APPLYING THE ANALYTICAL NETWORK PROCESS TO IDENTIFY NEW RETAIL SCENARIOS IN THE PROVINCE OF TRENTO (ITALY)

In the Italian Trentino area, the spatial planning institutional context is continuously evolving, especially in the field of retail planning tools. New emerging concepts and processes related to ex-ante evaluation of new retail settlements are highlighted in the regional decision process named Territorial integrated evaluation (Tie). This envisages a framework of criteria, strategies and action for the design of retail policies that can support the institutional innovation process of the Valley communities. Starting from this theoretical framework, this paper aims to illustrate a novel application of the Analytic Network Process (ANP) in the field of spatial planning with the purpose of investigating the interrelations between retail components and spatial development retail scenarios within the Province of Trento (Italy). Although the ANP model was tested on the main municipalities of the Trentino area (Trento, Rovereto, Riva del Garda, Pergine Valsugana and Arco), this study presents the Rovereto case study. The results obtained assist in the development of the operational evaluation system, that is easy to replicate to other spatial scenarios and that can support the policy makers in a participative process.