Enhancing Mediterranean Landscapes: Sustainable Adaptive Reuse Strategies for Abandoned Railway Cultural Heritage

The topic of abandoned railway cultural infrastructures has gained increasing international relevance for their potential to promote environmental sustainability and improve the quality of life in local communities. In Europe, directives and initiatives have been launched to encourage the adaptive reuse of these heritage sites for tourism, cultural, and environmental purposes, emphasizing the conversion of disused lines into greenways and cycling paths. These pathways foster sustainable tourism and active mobility, contribute to the regeneration of degraded areas, and stimulate local economies. This study aims to explore adaptive reuse strategies for the cultural heritage of the Noto-Pachino railway in Sicily, Italy, within a collaborative decision-making framework, and focuses on assessing the potential of the decommissioned railway for conversion into a greenway, integrating ecotourism and regional socioeconomic development. For the case study, a decision-support evaluation process is developed to identify new adaptive reuse functions for the disused stations, preserving the historical significance of the infrastructure. Application of the PROMETHEE method, combined with stakeholder engagement and result visualization through the GAIA plane, offers a robust and replicable framework for evaluating and prioritizing reuse strategies. The findings reveal that various stations along the Noto-Pachino railway offer distinct potentials for adaptive reuse, depending on the proposed functional scenarios. The research emphasizes the importance of integrating historical preservation with socioeconomic goals. It provides a decision-support model for future projects that balances the conservation and enhancement of disused railway heritage with sustainable development. The conversion of the Noto-Pachino railway into a greenway, alongside the adaptive reuse of its stations, demonstrates significant potential for fostering sustainable tourism and regional development.