Analysis of Life Quality in a Tropical Mountain City Using a Multi-Criteria Geospatial Technique: A Case Study of Kandy City, Sri Lanka

Abstract

The blooming of urban expansion has led to the improvement of urban life, but some of the negative externalities have affected the life quality of urban dwellers, both directly and indirectly. As a result of this, research related to the quality of life has gained much attention among multidisciplinary researchers around the world. A number of attempts have been made by previous researchers to identify, assess, quantify, and map quality of life or well-being under various kinds of perspectives. The objectives of this research were to create a life quality index (LQI) and identify the spatial distribution pattern of LQI in Kandy City, Sri Lanka. Multiple factors were decomposed, a hierarchy was constructed by the multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) method, and 13 factors were selected under two main criteria—environmental and socioeconomic. Pairwise comparison matrices were created, and the weight of each factor was determined by the analytic hierarchy process (AHP). Finally, gradient analysis was employed to examine the spatial distribution pattern of LQI from the city center to the periphery. The results show that socioeconomic factors affect the quality of life more strongly than environmental factors, and the most significant factor is transportation. The highest life quality zones (26% of the total area) were distributed around the city center, while the lowest zones represented only 9% of the whole area. As shown in the gradient analysis, more than 50% of the land in the first five kilometers from the city center comes under the highest life quality zone. This research will provide guidance for the residents and respective administrative bodies to make Kandy City a livable city. It the constructed model can be applied to any geographical area by conducting necessary data calibration.

The Use of New Techniques in Spatial Modeling and Analysis of Urban Quality of Life: Multiple-Criteria Decision Analysis and Gis

“…Surveys based on GIS have been experimentally demonstrated to predict service quality. We support this suggestion for these indicators are reliable, as we can see this from the good studies in the QoUL, (Dissanayake et al, 2020). The aim of the research was to develop indicators of QoL.…”

“…In recent times, the use of computational models, tools and indicators has witnessed a sudden increase in assessing QoL at the neighborhood level. AARP livelihood index (AARP-AARP public policy institute, 2018), QoL assessment indicators (Dehimi and Hadjab, 2019) index (intelligence, 2015), livable city index (Onnom et al, 2018) indicator (Mittal et al, 2020) (quality of life index (LQI)) QoL index (Dissanayake et al, 2020) to name but a few. QoL is an interdisciplinary field where sociologists, psychologists, socio-geographers, and economists attempt to assess living conditions objectively and subjectively on the basis of available data, whether objective or subjective (Domin et al, 2010;Merschdorf et al, 2020;Mittal et al, 2020;Abd el karim and Awawdeh, 2020 ;Garau and Pavan, 2018 ;Dissanayake et al, 2020) in recent years there has been a lot of interest in the QOL issue in the field of geography however, it is difficult to find an agreed definition or measure it, and the reason for the difference in the approaches and goals of scholars (Ištok and Martin, 2012.…”

Spatiotemporal Variation of Urban Heat Islands for Implementing Nature-Based Solutions: A Case Study of Kurunegala, Sri Lanka

“…In Sri Lanka, most of the past UHI studies focused on the cities which are located in diverse geographical zones including coastal cities (e.g., Colombo [12,19,52] and Galle [53]) and mountain cities (e.g., Kandy, and Nuwara Eliya [9,15,54,55]). The findings of these previous studies provide sufficient information to understand the UHI pattern and to enhance remedial measures to control the negative impacts associated with UHI.…”

An Approach to Delineate Potential Groundwater Zones in Kilinochchi District, Sri Lanka, Using GIS Techniques

“…The AHP is a concept of measurement by pair-wise comparison matrix (PCM) and is based on the judgment of experts to derive priority weights [26]. The worldwide academic network progressed the integrated GIS and AHP technique to investigate complex spatial issues [1,9,11,12,15,26,29]. PCM for thematic layer viz.…”