GIS-MCE based suitability analysis for sustainable estate development in Ede North LGA Osun State, Nigeria

Abstract

Ideal areas for housing developments that are, for the most part, sustainable, present critical issues in the planning and development of eco-friendly urban settlements. With this in mind and explicitly, Ede North LGA of Osun state was chosen as the case study where a methodological framework for a land suitability analysis was adopted to identify suitable lands for real estate development with sustainability as a focus in the realization of global UN goals. This present study falls within the framework of the Multi-Criteria Evaluation (MCE) analysis, which can be integrated into Geographic Information Systems (GIS) together with the Analytic Hierarchical Process (AHP), useful for decision making in site selection studies. For this purpose, computed relative weights from the pairwise comparisons (AHP) of 5 sub-models, i.e., terrain, environmental, socio-economic, available land and soil factors, were inserted into the suitability analysis function of GIS and combined in a ‘Weighted Sum’ overlay operation to produce a final suitability map on a scale of 1-5 with 5 being the highest preference. Lastly, the ‘Locate Region’ Spatial Analyst tool was applied to the final suitability map to locate three (3) optimum locations to site the estate developments. Conclusively, in view of the analysis and discoveries made in this research, finding optimum locations via the GIS–MCE based land suitability model for future housing development needs may prove highly resourceful. Hence, this study can likewise give a significant direction to future land use changes and practical and cost-effective arrangements in the urban areas where conditions are similar to those in Ede North LGA.