1,721,100 research outputs found
Weighting Procedures and Environmental Sustainability Assessment: An Experiment Based on an Urban Regeneration Programme in Northern Italy
No full textUrban projects, plans, and programs are subject to specific valuation procedures, which have the objective of assessing the sustainability of the proposed strategies. In this domain, Multiple Criteria Decision Aiding (MCDA) provides a wide set of methods for sustainability assessment, by comparing alternative projects or criteria on heterogeneous measurement scales. A crucial step in the application of MCDA methodologies to real-world problems concerns the assessment of criteria relative importance and in turn the degree of preference attaining different alternatives, due to behavioral issues which can affect final results. This paper illustrates an experimental protocol developed in the context of the evaluation of an urban regeneration program in Northern Italy. In the experiment, a group of five experts and stakeholders were asked to weigh a set of multidimensional attributes according to three different weighting procedures, namely the Analytic Hierarchy Process, the SWING method, and the SMARTER method. The paper discusses the results obtained in the set of weights, pointing out differences as well as similarities and discussing the pros and cons of the three different weighting procedures
Migrants and italian inner areas for an anti-fragility strategy
No full textThe paper addresses the issue of migration towards inner areas with respect to the broader framework of the National Strategy for Inland Areas (SNAI).
After an introduction on the purpose outlined by the SNAI, the article focuses on the relationship between socio-economic features of the inner areas and
migration dynamics, in order to outline some preconditions for the presence of foreigners as active driver for the regeneration of those marginal territories.
Thus, a theoretical paradigm has been proposed to address the evaluation process and support the whole policy cycle.
The assumption at the basis of this reflection is that an anti-fragile strategy cannot be defined on the basis of a data-driven approach, but it requires to explore the
preferences, aspirations, values of a plurality of actors, starting from local communities as well as from migrants, with the aim of developing the abandoned spaces into vibrant places for multicultural communities
Bringing the value-focused thinking approach to urban development and design processes: The case of foz do tua area in portugal
No full textIn Italy architectural quality and public interest are at the center of a cultural and political debate, which has not yet been definitively adopted into our legal system. By recognizing that urban developments, both public and private, have to be part of a bigger and interconnected economic, cultural and social development pattern, in the last 15 years several efforts have been made to define a draft law on architectural quality. Designing quality alternatives is therefore a crucial issue to preserve and improve the quality of life and built environment. The public role played by architecture and the need to answer to different instances lead to consider the design process as a real decision-making process focused on values, rather than on design solutions. In this context, the paper proposes a multi-methodological analytical framework based on the Value-Focused Thinking (VFT) approach introduced by Keeney in order to address the phases of the design process, from the elicitation of objectives, to the definition of strategies until the design and evaluation of the alternatives. With the aim of providing a contribution to the empirical line of research on alternative generation, the paper experiments the VFT procedure within a design process developed by eleven project teams
Damage assessment for architectural heritage: The Cavallerizza Reale complex in Turin
Full text linkDamage assessment for architectural heritage stands as a relevant issue from an appraisal perspective due to heritage properties’ peculiar technological and building techniques and their complex social values. The specificity of Italian cultural heritage, widespread on the national territory, even in high environmental risk (landslides, earthquakes, and floods) areas, calls for dealing with the damage assessment theme by considering tangible and intangible features. Indeed, architectural heritage value is not limited only to its market or use value but must be expressed as a Total Economic Value, in its tangible and intangible components, that can be destroyed or affected by damages. In this context, the paper provides a relevant case study concerning the assessment of fire, lack of maintenance, and occupation damages for the ‘Pagliere’ buildings, located within the building complex ‘Cavallerizza Reale’ in Turin, which is included in the Unesco World Heritage list. Thanks to the specificities and the historical-architectural significance of the properties under analysis, this case study provided an interesting reflection on the methodological approach for the total damage assessment, given by the sum of its three different components: Fire damage, lack of maintenance damage, and abandonment damage. Based on the discussion of the results, the paper proposes some possible insights for future research focusing on assessing architectural heritage damages
Urban rent at risk: The point of view of private investors
No full textUrban transformation and regeneration interventions are complex processes in which a multitude of actors act in order to generate an overall value higher than the investment and proportional to the risks, related to each phase of real estate development process. The trade-off between risk and return is one of the essential element in investment decisions, even more in the context of urban transformations projects characterized by long-term time horizons, hence the difficulty for investors to predict the future. In this context, the paper proposes a reflection on the relationship between return and risk in urban transformation and regeneration interventions, focusing on the private investor’s perspective. A first questionnaire was proposed to a selected panel of experts, as pre-test, in order to highlight how the different actors involved in development processes perceive risk and how their adversity varies due to their role and the development phase. The first results of the pre-test phase have pointed out interesting aspects that deserve an in depth investigation through a survey extended to a larger sample, such as the importance of the involvement of private operators and the use of multidimensional and multi-stakeholder models to support risk management
Cultural heritage social value and community mapping
No full textIn the light of the growing awareness of the importance of assessing cultural heritage social value and of community involvement in heritage-based planning processes, the paper hints an innovative and people-based approach, which attempts to base the process of appraisal of cultural heritage social value on a wide-spread participatory tool: community mapping. The paper moves from a review of the steps made by estimative theory in assessing cultural heritage social value, with a view to understanding what the current state of art is, what main issues can be pinpointed and, thus, how to enhance existing theories on this matter. Later, it focuses on community mapping, with the aim of understanding which benefits can stem from a participatory process based on this tool. Finally, the opportunity of applying community maps as a key element in the assessment of the social values of cultural heritage and its possible implications are discussed
The financial sustainability of cultural heritage reuse projects: An integrated approach for the historical rural landscape
Full text linkIn the last decades, the growing concern about land consumption, together with the awareness about cultural heritage’s key role for sustainable development, has led to greater attention to cultural property reuse as a conscious process of new values production. However, decisions about heritage bring a high degree of complexity, related to the need to preserve properties’ values and fulfill protection legislation, thus bringing high cost, which discourages public and private investments for reuse interventions. In this context, it becomes urgent to support reuse decisions through proper evaluation methodologies that, dealing with the complexity of interests at stake, allow individuals to assess the financial sustainability of conscious cultural heritage reuse projects. For these reasons, the paper proposes a methodological framework that, grounded on the recognition of cultural properties’ values and their possible integration in the local economic system, assesses reuse projects’ financial sustainability. This methodology’s application is discussed through a case study, represented by a project for a historical rural landscape in Pantelleria island. The application to the case study allows us to discuss the role of the proposed evaluation framework in supporting and promoting cultural heritage reuse and its possible room for improvement
Cultural heritage and accounting reform: valuation instances
No full textThe ACCRUAL reform outlined by the implementation of the EU Council
Directive 2011/85/EU for defining accounting principles and standards in
public administrations also involves Italian artistic and cultural heritage
assets. In the Next Generation EU (National Recovery and Resilience Plan),
cultural heritage and culture, in general, are considered as determinants of
development from a recovery perspective. Thus, the idea of cultural heritage
as a bundle of values and as a mean for sustainable growth, human
development, and quality of life has been consolidated. Within such a
context, this contribution aims to stimulate reflection on the economic and
financial dimension of cultural heritage in the public administrations’
balance sheets and on the contribution that the discipline of Appraisal and
Evaluation can provide to defining the methodological framework necessary
for estimating their value. Starting from the acknowledgement of the
coexistence of a plurality of values characterizing cultural heritage, particular
attention has been paid to the economic dimension of Heritage and the
evaluation challenges the accounting principles have introduced
consistently with the Italian position in the process of defining the
conceptual framework and the accounting guidelines
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