A Multicriteria Approach for the Evaluation of the Sustainability of Re-Use of Historic Buildings in Venice

The paper presents a multiple criteria model for the evaluation of the sustainability of projects for the economic re-use of historical buildings in Venice. The model utilises the relevant parameters for the appraisal of sustainability, aggregated into three macro-indicators: intrinsic sustainability, context sustainability and economic-financial feasibility. The model has been calibrated by a panel of experts and tested on two reuse hypotheses of the Old Arsenal in Venice. The tests have proven the model to be a useful support in the early stages of evaluation of re-use projects, where economic improvements are to be combined with conservation, as it supports the identification of critical points and the selection of projects, thus providing not only a check-list of variables to be considered, but an appraisal of trade-offs between economic uses and requirements of conservation

Conversion of Sugars to Lactic Acid Derivatives Using Heterogeneous Zeotype Catalysts

This paper presents the development of the FEEM sustainability index (FEEM SI), a composite index including 19 different indicators grouped in the three classical pillars of sustainability - economic, social and environmental. We present the relevance of multi-attribute aggregation methodologies when dealing with such complex concepts and apply an aggregation methodology used for this case study: the Choquet integral operator. First, we normalize each sustainability indicator with the use of a benchmarking procedure with a smooth target of sustainability. We then develop an aggregation tree of sustainability criteria and a questionnaire to measure the values that experts attribute to individual sustainability criteria and their interaction. This survey suggests that a majority of experts consider sustainability criteria as complementary to each other. After combining the preferences of different experts to establish a consensus, we construct the FEEM SI using the Choquet integral aggregation procedure. The results for sustainability levels show that countries that are ranked at higher (lower) positions are those that have better (worse) outcomes in at least in two final pillars, respectively. Finally, we conduct a robustness analysis by repeating the aggregation procedure with different convex combinations of experts' preferences. The results indicate that, while sustainability levels of countries do vary with the expert preferences, countries' respective rankings remain mainly the same, irrespective of the combination of experts' preferences. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd

A Choquet Integral Based Assessment Model of Projects of Urban Neglected Areas: a Case of Study

This paper describes a multi-criteria evaluation model to support decisions related to the redevelopment of urban residual areas, a central theme in planning practices. Renewal projects on urban or neighborhood scale are complex problems because of the social, economic and environmental implications generated on the different categories of stakeholders. In the awareness of the specific characteristics of each city, the cognitive and evaluation model is especially defined for a given urban context, although it is easily adaptable to different urban ones. In order to take into account the interactions among the criteria by which we compare design alternatives, the Choquet integral is implemented as aggregation function. The model applies to some alternative projects for the redevelopment of a residual urban area in Agrigento (Italy). It can be employed usefully by the local government to choose the better alternative project in pursuing the policy objectives or build new ones