Analysis of Locational Suitability for Residential Development in Colombo Sub Urban Area: Application of Analytic Hierarchy Process

Abstract

Urbanization is a continuous process and it results in attracting people to urban areas for better living. As a result demand for residential land is prominent in the surroundings of cities and urban sprawl is a common phenomenon that exists in most developed and developing countries. Therefore cities face with the most challengeable task of providing land with better infrastructure to fulfill this demand. In this case situation of developing countries is more aggravated due to the lack of proper planning regulations and economic inefficiency. This is a common phenomenon in the city of Colombo which is the commercial capital of Sri Lanka. It is still developing and gradually residential demand pressure is being exerted on surrounding urban areas. Planning regulations are not strong enough to avoid negative consequences of urban sprawl. Therefore most of the residential areas are unable to meet better living conditions. Therefore identification of suitable land for residential development is the most important task in planning and it is observed that present zoning regulations cannot fulfill this requirement. Selection of suitable land for residential purposes is a complex process in multifunctional pattern of urban areas and a scientific approach has been used for that. Geographic Information System (GIS) is a powerful tool that can be used to analyze spatial data and its sophisticated analysis functionalities with multi criteria evaluation provide a better approach for suitability analysis. This paper aims to do a suitability analysis to identify possible locations for residential development in the Colombo Urban Area. GIS with Multi-criteria Evaluation (MCE) is used to analyze data. The process of land suitability analysis involved evaluation and grouping of specific areas of land in terms of their suitability for a defined use. Integrated GIS and MCE process add some valuable insight to a strong analysis platform for finding suitable residential locations. This research aims to demarcate suitable areas for residential development using the above techniques. The scientific classification used is in line with the zoning plan of the study area and it can be used as a guide map to the zoning plan of the study area