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Megaprojects and Risk
Book

Megaprojects and Risk

An Anatomy of Ambition

Bent Flyvbjerg, Nils Bruzelius and Werner Rothengatter
Cambridge UP, 2003

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Editorial Rating

9

Qualities

  • Innovative
  • Applicable

Recommendation

Every once in a while a little book comes along that, while small in size, carries sufficient intellectual weight to strike the body politic between the eyes, thereby getting its collective attention. This may be one such book. It offers a realistic look at megaprojects - those major infrastructure endeavors that span vast bodies of water, dam natural resources to generate energy and extend rail lines to previously unreachable regions - and compares the promises of these projects to what they actually deliver. The report card isn’t very good. Cost overruns are typically 25% to 100%, and sometimes 200% or more. Worse yet, studies show that the public tends to use megaprojects - be they airports or subway systems - only a fraction of the amount predicted. getAbstract.com strongly recommends this book to politicians, legislators and anyone who wants to know the truth behind these huge infrastructure projects, as well as to CEOs, CFOs, project managers and risk officers in the private sector - this applies to your projects, even if there is a difference of scale.

Take-Aways

  • Huge civil engineering projects are rapidly growing in number worldwide.
  • However, evidence is mounting that these "megaprojects" have been poorly managed and are under-utilized by the public.
  • Today, infrastructure has become the essential element of all economic activity.

About the Authors

Bent Flyvbjerg is the author of Making Social Science Matter and Rationality and Power. He is a professor in the department of development and planning at Aalborg University. Nils Bruzelius is an independent consultant who specializes in transport and planning. He is an associate professor at Stockholm University. Werner Rothengatter is the chief of the Institute of Economic Policy Research and of the unit on transport and communication at the University of Karlsruhe, Germany.

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