Multi-Stakeholder Spatial Decision Analysis (M-SSDA) for a Culture-Led Regeneration Strategy

The paper presents the elaboration of a culture-led regeneration strategy that is structured through a multi-dimensional and multi-stakeholder decision-making process for the Quartieri Spagnoli (QS), a historic district of the city of Naples (Italy). Beginning with an evaluative approach specific to the deliberative methods, a Multi-Stakeholder Spatial Decision Analysis (M-SSDA) was established. It consisted of three main phases: knowledge, elaboration and evaluation. In the first two phases, the economic, social and urban dynamics that characterise the district have been identified and explored through the selection of some spatial indicators represented with a Geographic Information System (GIS), and three possible alternative scenarios of urban regeneration have been elaborated. In the evaluation phase, a multi-criteria and multi-group assessment of the scenarios was carried out through the Analytic Network Process (ANP) method, and weights were assigned to the spatial indicators using the Weighted Linear Combination method. The result of the decision-making process makes it possible to identify the preferable culture-led regeneration scenario and to draw up a strategic map that identifies potential actions for the scenario implementation. The decision-making process, in its different phases and results, allows making explicit the components that significantly influence the local transformations and that could guide the interaction between the different involved stakeholders towards a shared common vision.