Promethee based multi criteria decision support systems for the sustainable development of historical city centers: The case of Aksaray citadel

Cities are dynamic settlement centers that evolve alongside transformations in human life and the development of social and cultural structures. From their earliest formations to the present, cities have been shaped by natural, economic and social factors. Through their physical and cultural identities, they convey the legacy of the past into contemporary life. The preservation, renewal and planning of the distinctive character of the historical and cultural heritage they embody should be addressed through a multi-dimensional, sustainable approach from social, environmental and scientific perspectives. In undertaking conservation and planning studies within historical city centers, there is a need for urban-scale decision-making criteria that can safeguard urban heritage, prevent deterioration of the historical fabric and meet the requirements of modern urban life. Today, rather than relying on traditional and intuitive approaches during the decision-making stage, interdisciplinary methods are employed to solve problems and to evaluate and rank alternatives. In the literature, numerous Decision Support Systems have been developed to facilitate decision-making among multiple alternatives, to analyse criteria and to offer various forms of graphical modelling. This thesis employs the AHP-based PROMETHEE method, a Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) approach, to systematically evaluate conservation alternatives. In the city center of Aksaray, which contains significant monuments of historical and cultural heritage value, the fortress walls—no longer extant but whose existence is substantiated by archival documents and historical photographs—are located at the focal point of the urban core. The Aksaray Kaleiçi district remains an active, living historical center that hosts educational, administrative, commercial and religious buildings. Considering the characteristics, functions, and registration statuses of the buildings within the area, the site was divided into six sub-regions; for each sub-region, the changes and transformations of historical structures and the street fabric were examined through archival documents, photographs and zoning plans. To establish the scientific foundation of the intervention to be carried out in this historic area and to support decision-making, evaluation criteria drawn from the literature were classified under five headings. In order to make scientifically grounded decisions for the study area, interviews and a questionnaire were conducted with ten selected experts possessing knowledge and expertise in different fields, through which the decision matrix and criterion weights were determined. Using PROMETHEE software, positive and negative net outranking rankings were generated for the six sub-regions within Kaleiçi based on expert assessments. "Urban Authenticity" emerged as the most influential criterion and the evaluation process focused particularly on this concept. Accordingly, the thesis develops a systematic and multidimensional decision-making method intended to ensure the protection of the authentic values of a single building or a historical environments possessing cultural heritage significance and applies this framework specifically to the city of Aksaray. Keywords: Aksaray City Center, Decision Support Systems, Sustainable Renovation in Architecture, Conservation in the Historical Environment, Revitalization.