An Alternative Sustainable Future for Vlore: An Integrated Decision-Support System for a Green Smart Port City

A robust port-city interaction is essential for resilient and sustainable economies. Ports are pivotal hubs, fostering economic competitiveness, employment, and investments, and yielding positive implications for cities while also having adverse environmental impacts. The effective integration of circular economy and energy efficiency measures becomes fundamental for mitigating climate change effects and enhancing the port-city relationship and opportunities for tourism management. This research focused on the port-city of Vlore, in Albania. Throughout a national and urban framework and a selection of SDGs, it understood the criticalities and the potentialities of this area; three alternative scenarios for it have been explored, reflecting the economic interests, environmental conditions, and social identity of a city that runs the risk of being altered by rapid and uncontrolled development. An integrated decision-making process tackled the interactions and conflicts of the Vlore port-city, and a multi-criteria analysis compared the three scenarios implementing the SOCRATES method. The preferable scenario defines the starting point for a new reflection on an alternative sustainable future for Vlore.