GIS-based multi‐criteria analysis for sustainable urban green spaces planning in emerging towns of Ethiopia: the case of Sululta town

Abstract

Background Urban green spaces are important components, contributing in different ways to the quality of human well-being. In the planning and management of urban centres, attention to the appropriate site selection of urban green spaces with regard to the importance that these spaces have from the perspectives of ecology, socioeconomic, mentality, etc., is an inevitable requirement. In present decades, land suitability mapping methods and GIS have been used to support urban green space planners in developed countries; however, its application and practices are limited in developing countries, like Ethiopia. Therefore, the aim of this study has to select potential sites for green spaces in Sululta town that assist an effective planning process of green areas in a sustainable way. Methods In this study, GIS-based Multi-criteria analysis (MCA) has been adopted to select suitable sites for urban green spaces. Existing land use, proximity to settlement, road and water body, population density, land ownership, topography, and scenic attractiveness were recognized as the key factor affecting urban green land suitability. Results The results showed that 13.6%, 34%, 28%, and 18.9% of the study area are highly suitable, suitable, moderately suitable, and poorly suitable, respectively, for urban green spaces development. Furthermore, out of the total area of the study town 5.5% of the landmass is not suitable for urban green spaces development. Conclusions Therefore, the application of GIS-based MCA has provided an effective methodology to solve a complex decisional problem in urban green spaces site selection in the study town and urban planning all over the country.

GIS-Based Multi-Criteria Analysis for Selecting Suitable Areas for Urban Green Spaces in Abomey-Calavi District, Southern Benin

“…-Standards related to the installation of green spaces to optimise their ecosystem services and minimise their negative impacts on the environment [24]. This information was obtained from the literature review and refers to spatial data.…”

“…Various studies have been carried out on identifying suitable sites for green spaces, combining environmental and social factors in the hierarchical multi-criteria analysis process [21,24,27]. In such an approach, the number of factors and the resulting criteria vary according to the theme and the study area [28].…”

Towards a spatio‐temporal multicriteria evaluation method: A suitability analysis of residential units in a 3D urban environment

“…Spatial multicriteria evaluation (MCE) methods have been applied to address a wide variety of spatial decision‐making problems using geospatial data and geographic information systems (GIS) (Malczewski & Jankowski, 2020). In an urban context, MCE methods have been used extensively for site selection or the determination of suitable areas for developing a particular facility or space such as new urban parks and greenspaces (Gelan, 2021); health care facilities (Caprioli & Bottero, 2021); rail lines (Saat & Aguilar Serrano, 2015); and for urban planning (Nikoloudis et al, 2020; Vukicevic & Nedovic‐Budic, 2012). GIS‐based MCE has also been used to support risk management and emergency planning through the analysis and identification of urban areas prone to flooding (Kandilioti & Makropoulos, 2012), landslides (Dragićević et al, 2015), earthquakes (Skilodimou et al, 2019), and the disparate impact of such natural hazards on socioeconomic populations of varying vulnerability (Fernandez et al, 2016).…”

A Gis-Based Analysis for Ecotourism Suitability in a Geological Complex Area of Charpathians

“…Multi-criteria analysis present in our research is a largely used tool for finding suitable locations. It has been applied in various fields, such as urban green spaces planning (Gelan, 2021), industrial site selection (Rikalovic et al, 2014), landfill site selection (Abujayyab et al, 2017), public school site selection (Prasetyo, 2018). Tourism and, specifically, ecotourism activities and development can be planned based on multi-criteria evaluation in GIS.…”