An aggregated weighting system for evaluating sustainable urban regeneration

This paper is concerned with developing an effective means of weighting the key attributes of sustainable urban regeneration in accordance with their relative importance. The theme is initially explored from a literature review, highlighting the potential compatibility of urban regeneration and sustainability concepts, whilst illustrating the changes occurring in urban policy aimed at encapsulating the economic, environmental and social dimensions of sustainability. A methodology is presented setting out how hierarchical modelling, the Delphi technique and multicriteria analysis can be utilized as part of a three-stage process to dissect sustainable urban regeneration into its constituent parts, obtain expert consensus and calculate the relative importance weightings to be allocated to the key indicator groupings. Conclusions seek to relate the hierarchical model to contemporary urban policy and issues central to the sustainability debate.