Assessment of Neglected Areas in Vilnius City Using MCDM and COPRAS Methods

Abstract

AbstractBased on the research carried out by foreign scientists, it has been established, that the so-called brown spots represent one of the key factors investors take into account in deciding upon their plans to pursue urban development. The focus of research on the subject of brown spots lies on the uncertainty as regards the indicators, based on which neglected areas shall be assessed. The presence of neglected urban space areas is a negative phenomenon, however, nowadays it is being successfully dealt with. Despite this, the number of newly emerging neglected areas exceeds the number of those that have been revived. The methods of reviving neglected areas, however, are targeted at dealing with problem consequences rather than at eliminating the problem itself. The social and economic context, under which countries have developed and now exist, differs, therefore, a single and universally accepted system of neglected area early indicators, that could be applicable to any country or city/town, does not exist. The authors of the present article discuss the questions of what should be avoided in order to prevent urban areas from becoming neglected during their life cycle, how to identify them in due time and how to avoid negative effects thereof. The authors have attempted to apply the idea of early indicators that has recently appeared in the scientific literature to the Lithuanian context, in this particular case to Vilnius city. Taking into account the outcomes of the previous research studies and the established hierarchy of indicators according to their significance within urban environment clusters, the authors have selected 15 most significant early indicators of neglected areas. Hence formed system of indicators may serve in practice as a basis for monitoring indicator data and tracking their changes. This system was applied for assessing Vilnius city elderates, collecting previously established early indicators of neglected areas and their numeric values and for using the attributive information contained in GIS databases of the Statistics Department of the Republic of Lithuania. The authors of the article applied MCDM method to determine the elderate of Vilnius city, wherein the future formation of neglected areas was most expected. The result thereof has been confirmed by the experts’ inquest and COPRAS method