The design and applications of GIS-based multi-criteria decision making for participatory spatial planning

Abstract

Since Geographic Information Systems (GISs) have been frequently employed in many realms in these years, studies on GIS-based spatial planning and decision has become more and more important nowadays. In Section 1, a short review is given to the applications of GIS in urban and regional planning. In Section 2, a participatory spatial planning based on GIS is introduced. Section 3 is a case study of Yibin City, Sichuan Province, which is the pilot study of National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC). The section is composed of the following five aspects: (a) Introduction of the study area, (b) The formal process of spatial decision, (c) The selection of evaluation criteria, (d) The construction of decision models, (e) The realization of public participation. Section 4 is the last section, the conclusion is put forward and a deep discussion on some existing problems during the research is proposed. THE APPLICATIONS OF GIS IN URBAN AND REGIONAL PLANNINGGeographical Information System (GIS) has a development history of more than forty years, which has been successfully applied in urban planning. GIS is a novel technology which can store, manage, process and analyze spatial data by geographical locations. Substantially, GIS is an open system and has many advantages: (a) store and manage different kinds of data conveniently; (b) has powerful modeling ability, and can integrate several new technologies such as cellular automat (CA), virtual reality (VR), multi-agent simulation (MAS), to simulate different planning scenarios for technology support of the transform of planning from 'instinct experiences' to 'logical demonstration'; (c) integrate many mathematical models used in planning through built-in macro languages or visual programming languages.Geographical information technologies represented by GIS and RS have been applied in planning more and more frequently and the application of GIS in urban and regional planning has been deeper 1 . In the 1980s of last century, with GIS and RS carrying out quantitative analysis, some experts finished the general planning of about ten cities 2 . After the 1990s, many cities succeed in building their planning management information systems 3 . Nowadays, the constructions of 'Digital Cities' have become very prevalent. GIS-BASED PARTICIPATORY SPATIAL PLANNINGThe general functions of GIS such as data management, visualization, spatial analysis and modeling are more and more powerful recently, but an important aspect is always neglected, that is, the impact to the planning process. A significant application of GIS is to resolve regional issues and to act as decision-making tools. In this process, GIS evaluates the alternatives by the public decision to improve the possibility of agreement 4 , which shows the planning thought has changed from simple engineering technologies to humanism concern 5 , and applies public participation into the planning itself directly or indirectly. The introduction of new technologies makes the main value of decision-making be perpetual informatio...