The course aims to introduce students to the theoretical and methodological foundations of scientific evaluation which are necessary for the architect as the coordinator of the decision-making process of the architectural project and urban plan. The course also aims to provide some basic critical knowledge on the operation and use of the most common evaluation techniques in the field of architectural design and urban planning.
Students regularly attending the course are provided with powerpoint presentations of the lessons in electronic format as well as with specific bibliographic suggestions during the lessons.
Non-attending students must agree with the teacher a bibliography specifically tailored according to their interests in the field of architectural design and urban planning evaluation.
On Decision-making & Rationality:
Akerlof, G. A. (1970). The Market for" Lemons": Quality Uncertainty and the Market Mechanism. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 84(3), 488-500.
Armesh, H. (2010, April). Decision making. In Proceedings of the 12th International Business Research Conference, Melbourne, Australia (pp. 11-21).
Baron, J. (2004). Normative Models of Judgment and Decision Making. In D. J. Koehler & N. Harvey (Eds.), Blackwell Handbook of Judgment and Decision Making, pp. (Pre-publication version pp. 19-36).
Bennet Bennet, A., & Bennet, D. (2008). The Decision-Making Process for Complex Situations in a Complex Environment, First chapter in Burstein, F. and Holsapple, CW (Eds), Handbook on Decision Support Systems.
Jones, B. D. (1999). Bounded rationality. Annual review of political science, 2(1), 297-321.
Leoveanu, A. C. (2013). Rationalist model in public decision making. Journal of Public Administration, Finance and Law,(4), 43-54.
On Uncertainty:
Abbott, J. (2005). Understanding and managing the unknown: The nature of uncertainty in planning. Journal of Planning Education and Research, 24(3), 237-251.
Dequech, D. (2011). Uncertainty: a typology and refinements of existing concepts. Journal of economic issues, 45(3), 621-640. [
Walker, W. E., Harremoës, P., Rotmans, J., van der Sluijs, J. P., van Asselt, M. B., Janssen, P., & Krayer von Krauss, M. P. (2003). Defining uncertainty: a conceptual basis for uncertainty management in model-based decision support. Integrated assessment, 4(1), 5-17.
On Evaluation:
Bentivegna, V. (2015) About Design, Evaluations And Evaluators. Valori e Valutazioni, 15, 1-12.
European Commission, Budgets D. G. (2004). Evaluating EU Activities - a Practical Guide for the Commission Services.
European Commission, Development D.G. (2006) Indicative Guidelines on Evaluation Methods: Monitoring and Evaluation Indicators
Giorgi, L., & Tandon, A. (2000). The Theory and Practice of Evaluation ICCR (Interdisciplinary Centre for Comparative Research in the Social Sciences) Working Papers.
Hanberger, A. (2011). The real functions of evaluation and response systems. Evaluation, 17(4), 327-349.
Scriven, M. (2007). The logic of evaluation. In H.V. Hansen, et. al. (Eds), Dissensus and the Search for Common Ground, CD-ROM (pp. 1-16). Windsor, ON: OSSA.
Stufflebeam, D. L. (2001) Evaluation Models, New Directions For Evaluation, no. 89, Spring Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, 7-98
Stufflebeam, D. L., & Shinkfield, A. J. (2007). Evaluation theory, models, and applications. Shinkfield. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass
Tarsilla, M. (2009). Theorists' Theories of Evaluation: A Conversation with Jennifer Greene. Journal of MultiDisciplinary Evaluation, 6(13), 209-219.
On SWOT analysis:
Chang, H. H., & Huang, W. C. (2006). Application of a quantification SWOT analytical method. Mathematical and computer modelling, 43(1), 158-169.
On the Logical framework approach & Project Cycle Management:
European Commission, Development D.G. (2004) Project Cycle Management
Norad (1999) Logical Framework Approach: handbook for objectives-oriented planning
On the Evaluation of public and private efficiency:
Belli, P., Anderson, J., Barnum, H., Dixon, J., & Tan, J. P. (1998). Handbook on economic analysis of investment operations. The World Bank, Washington, DC.
Benhamou, F. (2003). Heritage. In Towse, R. (ed). A Handbook of Cultural Economics. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing, 2003, (No. HCE; 32), p. 255-262.
Howe K. & Ashcraft, C. (2005). Deliberative democratic evaluation: Successes and limitations of an evaluation of school choice. Teachers College Record, 107(10), 2274-2297.
Mason, R. (2002). Assessing values in conservation planning: methodological issues and choices. Assessing the values of cultural heritage, 5-30.
Milis, K., Snoeck, M., & Haesen, R. (2009). Evaluation of the applicability of investment appraisal techniques for assessing the business value of IS services.
Mourato, S., & Mazzanti, M. (2002). Economic valuation of cultural heritage: evidence and prospects. Assessing the values of cultural heritage, 51-76.
On the Evaluation of Architectural Heritage:
Pagiola, S. (1996). Economic analysis of investments in cultural heritage: Insights from environmental economics. World Bank, Washington, DC.
Throsby, D. (2002) Cultural Capital and Sustainability Concepts in the Economics of Cultural Heritage. Assessing the values of cultural heritage, 101-117.
On the Democratic Evaluation and Multi-Criteria Analysis:
Berni, M. (2015) Democratic evaluation of architectural heritage. Heritage and technology - mind knowledge Experience Le vie dei mercanti - XIII Forum internazionale di studi, 1765-1774.
Berni, M. (2015). Democratic Evaluation of Architectural Heritage Restoration and Conservation Projects. FABBRICA DELLA CONOSCENZA, Contemporary problems of architecture and construction – Proceedings of 7th International Conference, 669-672
Floc'hlay B., Plottu E. (1998). Democratic evaluation from empowerment evaluation to public decision-making, Evaluation, n. 4.3, pp. 261-277.
Hanberger A. (2006). Evaluation of and for Democracy. Evaluation, n. 12(1), pp. 17-37.
Plottu B., Plottu E. (2009). Approaches to Participation in Evaluation Some Conditions for Implementation. Evaluation, n. 15(3), pp.343-359.
UK Government (2009). Multi-criteria analysis: a manual.Department for Communities and Local Government.
Obiettivi Formativi
Training objectives:
The course aims to provide the student with the basic logic of the evaluation process, forming a technician equipped with the theoretical knowledge and the technical skills required to understand, control and design an evaluation process supporting the decision-making process of complex projects and urban plans according to European, national and regional regulation.
Learning Objectives:
The course aims to equip the student with:
• theoretical and methodological knowledge on evaluation as a cognitive process for the expression of judgements of value on the available alternatives according to scientific procedures;
• technical and operational skills needed to carry out economic evaluations suited to the different stages of the architectural project and urban plan.
In particular, the course provides:
• the basic concepts of evaluation as a scientific discipline;
• the characteristics of the decision-making process of the architectural project and urban plan;
• the main, most common, economic evaluation techniques typically used in evaluating the project at different stages and different scales (from the building to the city).
Prerequisiti
Fundamental concepts of economics
Metodi Didattici
The course consists of lectures which develop course issues including the principle of evaluation theory, the use of evaluation in the architectural project's (and urban plan's) decision-making process and the presentation of the main, most common evaluation techniques used in the architect's professional practice.
Modalità di verifica apprendimento
Exams are oral.
Students regularly attending the course have two possibilities:
1) an oral exam on all the topics addressed in the course (the powerpoint presentations of all the lectures are provided in digital form by the teacher);
2) students interested in deepening a specific topic can make a written report (theme and structure must be agreed in advance with the teacher) and present it orally, demonstrating sufficient knowledge of course contents.
Students not attending the course must agree on a bibliography (tailored according to their specific interests in evaluation) with the teacher and take an oral examination on it.
Programma del corso
The concept of evaluation and its definition as a scientific discipline;
Relativity of evaluation;
Reliability, correctness, and verifiability of evaluation;
Relationship between decision making and evaluation;
The decision-making process;
Main models of rational decision-making processes;
Meaning of architectural design from the decision-making point of view: project as a production plan and as a decision-making tool;
The collective and coordinated nature of the architectural project;
The complexity of the architectural project;
The problem of uncertainty and forecasting in Architectural project decision making;
Project and plan as decision-making tools;
Key features of the project actors;
The concept of coordination, hierarchic and collaborative coordination in public-private partnership;
Main problems of collaborative coordination and possible solutions;
Main roles of evaluation in the project's phases;
Criteria for project success;
Classifications of evaluations;
Main evaluation tools (with a special focus on their pros and cons):
− SWOT Analysis;
− Logical framework approach evaluating the project's relevance, internal coherence, and sustainability;
− Financial analysis to evaluate the project's private efficiency;
− Cost-benefit analysis to evaluate the project's public efficiency;
− Democratic evaluation and multi-criteria analysis.