How to support the design and evaluation of redevelopment projects for disused railways? A methodological proposal and key lessons learned

Abstract

Finding a new use for neglected infrastructures, such as disused railways, provides an opportunity for low carbon travel experiences as reconversion policies promote new uses, arrest decay processes and re-establish continuity in the environmental system, using existing linear infrastructures.Nevertheless, the decision of what to do in order to reuse abandoned railways represents a complex decision making problem, involving heterogeneous impacts and stakeholders. Within this context, Multi Criteria Analysis techniques can be used to synthesize stakeholders' preferences by accommodating conflicting and incommensurable impacts. The present study thus uses MultiCriteria Analysis to answer a real demand for transportation systems' planning coming from the Piedmont Region Authority in Italy, where 12 passenger railway lines have recently been abandoned and replaced by bus services.The main objective of the study is to develop a methodological framework able to support collaborative planning and decision-making processes related to the requalification of disused railways in mixed urban and rural contexts.The ultimate objective is to provide a robust recommendation to the Regional Authority with reference to the best requalification option for the abandoned railway line under analysis. The contribution brought by the study is twofold and refers to: (i) improved operability of the proposed tools obtained by combining visualization analytics with consolidated preference elicitation protocols for assessing multiple impacts and (ii) the provision of a replicable working tool for policy makers. The study has thus an innovative value and may increase the use of Decision Analytics to support the evaluation of environmental impacts of different transportation systems.

What Park Visitors Survey Tells Us: Comparing Three Elevated Parks—The High Line, 606, and High Bridge

“…This kind of urban redevelopment can be regarded as having two aspects-1) the redevelopment of brownfields and 2) the creation of green space [57]. Brownfields (abandoned transportation infrastructure) are viewed as drawbacks in adjacent communities, where there is potential for negative exposure to health and safety risks [58]. Research on the impact of brownfield redevelopment indicates that there are economic returns related to taxes, property, and employment [57,59].…”

Reuse of Abandoned Railways Leads to Urban Regeneration: A Tale from a Rust Track to a Green Corridor in Zhangjiakou

“…Both of them concluded that the purpose of the greenway is not only replacement of the abandoned railways, but to create a positive connector of urban important function nodes which serves to promote economic development and improve urban public life. Ferritti and Degioanni [29] proposed a variety of feasible reuse solutions for an abandoned railway in the Piedmont Region. They pointed out that reuse of abandoned railways involves multiple economic, environmental, and social factors.…”

“…Learning the multiattribute value theory (SAVT), they evaluated the psychological goals of comprehensive stakeholders and offered measurable quantitative assessment schemes to determine the best ways of transforming the abandoned railway. A post-event analysis(PFA) model [29], an analytic network process (ANP) method [30], zero-one goal programming (ZOGP) [31] and an indicator system for sustainability [32] have been used for a comprehensive assessment to determine the optimal reuse solution of abandoned railways.…”

Application of Multicriteria Decision-Making Methods in Railway Engineering: A Case Study of Train Control Information Systems (TCIS)

“…According to [92], the major multi-criteria decision methods used for dealing with railways management problems were AHP and ANP. AHP is used also to get indicators' weight values in [93], for determination of weights of each index [94], in evaluation of the railway infrastructure objects from the perspective of traffic safety risk [95] and to find the weights for the selection criteria in selecting the most appropriate supplier [96].…”