A Dominance-based Rough Set Approach Model for Selecting the Location for a Municipal Solid Waste Plant

The paper aims at investigating an innovative approach in the field of sustainability assessment of territorial transformations, where the necessity of decision support tools permitting to consider simultaneously the different aspects of the problem is becoming more and more apparent. In particular, we propose an interactive use of the Dominance-based Rough Sets Approach (DRSA, Greco et al., 2001). The methodology well facilitates the discussion among Decision Makers (DMs) and technical experts. The method is based on the use of a preference model expressed in terms of easily understandable “if … then” decision rules, induced from a preference information easily given by the DM in terms of indication of relatively good actions from a given sample. The method consists of organizing the search of the most preferred action by alternating stages of calculation and dialogue. The calculation stage aims at inducing decision rules and applying them to new actions, while in the dialogue stage the DMs react to the proposal revealing them preferences, that are taken into account in the next stage of calculation. The procedure stops when the DMs find an action satisfactory to be selected. We propose to apply this methodology in decisions-aiding processes concerning urban and territorial projects. In particular, we present an application to the choice of the location for a municipal solid waste plant in the Province of Turin (Italy). In the application, 39 sites are analysed and compared through the use of the DRSA on the basis of different attributes, such as presence of population, hydrogeological risk, agricultural value, interferences on transport infrastructures and economic cost. From the point of view of Multiple Criteria Decision Aid, the results of the application show that the DRSA offers a useful tool for reasoning about the data involved in the decision problem at hand and that it is suitable to elicitate the DMs’ preferences and to support them by explaining and justifying the final choice