How to revitalise a historic district: A stakeholders-oriented assessment framework of adaptive reuse

This research proposes an application of a MultiCriteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) in the adaptive reuse framework, which is able to structure the complex decision process required for the effective reuse of an historic district. Nowadays, many cities are facing an economic, financial, social and urban decline. This is particularly true when thinking about historic districts, which are usually characterized by high unique cultural values but, at the same time, show difficult characteristics in terms of comfort and security. Accordingly, the planning rules to be applied to the historic districts need to be re-written overcoming the traditional logics. The proposed adaptive reuse framework deals with the application of the Macbeth method. To properly test, develop and illustrate the framework we conducted an experimental validation through a case study: the urban regeneration of an historical district in Biella (Italy) starting from the adaptive reuse of an historic building