Strategic misrepresentation, where costs are underestimated and benefits overestimated, locks in mega-projects to failure from the outset, creating a sunk cost fallacy that prevents abandonment.
The pursuit of technological sublime leads to choosing unproven, complex solutions over reliable ones, resulting in cost overruns and fragile systems.
Institutional amnesia occurs when organizations build solutions without clearly defining the problem, leading to projects that solve non-existent issues.
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Priemus, H., Flyvbjerg, B., & van Wee, B. (Eds.). (2008). Decision-making on mega-projects: Cost–benefit analysis, planning and innovation. Edward Elgar Publishing.
de Bruijn, H., & Leijten, M. (2008). Management characteristics of mega-projects. In H. Priemus, B. Flyvbjerg, & B. van Wee (Eds.), Decision-making on mega-projects: Cost–benefit analysis, planning and innovation. Edward Elgar Publishing.
Trapenberg Frick, K. (2008). The cost of the technological sublime: Daring ingenuity and the new San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge. In H. Priemus, B. Flyvbjerg, & B. van Wee (Eds.), Decision-making on mega-projects: Cost–benefit analysis, planning and innovation. Edward Elgar Publishing.
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