Combining a Multi-Objective Approach and Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis to Include the Socio-Economic Dimension in an Air Quality Management Problem

Due to some harmful effects on humans and the environment, particulate matter (PM) has
recently become among the most studied atmospheric pollutants. Given the growing sensitivity to the
problem and, since production and accumulation phenomena involving both primary and secondary
PM10 fractions are complex and non-linear, environmental authorities need tools to assess their plans
designed to improve the air quality as requested from environmental laws. Multi-criteria decision
analysis (MCDA) can be applied to support decision makers, by processing quantitative opinions
provided by pools of experts, especially when different views on social aspects should be considered.
The results obtained through this approach, however, can be highly dependent on the subjectivity of
experts. To partially overcome these challenges, this paper suggests a two-step methodology in which
an MCDA is fed with the solution of a multi-objective analysis (MOA). The methodology has been
applied to a test case in northern Italy and the results show that this approach is a viable solution for
the inclusion of subjective criteria in decision making, while reducing the impact of uncertain expert
opinions for data that can be computed through the MOA.