Locational Suitability for Residential Development in Kandy District: GIS Based Multi-Criteria Evaluation

Abstract

The research was carried out with the main objective of evaluating the locational suitability of the residential development in Kandy District using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) integrated Multi-Criteria Evaluation (MCE). Therefore, eight criteria, namely slope, landslide vulnerability, land use, population density, proximity to town centres, proximity to roads, proximity to schools, and proximity to hospitals were used to achieve this objective. Mainly secondary data were used for the study acquired from the Kandy District Secretariat, the National Building Research Organization (NBRO), the Provincial Department of Education Central Province, the Office of Regional Director of Health Services of Kandy and the Survey Department of Sri Lanka. The suitability maps were generated for individual criterion using Arc GIS 10.5 software. The weights for each map were assigned based on the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) method considering the recommendations of four experts of relevant fields. Finally, all the map layers integrated using weighted overlay analysis method and the suitability map was generated. According to the results of the analysis, 512 km2 of land extent is highly suitable while 666 km2 of area is suitable for residential development. In addition, another 390 km2 area could be identified as moderately suitable. On the other hand, 78 km2 and 260 km2 of areas are identified as unsuitable and extremely unsuitable for residential development respectively. Hence, the 82.2% of the total land area in Kandy District in suitable (26.8% highly, 34.9% generally and 20.5% moderately suitable) for residential development, and 17.8% of the area is not suitable (13.7% unsuitable and 4.1% extremely unsuitable). Therefore, it is important to consider the areas identified as highly suitable, suitable, moderately suitable, unsuitable and extremely unsuitable, through this study, when planning and developing the residential places for Kandy District to avoid and minimize the problems that occur through unplanned settlements.