MCDA method, results and role played by the MCDA). The last section summarized
the conclusions.
2 Urban and Territorial Transformation
The way in which urban regeneration is developed and implemented in Europe has
changed over the decades since the post-war reconstruction and building boom.
These modifications have also led to a change in the role of evaluation.
Between the 1960s and the late 1980s, territorial transformations were carried out
following specific plans executed without closely verifying a fit between forecasts
(made by planners) and the demand of the market (Healey 2007). Despite this
consolidated dynamic, the planned transformations were successful since the cities
were growing as well as the population and the Public Administrations (PA) were
facing a financial well-being (Secchi 1984).
Due to an erosion of public incentives, the PA started to face a crisis during the
1990s that in turn caused a decrease of the real estate transactions and of the DM’s
power in controlling and guiding urban and territorial transformations. This crisis led
to the need for public-private partnerships (Ruegg 1994) increasing the number of
players involved in the decision-making processes including not simply those
directly affected by the state of the area but also those who practically realize the
transformation (e.g. owners, investors) and intermediate actors (e.g. real estate
agents) (Faludi 1973).
The main consequence is that urban transformation operations are fragmented
driving processes, with different time perspectives for operators. Each approach
requires a specific metric to make the results achieved objectively measurable and
comparable. The challenge is to coordinate different operations, which have different potential in terms of time, profitability and values (Lami 2019).
Moreover, nowadays many cities need to face new challenges. The social and
economic changes, which are not aspatial also according to sustainability (Lami et al.
2014), concern material and immaterial aspects deeply affecting urban and territorial
transformations. This concept of sustainable development, understood as the “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of
future generations to meet their own needs” (Bruntland 1987), has been recently
stressed out by the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development
(sustainabledevelopment.un.org). The latter provides strategic directions to support
the future development by identifying 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
considered as urgent call for actions in a global partnership.
In particular, the SDG11 “Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe,
resilient and sustainable” has become a pivotal attempting to analyse and solve the
interdependences between environment, development and economic growth
allowing the quality and efficiency of urban and territorial transformations to be
considered.
6 Multiple Criteria Decision Analysis to Assess Urban and Territorial. . .
95
the conclusions.
2 Urban and Territorial Transformation
The way in which urban regeneration is developed and implemented in Europe has
changed over the decades since the post-war reconstruction and building boom.
These modifications have also led to a change in the role of evaluation.
Between the 1960s and the late 1980s, territorial transformations were carried out
following specific plans executed without closely verifying a fit between forecasts
(made by planners) and the demand of the market (Healey 2007). Despite this
consolidated dynamic, the planned transformations were successful since the cities
were growing as well as the population and the Public Administrations (PA) were
facing a financial well-being (Secchi 1984).
Due to an erosion of public incentives, the PA started to face a crisis during the
1990s that in turn caused a decrease of the real estate transactions and of the DM’s
power in controlling and guiding urban and territorial transformations. This crisis led
to the need for public-private partnerships (Ruegg 1994) increasing the number of
players involved in the decision-making processes including not simply those
directly affected by the state of the area but also those who practically realize the
transformation (e.g. owners, investors) and intermediate actors (e.g. real estate
agents) (Faludi 1973).
The main consequence is that urban transformation operations are fragmented
driving processes, with different time perspectives for operators. Each approach
requires a specific metric to make the results achieved objectively measurable and
comparable. The challenge is to coordinate different operations, which have different potential in terms of time, profitability and values (Lami 2019).
Moreover, nowadays many cities need to face new challenges. The social and
economic changes, which are not aspatial also according to sustainability (Lami et al.
2014), concern material and immaterial aspects deeply affecting urban and territorial
transformations. This concept of sustainable development, understood as the “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of
future generations to meet their own needs” (Bruntland 1987), has been recently
stressed out by the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development
(sustainabledevelopment.un.org). The latter provides strategic directions to support
the future development by identifying 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
considered as urgent call for actions in a global partnership.
In particular, the SDG11 “Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe,
resilient and sustainable” has become a pivotal attempting to analyse and solve the
interdependences between environment, development and economic growth
allowing the quality and efficiency of urban and territorial transformations to be
considered.
6 Multiple Criteria Decision Analysis to Assess Urban and Territorial. . .
95