Analyzing causes of urban blight using cognitive mapping and DEMATEL

Using MCDA to assist an Intermunicipal community develop a resilience strategy in face of the pandemic caused by the SARS-CoV-2

The topic of regional economic resilience has been the subject of intense debate in the academic and political fields over the past decade and gained a new sense of urgency because of the pandemic caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus as territories faced relevant impacts on their economies and social structures. The economic downturn, the increase in unemployment, and the deterioration of social conditions lead policy makers to search for solutions to make their territories more resilient to this type of event. The current article discusses how multicriteria decision analysis (MCDA) was used to help a Portuguese Intermunicipal Community, formed by 16 councils, develop a strategy to make its territory more cohesive, competitive, sustainable, and resilient. In addition to discussing an innovative application of a MCDA technique, this article illustrates how, through a MCDA approach, it was possible to reach a consensus among several policymakers, despite each of them having their own political agendas.

RANKING RESIDENTIAL NEIGHBORHOODS BASED ON THEIR SUSTAINABILITY: A CM-BWM APPROACH

Population growth and rapid urbanization have consequences that are reflected in the economic, environmental, and social stability of city-residential neighborhoods. These impacts directly affect not only residents but also real estate markets and local governments. The professionals working in the latter entities have become increasingly concerned about urban sustainability and its strategic integration into their plans. Strategies have been implemented that focus on both addressing negative aspects of residential neighborhoods and enhancing positive features that can contribute to the continuous improvement of locals’ living conditions. This study applies the multiple-criteria decision analysis approach and a combination of cognitive mapping and the best-worst method (BWM) to identify the most relevant criteria and use these to rank residential neighborhoods according to their sustainability. To apply the selected techniques, two group meetings were held with a panel of decision makers. The results were validated by the panel members and the Funchal City Council councilor for urbanism, who concurred that the proposed ranking system facilitates the identification of the most sustainable residential neighborhoods. The contributions and limitations of the methodological approach are also discussed.

A Fusion Decision-Making Architecture for COVID-19 Crisis Analysis and Management

The COVID-19 outbreak has had considerably harsh impacts on the global economy, such as shutting down and paralyzing industrial production capacity and increasing the unemployment rate. For enterprises, relying on past experiences and strategies to respond to such an unforeseen financial crisis is not appropriate or sufficient. Thus, there is an urgent requirement to reexamine and revise an enterprise’s inherent crisis management architecture so as to help it recover sooner after having encountered extremely negative economic effects. To fulfill this need, the present paper introduces a fusion architecture that integrates artificial intelligence and multiple criteria decision making to exploit essential risk factors and identify the intertwined relations between dimensions/criteria for managers to prioritize improvement plans and deploy resources to key areas without any waste. The result indicated the accurate improvement priorities, which ran in the order of financial sustainability (A), customer and stakeholders (B), enablers’ learning and growth (D), and internal business process (C) based on the measurement of the impact. The method herein will help to effectively and efficiently support crisis management for an organization confronting COVID-19. Among all the criteria, maintaining fixed reserves was the most successful factor regarding crisis management.