A comprehensive literature review on the decision criteria for adaptive reuse throughout the AR process

The average lifetime of a building is only 39 years, with the most common reason for building demolition being functional obsolescence. At the same time buildings worldwide account for 40 percent of the world’s waste, 40 percent of material resource use and 33 percent of all human induced emissions. To cope with these environmental impacts and to extend the functional lifetime of buildings, adaptive reuse has become a well-established strategy in the field of architecture and the built environment. The decision-making process in adaptive reuse projects is often complex, due to the many stakeholders, and decision criteria involved. Multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) models have become increasingly popular in recent years for the evaluation of adaptive reuse projects, as they provide a structured approach to assess and compare alternative solutions, taking into account these multiple criteria. There is however no clear consensus on the decision criteria and the decision support tool when it comes to adaptive reuse. Many publications on decision making in adaptive reuse have focussed on specific areas of application within the AR process, but few have considered the full process as a whole. The lack of consensus on the decision criteria used for adaptive reuse, and the need to holistically approach the AR process as a whole, based on the different phases, provides a knowledge gap for this paper. An integrative literature review on the decision criteria for adaptive reuse was conducted using a systematic search approach. An comparative analysis was performed to find relationships and contrasts between decision criteria for adaptive reuse. Based on this analysis multiple lists of decision criteria for adaptive reuse were constructed, for the four main phases of the AR process (Pre-project, preparation, implementation, and post-completion phases). The findings of this paper contribute to the growing literature on Multi Criteria Decision Making for adaptive reuse by synthesizing the decision criteria according to the four phases of the AR process. Through this literature review, a further comprehension is provided on the decision criteria for adaptive reuse throughout the AR process, that can help stakeholders of adaptive reuse projects in structuring their decision making process.