Cultural heritage valorization: an application of AHP for the choice of the highest and best use

In the preliminary stages of urban investments, the Public Administration (PA) has often to deal with complex decisional problems characterized by many variables and conflicting objectives. In these phases, the evaluation is a useful tool that, through the application of multi-criteria analysis, can support the PA in the transformation of a problem characterized by high uncertainty and mostly qualitative judgments of value, in a logical-mathematical model to guide the decisions. Defined the objective of the investment, the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) method is particularly useful in the comparison and in the choice of projectual alternatives described through a variety of independent criteria and often in conflict with each other. A series of pairwise comparisons - first between the various criteria and then between the various alternatives on the basis of each criterion - allows to sort the solutions by returning the degree of pursuit of the initial objective. The application of AHP for the identification of the intended use related to the post-seismic recovery of the Rocca Estense in Finale Emilia (Modena) - Italy, highlights the ease of use of AHP, its robustness, confirmed by the consistency analysis, and the transparency of the procedure, that is devoid of "black boxes"