Designation of Use in Industrial Heritage Adaptive Reuse by Using the Analytical Hierarchy Process Method

The widespread prevalence of adaptive reuse of industrial heritage in recent years highlights an urgent need for a thorough review to clarify and justify the proposed uses, policies, and methods applied. The rapid transformation of contemporary society, accelerated urbanization, and inadequate support for industrial buildings seriously threaten these important relics of recent heritage. Adaptive reuse of industrial structures, which often appear neglected and purposeless without new functionality, is an effective strategy for preserving and revitalizing industrial sites, offering numerous environmental, economic, and social advantages. Although adaptive reuse approaches are commonly viewed with optimism and considered successful, some projects have not achieved the desired outcomes. Until now, no systematic review has addressed which factors, criteria, and methods are effective and necessary in determining successful reuse. This article addresses this gap by exploring the central question: What are the criteria, influential characteristics, and effective methods for designating adaptive reuse in industrial heritage projects? To this end, the article will first present a comprehensive review of definitions, contexts, approaches, criteria, and impactful characteristics, informed by evaluating international theories and documents. It then introduces effective methods for determining suitable reuse applications for industrial heritage, focusing on the multi-criteria decision-making method. The results indicate that emphasizing economic, social, environmental, and cultural criteria—identified as the most prevalent factors in scholarly studies—is essential to establishing successful adaptive reuse for industrial heritage