Urban Regenerations. Application of Multi Criteria Spatial Analysis for the redevelopment of the military barracks in the historic centre of Pisa

This study deals with the redevelopment of three abandoned army barracks located in the historic center of Pisa: a military complex, a former military district – both dating to the early 20th century – and a former monastery, which became a military property in the mid-800s. They are composed of several buildings of considerable historical-architectural importance and wide green spaces now completely inaccessible. With the aim of defining a new method of analysis and decision support which can be used for modern urban planning policies, applied to various planning problems even on different levels and compatible with the real needs of citizens and administrators, we used a GIS based Multi-Criteria-Decision-Making (MCDM) approach. Specifically, we implemented it to identify new hypothetical uses for the three abandoned military areas, considering the peculiarities of the buildings included and the urban transformations connected to them. The integrated use of the Geographic Information System with MCDM makes it possible to define different qualitative and quantitative spatial criteria and indicators, and to make the contributions explicit of the different choice options towards different criteria that define the problem. A fundamental aspect was the determination and quantification of impacts that various uses could have on the entire urban fabric: for this purpose, we used the ELECTRE 3 method – integrated and developed in a GIS environment and implemented by using a proprietary programming language. The model allowed us to obtain a classification of the three barracks for each of the six new hypothetical uses defined by involving the stakeholders. The intersection between the results obtained from the application of ELECTRE 3 and the stakeholders’ preferences, makes it possible to locate the three most suitable new functions in the army barracks.