Comparative Analysis of Ahp and Swara Methods for Prioritizing Conservation Projects Supported by Heritage Funds: a Case Study From Turkey

Abstract

Effective budget allocation and financial management are vital for preserving cultural heritage, particularly in countries with limited resources. This study focuses on Turkey's Contribution to the Conservation of Built Heritage (CCBH) fund, which supports heritage preservation through government funding. Despite the fund's importance, a structured method for prioritizing project applications is lacking. This research proposes a decision-making framework for assessing and ranking conservation funding requests using Multiple-Criteria Decision-Making (MCDM) methods. The study applies and compares the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and the Step-Wise Weight Assessment Ratio Analysis (SWARA) to assign weights to assessment criteria. The findings demonstrate that SWARA provides a more efficient and practical approach to prioritizing conservation projects. The proposed framework aims to assist decision-makers and conservation practitioners in optimizing the allocation of funds to safeguard cultural heritage effectively. (c) 2025 The Authors. Published by IASE. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).