conflicts involving municipalities, the use of these alternative means and, in particular, early intelligent decision-support systems is not common. Therefore, we propose to deliver an intelligent environment capable of assisting elected and non-elected municipal officials in managing conflict. To develop this proposal, we present a brief review about how the conflict is handled in a digital environment. Further, the system's requirements and a conceptual framework to facilitate information gathering are depicted. Through a proof of concept, we also expose that our approach to handling conflict can be integrated into a generic municipal decision-making process in a viable and feasible way.