CASE-BASED REASONING FOR INTELLIGENT SUPPORT OF CONSTRUCTION NEGOTIATION

Negotiation and conflict resolution are major ill-structured and compl ex problems in construction. Due to the uncertain and changing nature of the processes, it is important for negotiators to have access to pr evious records, to communicate effectively with each other, and to hav e an agent acting as the mediator when deadlocks occur. This paper pre sents a computer model which employs case-based reasoning (CBR) to pro vide intelligent support to construction negotiations. This model has been implemented in the MEDIATOR, a computer program that utilises pre vious cases as a basis for addressing new problems. In contrast to con ventional expert systems (ESs) that use compiled knowledge in problem solving, the system selects similar cases to help in solving a given n egotiation problem. The selected case is then modified and adapted to generate proposals that should move people towards a settlement.