The revitalization of endangered heritage buildings in developing countries: A Decision-making framework for investment and determining highest and best use in Egypt

Egypt's major cities, especially Alexandria and Cairo, have been losing heritage and historical buildings due to neglect and misuse, prompting non-governmental organizations, academic institutions, and researchers to advocate for adaptive reuse strategies to preserve the cities' heritage and identity. Adaptive reuse involves changing, modifying, or repurposing an existing space based on multiple factors, such as community needs, the business model, location, and proximity to facilities and services. This study identifies the benefits and methodology of investing in heritage buildings and the factors that help investors decide on project function, type, scale, and category. Investing in heritage buildings has many tangible and non-tangible benefits, many of which can be debated on relevance and priority, but what is certain is that they all contribute significantly to the financial return for such projects, making them challenging yet feasible and attractive for investors with a vision and appreciation of the value introduced by authenticity, uniqueness, and sustainability. Also, the basis of asset evaluation in terms of the above factors and how it could be achieved based on different analyses on different levels, such as understanding market value, old and current property prices and sales, market demand and direction, specific acquisition opportunities, target clients, age groups, and socioeconomic status, This paper addresses Egyptian case studies, identifies stakeholder roles, and concludes with establishing development guidelines and decision-making parameters that significantly influence architectural project design and functions in buildings, creating the ideal mixed-use development.
The findings of this research are guidelines for the investment in heritage buildings and a developed framework for the decision-making process that assists different stakeholders in determining the highest and best use for adaptive reuse projects in downtown areas in Egypt in particular and in developing countries in general, as such a framework was intended to be generalized in order to potentially be implemented in different settings.

The data provided in this dataset includes:
- All figures seen in the research paper
- Detailed data from the case studies (Avierino, Little Venice, and Ouzonnian building) such as drawings and photos from before and after development
- Maps and their sources (Photoshop) of the downtown areas of the major cities of Alexandria and Cairo
- Axonometric diagrams for the 3 case studies and their source (pptx)

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