Framework for Computing a Performance Index for Urban Infrastructure Systems Using a Fuzzy Set Approach
Publication: Journal of Infrastructure Systems
Volume 17, Issue 4
Abstract
This paper presents a framework for characterizing, analyzing, and computing the performance of urban infrastructure systems. The framework is based on a systems approach and consists of performance indicators classified into three hierarchical levels: indicators, dimensions, and categories. A fuzzy synthetic evaluation technique has been developed to synthesize performance indicators into an index that ranges between 0 and 100. The performance of an individual infrastructure system, in the form of an index, is generated by aggregating the performance indicators in the first three hierarchical levels. The overall performance of the urban infrastructure systems is then obtained by combining the indexes of individual infrastructure systems. The relative importance of the performance indicators during the synthesis process is determined using the analytic hierarchy process technique. The framework demonstrates and measures the performance of the civil infrastructure systems in Kathmandu, Nepal. This framework can be applied to performance analysis of any infrastructure system in an urban area. It enables decision makers to identify the weak and strong components of urban infrastructure systems and to formulate appropriate strategies for infrastructure planning on the basis of performance and investment costs.
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Acknowledgments
The writers would like to acknowledge the financial support of the Delft Cluster, Delft, and SWITCH project UNESCO-IHE, Delft, The Netherlands, that enabled this research to be conducted. The writers acknowledge the constructive critiques and contribution of the three anonymous reviewers and, most important, the coeditor of this journal. The writers are also indebted to Shreedhar Maskey for his early contribution to some parts of this paper.
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© 2011 American Society of Civil Engineers.
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Received: Feb 7, 2009
Accepted: Apr 22, 2011
Published online: Apr 25, 2011
Published in print: Dec 1, 2011
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