Analysis Of Urban Land Suitability For Residential Housing Using Gis , Remote Sensing And Mca Technique: A Case Of Adama, Ethiopia.

Abstract

Adama is among the fast-growing towns in the country. One of the critical issues in urban planning for adama is the determination of appropriate residential locations for future urban growth in and around the town. Residential site selection requires considering a comprehensive set of factors and balancing of multiple objects, however the current approach was tedious and time consuming. the general objective of this study is to find the best locations for the residential housing scheme in Adama City using geospatial Technologies and models. Nine factors (Slope, Accessibility to road, Proximity to Railway, proximity to Drainage, Proximity to built-up, Land-uses/land-cover, Recreation Area, Health Care, Water Supply) were identified for criteria evaluation. The thematic maps of these criteria were prepared and standardized using pair wise comparison matrix known as Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP). A weight for each criterion was given by comparing them with each other according to their importance, the consistence of comparing matrix were checked by calculating the consistence ratio (CR). The consistency ratio of this study indicated that 0.06 which is less than 0.1. Thus, consistent matrix was formed which was acceptable in order to combine all the layers. Then, with the help of these weights all maps layer were integrated and overlaid for the generation of final site suitability map for future residential housing development. The final site suitability map was reclassified to five suitability classes. In addition a model tool was developed to automate and simplify the suitability analysis process. The findings of this study revealed that from the total area 12.91% area is very highly suitable, 8.14% area is highly suitable, 11.80% area is moderately suitable, 6.72% area is less suitable, and 60.43.264% area is unsuitable for Residential Housing. This result shows that the area selected as highly suitable and moderately suitable for future urban development are open area, agricultural land, shrub and bush, areas having flat slope. This study allows the planners to use automated model tool for preparing the appropriate plans of residential housing of adamacity