TITLE:
A Multidisciplinary Approach to Mapping Potential Urban Development Zones in Sinai Peninsula, Egypt Using Remote Sensing and GIS
AUTHORS:
Hala A. Effat, Mohamed N. Hegazy
KEYWORDS:
Urban Development; Remote Sensing; GIS; Site Selection; Themes; Analytical Hierarchy Process; Sinai; Egypt
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Geographic Information System,
Vol.5 No.6,
December
26,
2013
ABSTRACT:
One of the main concerns of
physical planning is the proper designation of suitable sites for feasible and
sustainable land use. A main importance of such issue is that it withdraws
attention to the necessity of adopting a multidisciplinary approach to the
zoning and site selection problem. Egypt has a top priority objective to
develop Sinai Peninsula and to create new sustainable and attracting
communities that should ensure a stable, economic and sustainable environment
in vast desert zones. Due to the difficulty in solving a zoning problem in a
desert, the use of remote sensing and Geographic Information System (GIS) was to explore the desert potentials
in the region. Five sub-models were created for five themes using Spatial
Multicriteria Analysis (SMCA) and used as inputs to the final suitability
model. These themes are: land resources, land stability, accessibility, cost of
construction and land protection. A GIS-based model was designed following a
sustainable development approach. Economic, social and environmental factors
were introduced in the model to identify and map land suitable zones for urban
development using Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP). The suitability index map
for urban development was produced by weighted overlay of the five sub-models
themes. The most suitable zones for urban development in Sinai Peninsula
amounted to 5327 square kilometers representing 17% of total area, whereas high
suitable zones reached 40% indicating a high suitability of Sinai Peninsula
lands for residing new urban communities.