A hybrid AHP-topsis approach for prioritizing intervention strategies in degraded urban neighborhoods: Evidence from three typologies in Tebessa (Algeria)

As urban degradation intensifies in Algerian cities, evidence-based intervention prioritization becomes increasingly necessary. This paper presents a hybrid Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) - the Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS)multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) framework prioritizing fourteen urban intervention mechanisms across three neighborhood typologies in Tebessa, Algeria. Thirty domain experts evaluated thirty-two deterioration indicators grouped into five categories-Real Estate (I_A), Physical/Structural (I_B), Urban (I_C), Environmental (I_D), and Economic/Social (I_E)-using a structured binary questionnaire. The AHP-derived weights identified Urban aspects (36.84%) as dominant (global CR = .0009), and the TOPSIS ranking, applied to a 14×5 geometric-mean-aggregated decision matrix, placed Urban reuse (CCi = .587), Restructuring (.550) and Urban requalification (.523) as top priorities. Reading this global ranking through typology-specific compatibility filters-rather than recomputing it for each context-identified protection as the most compatible mechanism for heritage neighborhoods, requalification and rehabilitation for standard degraded areas, and restructuring together with Urban reuse for marginal zones. Although limited by its reliance on expert judgement and the binary granularity of the instrument, the framework offers planners a transparent, reproducible, and transferable decision-support tool for resource allocation.