Map-based multicriteria analysis to support stakeholder-oriented urban energy scenarios

The choice among urban energy planning scenarios is extensively based on multi-actors and multi-criteria aspects. Hence, the stakeholders-oriented approach plays a key role in implementing the effective strategies for regional adaptation. An on-going national project, named “Zero Energy Buildings in Smart Urban Districts”, emphasizes the use of a Multicriteria Spatial Decision Support System (MC-SDSS) to provide communicative support among workshop’s participants. This allows making an explicit trade-off between stakeholders’ preferences. The demonstration is the city of Settimo Torinese, in the metropolitan area of Turin, Italy). This study aims at presenting the on-going research activities with a specific focus on the definition of different energy scenarios for Settimo Torinese, based on stakeholders’ preferences. A first focus group was organized to select the criteria and to assign the stakeholders’ preferences using the “playing card” method of Simos 1990. Accordingly, three decision scenarios have been developed. Each scenario represents a set of retrofitting measures basing on different hierarchy of preferences of the stakeholders as environment-oriented scenario; economic-oriented scenario; mixed-rationalization scenario. In this regard, the MC-SDSS was tested during a second workshop as part of the urban energy planning process to choose the best energy scenario through a Multicriteria method, the Analytic Hierarchic Process.