The Role of Projects and Programs in Large Technical Systems

Le résumé fourni par la source

Mainstream project studies ascribe outcomes, value, and impacts to individual projects, underplaying the sociotechnical configurations through which project outputs shape the economy, environment, and society. This paper offers a critical confrontation of that assumption by conceptualizing projects and programs as endeavors that deliver outputs as building blocks into evolving large technical systems. Drawing on a single embedded case of the French nuclear large technical system’s creation through two programs, we distinguish first-order outputs from second-order outcomes, value, and impacts that materialize only through system-level integration across complementary infrastructures, institutions, and routines. The paper shows why evaluation windows and causal claims cannot be confined to commissioning or single-project boundaries, but must follow how outputs are absorbed, operated, and governed within the large technical system over extended time horizons. Building on these insights, the paper develops a framework for system-oriented appraisal and governance that foregrounds interdependencies, complementarities, and synergies across projects and programs, thereby bridging project studies with transition research.

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