Wind energy is a renewable energy resource that has increased in usage in most countries. Site selection for the establishment of large wind turbines, called wind farms, like any other engineering project, requires basic information and careful planning. This study assessed the possibility of establishing wind farms in Ardabil province in northwestern Iran by using a combination of analytic network process (ANP) and decision making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) methods in a geographical information system (GIS) environment. DEMATEL was used to determine the criteria relationships. The weights of the criteria were determined using ANP and the overlaying process was done on GIS. Using 13 information layers in three main criteria including environmental, technical and economical, the land suitability map was produced and reclassified into 5 equally scored divisions from least suitable to most suitable areas. The results showed that about 6.68% of the area of Ardabil province is most suitable for establishment of wind turbines. Sensitivity analysis shows that significant portions of these most suitable zones coincide with suitable divisions of the input layers. The efficiency and accuracy of the hybrid model (ANP-DEMATEL) was evaluated and the results were compared to the ANP model. The sensitivity analysis, map classification, and factor weights for the two methods showed satisfactory results for the ANP-DEMATEL model in wind power plant site selection.

Abstract. Urban blight issues have transformed over time. Today, the focus is on the social context and such services as recreation and leisure. Considering that the insufficiency of leisure spaces in blighted urban neighbourhoods gives rise to social and cultural problems in Tehran, this research aims to identify the best leisure space in a blighted urban site. The selection process uses the combination of a new hybrid MCDM model and GIS. The integration of GIS and MCDM makes a powerful tool for the selection of the best leisure space in a site because GIS provides efficient manipulation, analysis and presentation of spatial data while MCDM supplies consistent weight of sub-criteria and criteria. The results show the interrelations between dimensions and criteria, also influential priorities and the most important sequences of those. Afterward, this study employs DANP to obtain the weight of each criterion and select a site for leisure using GIS, based on INRM from the DEMATEL method.Keywords: leisure space, urban blight, hybrid multiple criteria decision making (HMCDM), influential network relation map (INRM), geographic information system (GIS).JEL Classification: C02, C44, C61, C88, O18, O21, O35, R14.

Flood spreading is a suitable strategy for controlling and benefiting from floods. Selecting suitable areas for flood spreading and directing the floodwater into permeable formations are amongst the most effective strategies in flood spreading projects. Having combined geographic information systems (GIS) and multi-criteria decision analysis approaches, the present study sought to locate the most suitable areas for flood spreading operation in the Garabaygan Basin of Iran. To this end, the data layers relating to the eight effective factors were prepared in GIS environment. This stage was followed by elimination of the exclusionary areas for flood spreading while determining the potentially suitable ones. Having closely examined the potentially suitable areas using the Preference Ranking Organization Method for Enrichment Evaluations (PROMETHEE) II and analytic hierarchy process (AHP) methods, the land suitability map for flood spreading was produced. The PROMETHEE II and AHP were used for ranking all the alternatives and weighting the criteria involved, respectively. The results of the study showed that most suitable areas for the artificial groundwater recharge are located in Quaternary Q(g) and Q(gsc) geologic units and in geomorphological units of pediment and Alluvial fans with slopes not exceeding 3%. Furthermore, significant correspondence between the produced map and the control areas, where the flood spreading projects were successfully performed, provided further evidence for the acceptable efficiency of the integrated PROMETHEE II-AHP method in locating suitable flood spreading areas.

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