O. Gervasi et al. (Eds.): ICCSA 2008, Part I, LNCS 5072, pp. 137–152, 2008. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2008 A Multivariate Fuzzy Analysis for the Regeneration of Urban Poverty Areas* Paola Perchinunno 1 , Francesco Rotondo 2 , and Carmelo Maria Torre 2 1 Department of Statistical Science, University of Bari, Via C. Rosalba 53, 70100 Bari, Italy p.perchinunno@dss.uniba.it 2 Department of Architecture and Urban Planning, Polytechnic of Bari, via Orabona 4, 70125 Bari, Italy f.rotondo@poliba.it, torre@poliba.it Abstract. Urban poverty, specially in the metropolitan areas, represent one of the most relevant problems to both developed and developing countries. The objective of the present work is to identify, based on statistical data, territorial zones characterized by the presence of urban poverty, related to property own- ership and the availability of residential services. With this problem in mind, there is an attempt to apply a Total Fuzzy and Relative (TFR) approach, based on a fuzzy measure of the degree of association of an individual to the totality of the poor and an approach of Semantic Distance (multicriteria analysis), based on the definition of a “fuzzy distance” as a discriminating multidimensional reference to urban poverty, in the specific case of the City of Bari. Keywords: fuzzy, semantic distance, multicriteria analysis, urban poverty, urban regeneration. 1 Fundamental Aspects of Urban Poverty Urban poverty and management of the metropolitan area generally represent major problems for both developed and developing countries [1]. Since the end of the 1970s, numerous studies have been based on a variety of approaches, each of which adopting an attentive definition and conceptualization of the phenomena. An interest- ing reflection is offered by Bayliss [2], who in certain urban contexts identified a significantly descriptive linear relationship between pro-capita income, the structure of families, working conditions and the value of residential properties. Townsend [3], defines those families as in poverty that “lack the resources for a quality of alimenta- tion, participation in activities and enjoyment of the living conditions which are standard, or at least widely accepted, in the society in which they are living”. The reference is, therefore, towards a concept of poverty as relative privation, which takes into account the particular historical, economic, social, geographical, cultural and institutional context under examination. Within this study, twelve principal * The contribution is the result of joint reflections by the authors, with the following contribu- tions attributed to P. Perchinunno (chapter 2), to F. Rotondo (chapters 1 and 4) and to C. M. Torre. (chapter 3).