An Integrated Assessment Approach as a Decision Support System for Urban Planning and Urban Regeneration Policies

This paper focuses on an integrated multi‐methodological evaluation process; it aimed at supporting public administrators in developing alternative strategies for intervention in urban planning and urban regeneration processes that focus on abandoned urban areas located in a central position. In order to transform crisis areas into areas with new opportunities, starting with their redevelopment and enhancement, the article proposes a selection of evaluation tools that can support and steer the decision maker’s choice of alternative scenarios for intervention. For this purpose, the contribution develops an integrated system of evaluation methodologies for decision‐ making support, which includes different components and a plurality of points of view, even of conflicting types, providing a more transparent description of the decision‐making process. The methodological approach was applied to a pilot case study that concerned the choice of priority intervention between two abandoned and blighted areas located in the central area of the city of Reggio Calabria.