An Integrative Decision-Making Framework for Sustainable Urban Water Governance: The Case of Yerevan City

Sustainable urban water governance in rapidly transforming cities requires integrative decision-making frameworks capable of balancing social equity, economic efficiency, and environmental resilience. This study develops an Integrative Decision-Making Framework (IDMF) for optimizing urban water policy in Yerevan, Armenia, built upon AI- and GIS-assisted diagnostics and incorporating a Governance Readiness Index (GRI) together with spatial hotspot overlay analysis. The framework employs an AHP–TOPSIS multi-criteria structure to evaluate five policy alternatives—leakage reduction, demand-side management, decentralized reuse, green–blue infrastructure, and data-driven governance—based on normalized quantitative indicators across social, economic, and ecological domains. Results show that Leakage Reduction (A1) and Data-Driven Governance (A5) consistently rank as the top-performing strategies across both baseline and sensitivity scenarios, while equity-prioritized weightings enhance social outcomes without significantly compromising economic performance. The approach also demonstrates robustness under ±10–20% weight variations. Acknowledging limitations related to data availability and expert-based judgments, the study outlines the minimum governance and data-readiness conditions required for transferability. The IDMF thus advances decision-support science in urban water management by integrating governance feasibility with spatial diagnostics and provides adaptable guidance for mid-income cities facing institutional and environmental constraints.