Multi-Criteria Decision-Making Framework for Evaluating Historic Sites in Huai’an Ancient Cities

Abstract

The preservation and restoration of historic sites is of great significance to the continuation of a city’s historical heritage and high-quality development. However, the conservation management of historic sites is still in the stage of exploration and improvement. The current states of development and preservation have been facing many problems, such as fragmented and poor states of preservation. It is crucial to retain and revitalize the authenticity of historic sites. A multi-criteria decision-making approach to an innovative evaluation model is proposed. Based on the cultural, social, and economic characteristics of the historical sites, an evaluation index system is constructed and weighted to judge its importance. The results suggest that the statuses of the historic relics at the facet layer have the most significant effect on the preservation of the authenticity of historic sites. The completeness of historic relics ranks first in weight among the evaluation indexes, which suggests that emphasis should be not only on their protection, but also on the preservation of their overall styles. The results will enable urban decision makers to effectively set the priorities of preservation and restoration by regions and stages. Huai’an, a major ancient city along the Beijing–Hangzhou Grand Canal in China, was taken as an empirical case study to validate the feasibility of the evaluation index system and its ability to provide references for the preservation and restoration of historic sites.