Site suitability analysis for green space development of Pendik district (Turkey)

Abstract

Urban green amenities provide many environmental and social benefits that are important for urban landscapes, natural ecosystems and their services. Amenity-led development is at the centre of local policies and regional growth strategies in that it reduces the impacts of rapid urbanisation on environment and society. Therefore, planners and policy makers often seek to optimise benefits of urban green spaces through developing programmes and strategies for the green amenity-oriented development in different urban areas and regions. Land suitability analysis is a widely utilised methodology that can help to establish strategies for the development of urban green land. This paper follows an integrated approach for the suitability analysis of urban green land development through integrating fuzzy set model and analytical hierarchical process (AHP) with the GIS-based multi-criteria decision making process. Pendik district in Istanbul (Turkey) was selected for the case study. Geophysical factors, accessibility, blue and green amenities, residential centres, agricultural suitability, and land use/cover of the study area were recognised as the key factors affecting urban green land suitability. The results showed that most of the sites fall within marginal and low suitability class. About 25 % of the area was low suitable for green land development and 9 % was highly suitable. Land in the southern part of Pendik had higher suitability while northern region resulted in lower suitability. With a better understanding of potential sites that are suitable for urban green development, this study is fruitful for optimising land use planning and decision support.