Strategic Assessments and Skyscrapers: an Application of the Anp

Territorial transformation processes can be seen as complex decision problems, due to the presence of multiple conflicting objectives, many different stakeholders to be involved, high levels of uncertainty associated with the decision outcomes, long term consequences, the presence of intangible elements and the spatial distribution of the different impacts. The present research aims at providing urban planners, as well as other stakeholders and decision makers, with a scientifically sound and practical approach to supporting the strategic planning and evaluation phase in urban areas. Since the last decades Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) has been recognized as a very important and rapidly growing area of research and application in the domain of sustainable development. This paper thus proposes and tests the development of a complex ANP analysis, based on the definition of Benefits, Costs, Opportunities and Risks for a complex territorial transformation involving the construction of a new skyscraper in the city of Torino (Italy). The idea below these projects is that the construction of the new tall buildings represents the possibility of creating important architectural landmarks, both at the urban and at the territorial level. As a result, key planning priorities and weaknesses are identified to support the subsequent decision-making phase.