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Prioritizing resilience criteria and indicators in urban disadvantaged areas using the Best-Worst Method (BWM)

Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Urban disadvantaged areas are highly vulnerable to natural hazards due to physical, social, economic, and institutional deficiencies. These areas-such as historic residential area, decayed residential areas, informal settlements, and social housing-experience distinct challenges that necessitate tailored resilience strategies. Considering Iran's high hazard proneness, strengthening resilience in such areas is an urgent priority. Existing resilience literature often adopts a generalized, city-wide perspective, lacking the granularity for effective local-level resource allocation in diverse disadvantaged areas. This study aims to identify and prioritize resilience criteria and indicators across the four types of disadvantaged areas. A comprehensive literature review extracted potential resilience criteria, refined and validated using the Delphi method with 16 experts engaged via snowball sampling. The Best-Worst Method (BWM), an MCDM approach, weighted and ranked criteria for each area type. Results show economic capacity is most critical in informal settlements. Physical-environmental aspects (building quality, infrastructure) dominate historical and decayed areas. Institutional dimensions (governance, accountability, policy support) are most influential in social housing resilience. Cross-area comparison reveals shared and context-specific determinants, underscoring the need for integrated, area-sensitive resilience planning. Findings offer a framework for urban planners to prioritize targeted interventions, balancing physical upgrades with social empowerment, economic capacity building, and institutional strengthening for sustainable and inclusive resilience.
DOI: 10.1016/j.jum.2026.100544
Language: English
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $1,200
OpenAlex ID: W7212351414
FWCI:
Cites: 61
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