A Multi-Criteria Analysis (MCA) for the territorial reorganization of the school network in a Tuscan inland area

A number of reasons arising from the need to reduce public spending are increasingly calling for a rationalization of the territorial distribution of public services. As far as the reorganization of the school network is concerned, this process is usually handled in an empirical way, through the opposition between public decision makers, who suggest to make dimensional thresholds (normally “adjusted” in the case of lower density areas) more binding, and local communities, which vigorously defend the status quo, generally resulting from past decisions taken on the basis of context-related characteristics that are very different from a financial, as well as a demographic and technological viewpoint.

The present paper draws on data relating to the localization of education supply and demand in an inland area of Tuscany, so as to test the use of multi-criteria techniques and provide a more rational and transparent foundation to the debate on the spatial reorganization of public services.

The present contribution is instrumental in furthering the studies in the IRPET research area addressing inland territories.