A Multiple Criteria Approach Defining Cultural Adaptive Reuse of Abandoned Buildings

Author(s):  
Ana Sara Costa ◽  
Isabella M. Lami ◽  
Salvatore Greco ◽  
José Rui Figueira ◽  
José Borbinha
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 785 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marta Bottero ◽  
Chiara D’Alpaos ◽  
Alessandra Oppio

In recent years adaptive reuse has proven to be a promising strategy for preserving cultural heritage. When the adaptive reuse approach is used for cultural heritage, the expected outcome is not only the building protection, but the preservation of its historical and heritage significance, and the trade-off between the retention of symbolic values and the adaptation to new alternative (economically profitable) uses becomes of paramount importance. Decisions on the allocation of resources for cultural heritage preservation or development are based on a set of multiple, often conflicting, criteria, as well on the preferences of various, and not always consensual, stakeholders, who attribute different relative importance to market and non-market effects of adaptive reuse proposals. In this context, multiple criteria approaches provide a proper theoretical and methodological framework to address the complexity which characterizes adaptive reuse strategies of cultural heritage. This paper aims to contribute to this strand of literature by proposing a multicriteria decision aiding approach for ranking adaptive reuse strategies of cultural heritage. In detail, we present a novel application of the Preference Ranking Organization Method for Enrichment of Evaluations (PROMETHEE) to support the design and implementation of adaptive reuse strategies of abandoned industrial heritage in vulnerable contexts, and evaluate relative tangible and intangible effects. Industrial sites are frequently left to deteriorate, as their preservation is not considered as important as other kinds of heritage structures. Nevertheless, they are characterized by special architectural and technical features as well as by huge spaces suitable to be redeveloped for new uses. The paper focuses on the potential reuse of nine different abandoned buildings located in an industrial valley in the North-West of Italy, with a strong presence of wool and silk factories starting from the 18th century.


2014 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-22 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan Chaloff

The growing complexity of selection criteria for discretionary labour migration in OECD countries has been accompanied by an expanded demand for labour market analysis and consultation with stakeholders. While some features of general or detailed criteria may be fixed in legislation, numerical quotas or targets, shortage lists, and multiple-criteria points-based systems are generally subject to periodic review and revision based on labour market data and consultation with stakeholders. Official government bodies have maintained co-ordination of this process, with varying degrees of externalization. In most countries expertise is internal, with recourse to external mandated bodies rare. In almost all cases, however, the process is designed to promote consensus around the policy while maintaining political control.


2008 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
M. B. Fernandes ◽  
M. C. Almeida ◽  
A. G. Henriques

Desalination technologies provide an alternative for potable water production, having significant potential for application where fresh water scarcity exists. Potential benefits have to be balanced with other factors, such as high costs, high energy consumption, and significant environmental impacts, for the understanding of real risks and gains of desalination within the context of integrated water resources management. Multiple factors can be considered when analysing the viability of a desalination project but often a limited approach is used. The complexity in the analysis lies in finding the alternatives that obey to multiple objectives (e.g. reduced environmental impact, social acceptance, less cost associated). In this paper, development of a methodology based on multiple criteria decision support system for the evaluation and ranking the potential of desalination technologies is described and applied to a Portuguese case study. Relevant factors to the selection of desalination technologies were identified using SWOT analysis and the MACBETH (Measuring Attractiveness by a Categorical Based Evaluation Technique) approach was applied. Technical alternatives considered include reverse osmosis and multi-effect desalination (MED), together with energy production by fossil fuels or solar energy. Production of water by conventional approaches was also considered. Results, for non-economic benefits, show higher score for MED solar but, in the cost-benefit analysis, conventional methods of water production have higher ranking since costs of renewable energies are not yet competitive. However, even if not preferred in economic terms, desalination is ranked significantly above the conventional approaches for non-economic criteria.


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