An integrated infrastructure prioritization model: Case study of tripoli, lebanon

Abstract

This paper introduces a novel non-linear weighting model to evaluate the different aspects of infrastructure. In this regard, three approaches are presented to compute the percents of infrastructure indicators, namely analytical hierarchy process, Shannon entropy and fuzzy set theory. A unified weighting model is then proposed to aggregate the weighting vectors obtained from the three approaches. The developed model is designed to model the feedback of the experts, actual condition of the infrastructure and encountered uncertainties. Results highlighted that water has the highest relative importance with 52.65% followed by electricity with 34.12% while telecommunication has the least relative importance with 2.69%. To apply a more practical sense to the proposed framework, a sample assessment of the Lebanese city of Tripoli’s civil infrastructure was carried out in this paper. The developed model is expected to support planners and policymakers with a platform that enables them to efficiently evaluate the infrastructure’s condition.