VR-Lab has contributed to a newly published Springer conference paper that examines how decision quality can inform the design and evaluation of decision-support tools, particularly in relation to sustainability transitions.
A new conference paper “Theoretical Perspectives on Decision Quality to Inform the Design and Evaluation of Decision-Support Tools," has been published by Springer as part of Decision Support Systems XVI. Decision Support System Technology for Sustainable and Resilient Transitions, in the book series Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing.
The paper is co-authored by Christina Carrozzo Hellevik, Dina Margrethe Aspen, Erica Löfström, Ramzi Hassan, Christian Klöckner, and Ricardo da Silva Torres. It was published online on 28 April 2026 and appears in the proceedings of ICDSST 2026.
The publication addresses an important challenge in the development of decision-support tools: while such tools can help users understand complex information, there is still a need for stronger theoretical and empirical grounding when evaluating whether they actually contribute to better decisions in real-world contexts, including sustainability-related decision-making.
Drawing on perspectives from economics, management, psychology, and sustainability studies, the paper discusses how decision quality can be understood, addressed, and assessed. It considers decision-making through the logics of consequence, appropriateness, and meaningfulness, and identifies both information-related and cognition-related threats to decision quality. The paper also proposes a model for including decision-quality considerations in the design and evaluation of decision-support tools.
The publication connects to ongoing work at the VR-Lab on advanced visualization, virtual reality, and digital decision-support environments for planning, landscape architecture, and sustainability transitions. It strengthens the theoretical basis for evaluating how visual, spatial, and interactive tools can support users in interpreting complex situations and making more informed decisions.
Publication details: Hellevik, C. C., Aspen, D. M., Löfström, E., Hassan, R., Klöckner, C., & da Silva Torres, R.(2026). Theoretical Perspectives on Decision Quality to Inform the Design and Evaluation of Decision-Support Tools. In A. P. Cabral Seixas Costa, S. Radovanović, G. Zhao, & U. Jayawickrama (Eds.), Decision Support Systems XVI. Decision Support System Technology for Sustainable and Resilient Transitions. ICDSST 2026. Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing, Vol. 582. Springer, Cham. DOI:10.1007/978-3-032-25146-6_15.