“A methodological assessment of the importance of physical values in architectural conservation using Shannon entropy method”

Abstract

This paper investigates the typology of physical values in terms of architectural heritage conservation. In all scientific research on architectural heritage, one or more physical architectural values have been addressed as effective values in the conservation process. Considering the fact that architectural values play different roles in monuments, conservation measures are often prioritized based on the importance of values due to limitations and lack of sufficient resources. After identifying the values of the architectural heritage, relevant authorities and professionals can have an accurate understanding of what they want to lose or gain. This paper aims to identify all effective architectural values in the physical conservation process and to determine the importance of each value based on published literature. To find out the significance level of architectural values, this study implements the Shannon entropy weighting method, which is considered as part of a multiple decision-making process. The weight obtained by the entropy method indicates the amount of uncertainty in a continuous probability distribution. A total of 34 architectural values was identified by examining 188 papers. The snowball sampling method was used to select papers. As a conclusion, architectural values were classified based on Shannon weighting and their degrees of certainty on physical conservation. The highest and lowest certainty belonged to the values of building material and light, respectively, in the physical conservation.