Title: A Choquet integral-based approach for assessing the sustainability of a new waste incinerator

Authors: Marta Bottero; Valentina Ferretti; Giulio Mondini

Addresses: Department of Regional and Urban Studies and Planning (DIST), Politecnico di Torino, Viale Mattioli 39, 10125, Turin, Italy ' Department of Regional and Urban Studies and Planning (DIST), Politecnico di Torino, Viale Mattioli 39, 10125, Turin, Italy ' Department of Regional and Urban Studies and Planning (DIST), Politecnico di Torino, Viale Mattioli 39, 10125, Turin, Italy

Abstract: The present paper proposes a multicriteria approach able to support decision makers in the choice of the best location for a new waste incinerator plant that has to be constructed in the Province of Torino (Italy). Three alternative sites have been compared based on different indicators that have been aggregated using the Choquet integral in order to obtain the global performance of each solution and to better highlight the tradeoffs between the aspects involved. The aim of the analysis is to study the contribution that the Choquet integral offers in sustainability assessment of undesirable facilities location problems, taking into consideration the existence of interactions among the criteria and paying particular attention to the use of quantitative indicators in the evaluation process. Mention should be made to the fact that the analysis takes into account the opinion of several experts in determining the importance of the different elements of the model.

Keywords: multicriteria decision analysis; MCDA; Choquet integral; environmental analysis; integrated sustainability assessment; criteria interactions; undesirable facilities location problems; sustainable development; waste incinerators; Italy.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMCDM.2013.053726

International Journal of Multicriteria Decision Making, 2013 Vol.3 No.2/3, pp.157 - 177

Received: 16 Jan 2012
Accepted: 11 Jun 2012
Published online: 29 Jan 2014 *

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