Land suitability evaluation for urban developmentusing remote sensing and Fuzzy-AHP in Karaj, Iran

The unbridled growth of urban areas has posed severe threats to cities worldwide. This studyaims to determine the potential land for further development in Karaj as a metropolitancurrently experiencing increasing unplanned and sprawl growth. The fuzzy AnalyticalHierarchy Process (AHP), as a prevalent and practical approach of decision making, wasused among the experts to decide on the importance of the criteria utilized in this study.Remote sensing techniques and GIS-based calculations were applied to prepare spatial datafor suitability evaluation. The weights of the criteria derived from the fuzzy AHP method andsoftware-based analyzes were integrated to produce the suitability map of Karaj. Resultsshow that Karaj still has reliable opportunities for internal development and can avoidexceeding its approved and official boundaries. As the suitability map represents, the mostsuitable lands are primarily located in the north the of city exclusion, precisely on thesouthern slopes of the Alborz mountains, and in some untouched areas situated in thecentral parts of the existing city.

Keywords:

Land Suitability , Urban Development , Fuzzy Analytical Hierarchy Process , RemoteSensing