Impact assessment processes aim to provide information for decision-making. Therefore, the identification and comparison of alternatives, and the justification of choices, represent essential elements of any impact assessment. Comparing alternatives against multiple objectives and criteria implies balancing different impact types, understanding the merits of each option, and eventually establishing a preference ranking. This calls for a framework to integrate factual information on effects and impacts, with values and preferences of decision-makers and stakeholders. Multicriteria analysis (MCA) offers such a framework.
This intermediate-level course aims at providing theoretical insights and hands-on experience on the application of MCA to impact assessment. More specifically, the course addresses the following topics:

• Basic concepts of decision theory (e.g., decision-making process, actors);
• Problem structuring;
• The philosophy of MCA;
• MCA methodological steps: value functions, weight assessment, aggregation techniques, sensitivity analysis, and results presentation;
• Working with Decision Support Systems (DSS);
• Using GIS and new digital technologies in MCA;
• MCA in the real world: examples in different impact assessment fields;

The teaching method is based on theoretical lectures, group discussions and hands-on exercises using DSS software (freely available). The target audience of this course is represented by practitioners, international agency personnel, public officers, research fellows, PhD and MSc students interested in the comparison of options in impact assessment. No prior experience with DSS or MCA is required, but participants should be familiar with at least one impact assessment field.
The expected learning outcomes include:

• Understanding advantages and limitations of MCA and its main techniques;
• Familiarizing with approaches for weight assessment and sensitivity analysis;
• Skills in using a DSS to conduct MCA;
• Understanding the role played by different actors in MCA-based decision-making;
• Understanding the key principles of GIS-based MCA;
• Gaining first-hand experience by analyzing real-life case studies.

Level:	Intermediate
Prerequisites:	No prior experience with decision support systems or multicriteria analysis is required, but participants should be familiar with at least one impact assessment field (e.g., EIA, SEA, HIA, SIA, etc).
Language:	English
Duration:	2 days (18-19 April)
Min/Max:	10-35
Instructor:	Davide Geneletti, Ph.D., Researcher and Lecturer, University of Trento (Italy)

• Summary of the course

Impact assessment processes aim to provide information for decision-making. Therefore, the identification and comparison of alternatives, and the justification of choices, represent essential elements of any impact assessment. Comparing alternatives against multiple objectives and criteria implies balancing different impact types, understanding the merits of each option, and eventually establishing a preference ranking. This calls for a framework to integrate factual information on effects and impacts, with values and preferences of decision-makers and stakeholders. Multicriteria analysis (MCA) offers such a framework.
This intermediate-level course aims at providing theoretical insights and hands-on experience on the application of MCA to impact assessment. More specifically, the course addresses the following topics:
- Basic concepts of decision theory (e.g., decision-making process, actors);
- Problem structuring;
- The philosophy of MCA;
- MCA methodological steps: value functions, weight assessment, aggregation techniques, sensitivity analysis, and results presentation;
- Working with Decision Support Systems (DSS);
- Using GIS and new digital technologies in MCA;
- MCA in the real world: examples in different impact assessment fields;
The teaching method is based on theoretical lectures, group discussions and hands-on exercises using DSS software (freely available). The target audience of this course is represented by practitioners, international agency personnel, public officers, research fellows, PhD and MSc students interested in the comparison of options in impact assessment. No prior experience with DSS or MCA is required, but participants should be familiar with at least one impact assessment field.

The expected learning outcomes include:
- Understanding advantages and limitations of MCA and its main techniques;
- Familiarizing with approaches for weight assessment and sensitivity analysis;
- Skills in using a DSS to conduct MCA
- Understanding the role played by different actors in MCA-based decision-making;
- Understanding the key principles of GIS-based MCA;
- Gaining first-hand experience by analyzing real-life case studies.

 

• DAY 1

Session title Content Session type
Introduction to environmental decision-making and MCA
- Characteristics of decision problems in impact assessment
- Philosophy and general principles of
MCA
Lecture
Methodological steps in MCA (I) - Problem structuring and decision tree
- Linking objectives, criteria, indicators
Lecture
Short discussion
Coffee
Structuring a decision problems - Good and bad decision criteria and decision trees
Group work
Methodological steps in MCA (II) - Value functions and normalization
- Weight assessment
Lecture and discussion
Lunch
Demo using a Decision Support System (DSS)
- Full demonstration of MCA steps
- Brief overview of available software tools
Software demo
Practical exercise with a DSS (I) - Construction of an evaluation matrix
- Criteria normalisation
Hands-on
Coffee
Practical exercise with a DSS (II) +
Case study in impact assessment (I)
- Weight assessment
- Case study: comparing the environmental effects of alternative project proposals
Hands-on + case study discussion
Conclusions - What can and cannot be done through MCA
Discussion

• DAY 2

Session title Content Session type
Methodological steps in MCA (III) - Aggregation techniques
- Sensitivity analysis
Lecture
Case study in impact assessment (II)
- Case study: comparing the environmental effects of alternative policies
Lecture and discussion
Coffee
Practical exercise with a DSS (III) - Criteria aggregation
Hands-on
Practical exercise with a DSS (IV) - Sensitivity analysis Hands-on
Lunch
Spatial information and new digital technologies to enhance MCA
- Key issues in applying MCA in a
GIS environment
- The potential of new digital technologies to support MCA-based decision-making processes
Lecture
Group exercise with a DSS (I)
- Full run of MCA for a case study in impact assessment
Group work
Coffee
Group exercise with a DSS (II)
- Full run of MCA for a case study in impact assessment
- GIS-based MCA: overview and software demo
Group work + software demo
Conclusions - Adapting MCA to different decision contexts
Discussion
Outline of case study material:
Two case studies will be used during the training. The first will focus on the project level (comparing different locations for a transportation infrastructures), and the second on the planning/policy-making level (comparing alternative strategies for a land use policy). The participant will receive an abridged description of the case study (as well as links to background information) and the data-set that will be used during the practical sessions.
Note: The main differences with the respect to editions of this course offered at previous IAIA conferences are:
- This edition will address impact assessment more in general, rather than being focused on EIA/SEA, as in previous years;
- A specific session on “MCA in the real world” has been added, where the entry points of MCA in actual decision making are described and illustrated through examples;
- More group work on “problem structuring”, where participants will interact in small groups
- More time devoted to GIS-based MCA and the use of digital technologies to support MCAbased decision-making processes (e.g., GeoSocial Networking), consistently with the conference theme;
- New case studies will be presented, in order to suit the theme of this year’s conference. At least one of the case studies that will be presented will involve the use of new digital technologies and collaborative decision support systems.

• Material
• Participants will receive a course handout including:

- All presentations shown during the course;
-A database containing the case study material that will be used during the hands-on sessions.
- Relevant papers authored by the trainer describing MCA applications in a variety of fields;
- A comprehensive reference and resource list, including links to relevant case study materials;

• Equipment

Participants should plan to provide their own laptop (or to share it with fellow participants) for the hands-on activities. Hands-on sessions will use a DSS software package freely available on the internet (DEFINITE 3.1, demo version).

• Qualification of the trainer

Davide Geneletti is a tenured researcher and lecturer at the Department of Civil, Environmental and Mechanical Engineering of the University of Trento, Italy. During the summer of 2014 he was a Visiting Scholar at Stanford University, and in 2010-2011 he was Mid-career Research Fellow at Harvard University. He has worked in applied research projects in over 15 different countries in Europe, Asia and Latin America.
He has consulted on impact assessment-related topics and performed project review and monitoring for international bodies, including UN-Habitat, UNEP, the European Commission, the Government of Chile, the UK Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, the National Research Council of the Romanian Government, as well as for National Park Authorities and local and regional governments in Italy.
He has been the recipient of several research grants by national and international institutions, including the European Commission and the Chilean Agency for Economic Development.
Additionally, he has been funded by the ‘High-level lectures grant’ programme of the Secretariat of Foreign Affairs of the Mexican Government to provide post-graduate trainings on multicriteria
analysis and Decision Support Systems in three different years.
He has published widely in field of environmental assessment, multicriteria analysis and GIS with over 100 among scientific papers (58 of which are listed by the Scopus database; h index: 17), book chapters and books. In 2009, he co-edited a book on “Spatial decision  support for urban and environmental planning”. He serves on the editorial board of “Environmental Impact Assessment Review”, “Journal of Environmental Assessment, Policy and Management”, “Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal”, “Landscape and Urban Planning”, and “Planning Malaysia”. He is an associate editor for the international journal “Change and Adaptation in Socio-ecological Systems”.
He is regularly invited to provide guest lectures and short courses on environmental assessment and planning, spatial decision support systems and multicriteria analysis. This is a list of the recipients of such activities (internationally and last few years only): University of Trento (2013, 2012); SETAC Summer school (Italy, 2012); IAIA Annual Meeting (2011, 2012 and 2013); Universidad Catolica de Temuco (Temuco, Chile, 2010); Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile (2010); Centro Andaluz de Medio Ambiente (Granada, Spain, 2009); Royal Institute of Technology (Stockholm, Sweden, 2009); International Association for Landscape Ecology (IALE) World Congress (Wageningen, The Netherlands, 2007),Universidad de Alcalá (Spain, 2007), Universidad Politécnica de Catalunya (Barcelona, Spain, 2007).

• Selection of relevant publications
• Geneletti, D. (2014). Integration of impact assessment types improves consideration of alternatives. Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal 32(1).
• Uribe, D., Geneletti, D., del Castillo, R., Orsi, F. (2014) , Integrating Stakeholder Preferences and GISBased Multicriteria Analysis to Identify Forest Landscape Restoration Priorities. Sustainability 6(2), 935 - 951.
• Bagli, S, Geneletti, D, Orsi, F. Routeing of power lines through least-cost path analysis and multicriteria evaluation to minimise environmental impacts, Environmental Impact Assessment Review. 31 (2011): 234-239.
• Geneletti, D. Combining stakeholder analysis and spatial multicriteria evaluation to select and rank inert landfill sites, Waste Management. (2010) 328-337.
• Geneletti, D. Duren, I. Protected area zoning for conservation and use: a GIS-based integration of multicriteria and multiobjective analysis, Landscape and Urban Planning. 85 (2008) 97-110.

Geneletti, D. An approach based on spatial multicriteria analysis to map the nature-conservation value of agricultural land, Journal of Environmental Management. 83 (2007) 98-105.