Analytical Hierarchy Process coupled with GIS for land management purposes: A decision-making application

Abstract

This paper discusses the practical adaptation of a land-use planning methodology in Switzerland as a result of a combined usage of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and a multiple criteria decision analysis (MCDA) method. The two approaches were integrated in order to help land managers to incorporate the impact of two land-use laws voted by citizens in 2012 and 2013 respectively. The direct democratic system in Switzerland allows citizens to participate actively in the decision-making processes in different fields of interest. In 2012 Swiss people voted in favor of limiting the construction of second homes, this initiative had as slogan "Ending the invasive construction of second homes". The purpose of the initiative is to protect citizens, heritage and the nature as well as the creation and maintenance of cities, habitats and liveable landscapes. According to the initiative, second homes cannot exceed 20 percent of the total community housing of a municipality. Currently this initiative is a federal law adopted by the national council and must be applied by all municipalities. Nevertheless, decision makers (DM) were not provided of an established methodology to determine and justify their choices before the citizens. Furthermore in 2013 Swiss citizens voted for another law on land-use which aims at limiting the size of the areas that will be built. According to this new rule building permit grants will be based on the foreseeable needs for the next fifteen years. In this context municipalities need to make decisions regarding two opposite objectives: How to respect environmental criteria while keeping in mind social-economic issues. Another important question arises: which are the most suitable areas that meet the new legal requirements? These most suitable areas will be freed up at the end of the process.

From Traditional to Electrified Urban Road Networks: The Integration of Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process and GIS as a Tool to Define a Feasibility Index—An Italian Case Study

“…Therefore, an MC-SDSS is potentially an optimal method to support long-term integrated planning for sustainable development [11], without replacing the role of the decision maker [12]. It is clearly confirmed by several examples of MC-SDSS that can be found in the available scientific literature [11][12][13][14][15][16].…”