Enhancing the Cultural Heritage through Adaptive Reuse. A Multicriteria Approach to Evaluate the Castello Visconteo in Cusago (Italy)

Cultural heritage can play a strategic role in developing a sustainable built environment, contributing to the improvement of the economic, social, and environmental productivity of a city. Human activities are constantly affecting the quality of the environment and altering the ecosystems, which produce negative consequences also on human wellbeing. Within this context, it has been much discussed how cities and the built environment can counteract this process by supporting more sustainable development. Adaptive reuse is defined as “a process that changes a disused or ineffective item into a new item that can be used for a different purpose”, which strongly triggers the sustainable development of cities. It can be recognized as a promoter of economic growth, social wellbeing, and environmental preservation, given its capability of both preserving past values and creating new ones. The adaptive reuse matches the main points of the circular economy, seen as the sustainable economy, which is aimed at the reduction of natural resource extraction and environmental impact by extending the useful life of materials and promoting recovery, reuse, and regeneration processes. Given these premises, the current contribution aimed to evaluate alternative scenarios for reuse in Castello Visconteo in Cusago, located in the Lombardy region (Italy), and understanding how adaptive reuse could contribute to generating new values within a circular economy perspective. In detail, four alternative scenarios were proposed to face the new needs born during the COVID-19 pandemic period. Since both intangible and tangible values must be considered, a multicriteria decision analysis (MCDA) has been applied by combining economic and qualitative indicators to define the most suitable function for its adaptive reuse. In detail, the Novel Approach to Imprecise Assessment and Decision Environments (NAIADE) was used to identify the best alternative solution based on the opinions of conflicting stakeholders. The innovativeness of the contribution is given by the combination of different methodologies, the preservation of the memory and the generation of new values, and the consideration of adaptive reuse as a strategy for the achievement of sustainable development within a circular economy perspective

An integrated swot-pestle-ahp model assessing sustainability in adaptive reuse projects

In the recent past, sustainable development has been considered a major issue for urban and regional studies. Adaptive reuse appears to be a practical solution for sustainable urban development. Beyond and in addition to a conceptual base consistent with circular economy and sustainability principles, how do we know if adaptive reuse is actually sustainable, provided that it constitutes a multidisciplinary and multilevel process? The present study aims at evaluating, in as much as feasible quantitative terms, adaptive reuse practices sustainability. This was attained using a set of indicators, developed combining PESTLE (the Political, Economic, Technical, Social, Legal, and Environmental aspects) and SWOT (the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) approaches, of which the results were subjected to evaluation by experts (pairwise comparisons), following the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). The indicators representing strengths and opportunities of the process were calculated to be of higher value (overall level of final cumulative indicators values; 70.4%) compared with indicators representing weaknesses and threats. Enhancing strengths and opportunities and counteracting weaknesses and threats contribute making the potential of adaptive reuse practices in urban sustainability more evident. Among analysis dimensions, political and economic aspects rank first, followed by environmental, socio-cultural, technological-technical, and legal aspect. The empirical results of this paper serve as a useful reference point for decision-making and policy formulation addressing adaptive reuse practices in sustainable development strategies

The Users’ Perceptions on Adaptive Reuse of Selected Heritage Shophouses in Jalan Tun H.S. Lee

Adaptive reuse is increasingly becoming a more common approach in order to preserve heritage buildings by discovering new purposes and used for the buildings. This research looks at the physical changes of the heritage shophouses after adaptive-reuse initiatives and the effects on society socially. The case study is shophouses at Jalan Tun H.S.Lee in Kuala Lumpur. The result from the questionnaire survey reflects the perception of the users on the impact of the adaptive reuse of shophouses in terms of the social value to the society. Nonetheless, adaptive reuse projects should involve more social engagements and a wider variety of building typologies. Keywords: social impact, adaptive-reuse, quality of life eISSN: 2398-4287 © 2022. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA cE-Bs by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open access article under the CC BYNC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians/Africans/Arabians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia. DOI

Key challenges and meta-choices in designing and applying multi-criteria spatial decision support systems

There is an increasing use of multi-criteria spatial decision support systems in recent years for dealing with problems that have a spatial distribution of consequences. This growth might be explained by the widespread recognition that there are multiple and conflicting objectives to be considered in spatial planning (e.g. minimizing pollution to air, water and soil, increasing the acceptance of the projects, reducing implementation costs), by new requirements to consider societal values in the evaluation and to increase participation in decision processes, as well as by the crucial role that the spatial dimension plays in such problems. However, we argue in this paper that there are key challenges confronted by DSS designers who are developing such systems and by DSS practitioners who are employing them to support decision making. These challenges impose important meta-choices to designers and practitioners, which may lead to different contents of the evaluation model and to distinctive outcomes of the analysis. In this paper, we present and discuss these key challenges and the associated meta-choices. The contribution that we aim to provide to both researchers and practitioners can be summarized as follows: (i) an increased awareness about choices to be made in the design and implementation of these decision support systems; (ii) a better understanding about the available alternatives for each choice, based on recent developments in the literature; and (iii) a clearer appraisal about the inherent trade-offs between advantages and disadvantages of each alternative

A multiple criteria methodology for prioritizing and selecting portfolios of urban projects

This paper presents an integrated methodology supporting decisions in urban planning. In particular, it deals with the prioritization and the selection of a portfolio of projects related to buildings of some values for the cultural heritage in cities. More precisely, our methodology has been validated to the historical center of Naples, Italy. Each project is assessed on the basis of a set of both quantitative and qualitative criteria with the purpose to determine their level of priority for further selection. This step was performed through the application of the Electre Tri-nC method which is a multiple criteria outranking based method for ordinal classification (or sorting) problems and allows to assign a priority level to each project as an analytical "recommendation" tool. To identify the efficient portfolios and to support the selection of the most adequate set of projects to activate, a set of resources (namely budgetary constraints) as well as some logical constraints related to urban policy requirements have to be taken into consideration together with the priority of projects in a portfolio analysis model. The process has been conducted by means of the interaction between analysts, municipality representative and experts. The proposed methodology is generic enough to be applied to other territorial or urban planning problems. We strongly believe that, given the increasing interest of historical cities to restore their cultural heritage, the integrated multiple criteria decision aiding analytical tool proposed in this paper has significant potential to be used in the future

Co-designing the solution space for rural regeneration in a new World Heritage site: a choice experiments approach

This study develops a participatory multi-methodology intervention designed and deployed to support planning and management of a new World Heritage site, the vineyard landscape of Langhe, Roero and Monferrato, in Northern Italy. The purpose of the study was to support community involvement in the design phase of urban regeneration alternatives. The ultimate objective was to propose practical recommendations for a sustainable regeneration strategy to the Municipal Authority of La Morra, one of the villages located within the core area of the World Heritage site. The analysis context represents a complex territorial system and a challenging decision-making environment due to the presence of: (i) conflicting needs co-existing in the same geographical area, i.e. preservation needs of the World Heritage on one side, and new development needs on the other, (ii) many stakeholders (i.e. residents, tourists, territorial authorities, tourism associations and environmental advocates), and (iii) presence of marginalized communities that are at risk due to the strong trend towards the abandonment of rural areas for big cities. Within this context, the authors propose the use of Stakeholders’ Analysis and Choice Experiments to co-design, together with stakeholders and the local community, feasible strategies for the regeneration of the abandoned rural buildings scattered across the core World Heritage Site. Indeed, the community issue of abandoned rural heritage emerged as both an important weakness of the territorial system under analysis and as an interesting opportunity for rural regeneration

Implementation and evaluation of the circular economy model in the construction and demolition waste sector

Construction and demolition waste (CDW) is a major environmental concern that requires immediate attention. The large volumes of CDW produced and its associated environmental effects have led to explore new alternatives addressing this problem in more sustainable ways. In this context, the Circular Economy (CE) paradigm emerged as an innovative solution for creating more sustainable production and consumption patterns, fostering economic growth, and providing environmental protection and social welfare. At the global level, the concept of CE has gained increasing interest from government bodies, business organizations and academics. This has resulted in multiple political agendas including CE as a core driver, as well as an emerging trend of research exploring its concept and applications. However, because of the novelty and dynamism of the concept, research developments on practical applications and quantitative assessments are at an early stage. The main aim of this study was to propose an approach to integrate the CE concept in the construction and demolition sector, as well as providing the basis for evaluating the environmental and economic effects of circularity strategies and to monitor their implementation. For this purpose, an integrative framework of strategies for CE adoption in the CDW sector is proposed. This together with a methodological proposal to evaluate and compare the environmental and economic performance of different circularity alternatives incorporating multi-criteria decision analysis. In addition, this work proposes a system of indicators for measuring CE features for CDW products. The proposed framework identifies 14 influential strategies for the circularity of the CDW sector and describes their interaction throughout its lifecycle stages. The methodological proposal incorporates the Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) methodology to assess the environmental dimension., while the economic criteria adopt a complex cost method. The multicriteria VIKOR method was used to perform the multi-criteria analysis. The methodology is applied to evaluate the use of concrete waste in high-grade applications, specifically the production of structural and non-structural concrete mixes in the region of Catalonia, Spain. The indicators framework incorporates a systematic approach considering the most relevant factors and parameters for successful measurement of CE interventions. It consists of 22 measures within the three dimensions of environment, economic and innovation/materials. Preconstruction strategies are highlighted as the most influential in the circularity of the sector. CE strategies presented better environmental and economic performance; however, results are conditioned by the particular context of the study. Transportation and landfilling are identified as the most conditioning parameters affecting both environmental and economic performance.Los residuos de construcción y demolición (RCD) son un grave problema medio ambiental que requiere atención inmediata. Los grandes volúmenes de RCD producidos y sus efectos ambientales han llevado a buscar nuevas alternativas para resolver esta problemática de forma más sostenible. En ese contexto, la Economía Circular (EC) ha emergido como una solución innovadora para crear patrones de producción y consumo más sostenibles, fomentar el crecimiento económico, asegurar la protección medio ambiental y la protección social. A nivel global, el concepto de la EC ha ganado interés entre organismos gubernamentales, sector empresarial y académicos. Ello ha resultado en la incorporación de la EC como eje conductor en múltiples agendas políticas y con una tendencia emergente en la investigación de su concepto y aplicaciones. Sin embargo, la investigación de las potenciales aplicaciones y su evaluación se encuentran en una fase temprana de desarrollo debido a la novedad y dinamismo del concepto. El objeto principal de este estudio fue el de desarrollar una propuesta de integración del concepto de EC en el sector de la construcción y la demolición, así como proveer las bases para evaluar los efectos económicos y ambientales de estrategias de circularidad y monitorear su implementación. Para ello, se propone un marco integrativo de estrategias para la adopción de la EC en el sector de los RCD, además de una propuesta metodológica para evaluar y comparar el desempeño económico y ambiental de diferentes alternativas de circularidad incorporando análisis de decisión multi-criterio. Asimismo, este trabajo propone un sistema de indicadores para medir características de circularidad de los RCD. El sistema propuesto identifica 14 estrategias de influencia para la circularidad del sector de los RCD, describiendo su interacción a lo largo de sus etapas de ciclo de vida. La propuesta metodológica de evaluación incorpora la metodología de Análisis de Ciclo de Vida (ACV) para el criterio ambiental, y el análisis de costes complejos para el criterio económico. Mientras que para el desarrollo del análisis multi-criterio fue utilizado el método VIKOR. La metodología es aplicada en la evaluación del uso de residuos de concreto en aplicaciones de alto grado, específicamente en la producción de hormigón estructural y no estructural en la región de Cataluña, España. El marco de indicadores incorpora un enfoque sistémico que considera los factores y parámetros más relevantes para la adecuada medición de estrategias de EC. Este consiste en 22 medidas contenidas en tres grupos o dimensiones: ambiental, económica y de innovación/materiales. Las estrategias durante la etapa pre-constructiva son identificadas como las más influyentes en la circularidad del sector. Resultados de la evaluación muestran un mejor desempeño económico y ambiental de las alternativas de EC, sin embargo, éstos son condicionados por el contexto específico de la zona de estudio. En particular, el transporte y el vertido son identificados como los parámetros más condicionantes tanto para el aspecto ambiental, como el económico.Els residus de construcció i demolició (RCD) són un greu problema mediambiental que requereix atenció immediata. Els grans volums de RCD produïts i els seus efectes ambientals han conduit a buscar noves alternatives per resoldre aquesta problemàtica en formes més sostenibles. En aquest context, l'Economia Circular (EC) ha emergit com una solució innovadora per a crear patrons de producció i de consum més sostenibles, impulsar el creixement econòmic, assegurar la protecció del medi ambient i la protecció social. A nivell global, el concepte de l'EC ha guanyat l'interès d'organismes governamentals, del sector empresarial i d'acadèmics. Això ha resultat en la incorporació de l'EC com eix conductor en múltiples agendes polítiques i amb una tendència emergent en la investigació del seu concepte i aplicacions. No obstant això, la investigació de les potencials aplicacions i la seva avaluació es troben en fase primerenca de desenvolupament degut a la novetat i dinamisme del concepte. L'objectiu principal d'aquest estudi va ser el desenvolupar una proposta d'integració de l'EC en el sector de la construcció i la demolició, així com proporcionar les bases per avaluar els efectes econòmics i ambientals d'estratègies de circularitat i monitoritzar la seva implementació. Per això, es proposa un marc integratiu d'estratègies per a l'adopció de l'EC en el sector dels RCD. A més, d'una proposta metodològica per avaluar i comparar el rendiment econòmic i ambiental de diferents alternatives de circularitat incorporant un anàlisi de decisió multi-criteri. Seguidament, aquest treball proposa un sistema d'indicadors per mesurar característiques de circularitat dels RCD. Aquest sistema identifica 14 estratègies d'influència per la circularitat del sector dels RCD, descrivint la seva interacció al llarg de les etapes de cicle de vida. La proposta metodològica d'avaluació incorpora la metodologia d'Anàlisis de Cicle de Vida (ACV) per al criteri ambiental, i l'anàlisi de costos complexos per al criteri econòmic. Mentre que per al desenvolupament de l'anàlisi multi-criteri s'ha utilitzat el mètode VIKOR. La metodologia s'aplica en l'avaluació del ús de residus de formigó en aplicacions d'alt grau, específicament en la producció de formigó estructural i no estructural en la regió de Catalunya, Espanya. El marc d'indicadors incorpora un enfocament sistèmic que considera els factors i paràmetres mes rellevants per a l'adequada mesura d'estratègies d'EC. Aquest consisteix en 22 mesures agrupades en 3 grups o dimensions: ambiental, econòmica i d'innovació/materials. S'identifica que les estratègies de l'etapa pre-constructiva són les més influents en la circularitat del sector. Els resultats de l'avaluació demostren que les alternatives d'EC presenten millor rendiment econòmic i ambiental, però, aquests són influenciats per les condicions particulars de la zona d'estudi. Particularment, el transport i abocament són identificats com els paràmetres més condicionants tan per el criteri ambiental, com per l'econòmic.Postprint (published version

Regeneration of Rogoredo railway: a combined approach using multi-criteria and financial analysis

I vuoti urbani, quali ex aree industriali ed ex scali ferroviari, rappresentano oggi un’importante occasione di riconversione delle città, nell’ottica di uno sviluppo in chiave sostenibile, resiliente e circolare. Tuttavia, gli interventi di trasformazione e rigenerazione urbana sono caratterizzati da un elevato grado di complessità e dinamicità, così come da un’elevata interazione tra le diverse componenti urbane, quali gli aspetti economici, ambientali, sociali e tra i diversi attori coinvolti nel processo. In questo contesto, l’approccio metodologico proposto nel presente contributo combina le Analisi-Multicriteri (AMC) con l’analisi Analisi Finanziaria (AF). Questo modello permette di analizzare e supportare il processo decisionale nella sua complessità, considerando sia gli aspetti qualitativi (sociali e ambientali) sia quelli quantitativi (economico- finanziari). Il caso degli scali ferroviari dell’area di Rogoredo a Milano (Italia) rap- presenta un caso emblematico. La stessa città di Milano, già all’interno del Piano di Governo del Territorio (PGT), propone interventi volti alla riconnessione di questo nodo infrastrutturale per renderlo un polo attrattivo e inclusivo. L’obiettivo di questo contributo è quello di applicare le AMC con l’AF per la valutazione di scenari alternativi, volti alla riqualificazione dell’ex scalo ferroviario di Rogoredo. La valutazione diventa, quindi, parte integrante dell’intero processo decisionale, supportandone tutte le fasi, da quella iniziale fino alla definizione dello scenario più idoneo agli obiettivi prefissati e agli interessi degli stakeholder coinvolti. Il valore aggiunto fornito dalla presente applicazione è rappresentato proprio dalla possibilità di considerare sia il punto di vista degli investitori, attraverso l’AF, sia la più ampia prospettiva pubblica, attraverso il supporto delle AMC. In questo modo è stato possibile costruire e valutare scenari di trasformazione in grado di attrarre possibili investitori e al tempo stesso capaci di promuovere modelli di mobilita sostenibile, forme di inclusione sociale, sviluppo eco-sostenibile, miglioramento della qualità ambientale, attraverso la progettazione di nuove aree pubbliche, spazi verdi e servizi per i cittadini. In questo pro- cesso, la valutazione assume un ruolo essenziale in quanto consente di mettere in luce i diversi obiettivi perseguiti dall’intervento di rigenerazione e le loro eventuali conflittualità. Inoltre, la loro identificazione può supportare la definizione di scenari alternativi di sviluppo, rendendo partecipati sia il processo progettuale sia quello decisionale.Abandoned areas such as neglected railways and urban voids represent a suitable opportunity for the regeneration and requalification of cities, according to the paradigms of sustainability and resilience. Urban transformation and urban regeneration processes are characterized by a high level of complexity, a dynamic behavior over time and interactions between the various actors involved in the process. Within this context, the present paper proposes the application of a combined evaluation framework, based on the integration of Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) with a Financial Analysis (FA) to assess different strategic scenarios for the regeneration of the Rogoredo railways area (Milan, Italy). The purpose of this framework is to take into account the complexity of the decision-making process, considering both the qualitative (social and environmental) and quantitative (economic-financial) aspects. In detail, the railway yards in the Rogoredo area in Milan (Italy) represent an emblematic case. The city of Milan, within the Territory Governance Plan (PGT), has already proposed interventions in this site aimed at reconnecting the infrastructural node and making it an attractive and inclusive pole. The present paper demonstrates the usefulness of evaluation procedures in supporting the entire decision-making process and defining the most suitable scenario considering the initial objective and the stakeholders’ interests. The innovative value provided by this application is represented precisely by the possibility of considering both the developer point of view through FA and the broader public perspective through the support of MCDA. This approach allowed to build and evaluate transformation scenarios capable of both attracting potential investors and promoting sustainable mobility models, social inclusion, eco-sustainable development, improvement of environmental quality through the design of new public areas, green spaces, and services for citizens

Rethinking feasibility analysis for urban development: a multidimensional decision support tool

Large-scale urban development projects featured over the past thirty years have shown some critical issues related to the implementation phase. Con-sequently, the current practice seems oriented toward minimal and wide-spread interventions meant as urban catalyst. This planning practice might solve the problem of limited reliability of large developments’ feasibility studies, but it rises an evaluation demand related to the selection of coali-tion of projects within a multidimensional and multi-stakeholders deci-sion-making context. This study aims to propose a framework for the generation of coalitions of elementary actions in the context of urban regeneration processes and for their evaluation using a Multi Criteria Decision Analysis approach. The proposed evaluation framework supports decision makers in exploring dif-ferent combinations of actions in the context of urban interventions taking into account synergies, i.e. positive or negative effects on the overall per-formance of an alternative linked to the joint realization of specific pairs of actions. The proposed evaluation framework has been tested on a pilot case study dealing with urban regeneration processes in the city of Milan (Italy)