Conserving Urban Heritage for Tourism Development: Addressing the Constraints Affecting Urban Heritage Sites Conservation Using FAHP Approach

Abstract

This study aims to identify, analyze, and prioritize the key constraints affecting the conservation and management of urban heritage sites in Saudi Arabia while evaluating viable solutions to address these challenges. Although previous research has acknowledged these constraints, comprehensive prioritization of their impact and systematic evaluation of alternative strategies remain limited. To address this gap, the study adopts an expert-driven approach and employs the Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (FAHP) to assess the relative importance of seven critical constraints and five potential solutions. The findings reveal that lack of awareness and appreciation (LAA) (27%) is the most significant constraint, followed by an inadequate legal framework (ILF) (23%) and a lack of professional expertise (LPE) (20%). Rapid development and urbanization (RDU) (4%) and insufficient funding and resources (IFR) (2%) rank lowest. Among the proposed solutions, improving legislation and enforcement (ILE) (37.7%) emerged as the most effective strategy, followed by raising public awareness (RPA) (24.1%) and fostering partnerships (FP) (19.6%), while allocating adequate resources (AAR) (3.5%) was deemed least influential. Based on these results, the study proposes a final FAHP-based decision-making framework for enhancing heritage conservation in Saudi Arabia. This framework integrates expert judgment with fuzzy logic to systematically prioritize challenges and align them with the most impactful interventions. It provides policymakers, planners, and heritage professionals with a structured tool for developing targeted, data-informed strategies that promote the sustainable preservation and revitalization of urban heritage sites. In doing so, the framework also supports heritage tourism and aligns with national development goals.