Prioritizing adaptive reuse of industrial heritage in Nanchang, China: An analytic hierarchy process-based approach
Amid the uneven and fragmented regeneration of industrial heritage in Nanchang, China, decision-makers face challenges in prioritizing former industrial sites for adaptive reuse. These challenges arise from competing heritage, social, economic, and environmental objectives. To address this, an explicitly specified analytic hierarchy process-based framework is proposed. The decision structure is organized around seven criteria: historical value (HV), cultural value (CV), economic benefits (EE), development potential, accessibility (AC), social impact (SI), and ecological sustainability (ES). Expert pairwise comparisons are rigorously verified through consistency index and ratio (CI/CR) checks. These expert judgements are integrated with public preferences using a 70:30 weighting between experts and the public. The top three public rankings are converted into quantitative weights using the rank-reciprocal rule. Three candidate sites, Jiangfang 1953, Nanchang 699, and Zhangshulin, were evaluated using this framework. Jiangfang 1953 emerged as the top-ranked site, primarily driven by HV, CV, and SI, and further supported by strong ES performance. Nanchang 699 ranks second, largely due to its advantages in AC and EE. Zhangshulin excels in ES but demonstrates lower readiness for implementation. The robustness of these results is confirmed through CI/CR screening, one-at-a-time weight-sensitivity analyses (±5% and ±10%, with no rank reversals), and diagnostic comparisons between expert and public preferences. The framework clarifies trade-offs, validates weighting assumptions, and facilitates staged interventions and effective stakeholder communication. Beyond this case study, the approach is adaptable to any context where professional judgment and community preferences must be combined under explicitly defined, testable assumptions.
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