| dc.description.abstract | Land use planners often make complex decisions within a short period of time when they
must take into account sustainable development and economic competitiveness. Land
suitability analysis would be very useful in this respect. Kisii town is one of the fastest
growing urban areas in western part of Kenya. The present urban development and growth in
situation in the town is characterized by a state of mixed and conflicting land uses. This has
been partly attributed to lack of land suitability analysis to guide proper land use allocation
strategies. During the last 20 years, Geographic Information Systems (GIS) has emerged
from the scientific laboratories into the heart of conventional urban planning practice. During
this period, urban planners have been aggressive adopters and adapters and strong advocates
for local governments deploying GIS. This is true at least in part because GIS provides spatial
analysis and data manipulation capabilities that align closely with the professional needs of
urban and regional planners.
The objective of this study was to demonstrate how GIS can be use based in multi criteria
evaluation technique in land suitability analysis for urban development. This process involves
a consideration of five factors, that is, slope, road proximity/accessibility and ecological
sensitivity by using multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) method in decision making
process. With the support of Geographic Information System (GIS) and multi-criteria
evaluation techniques, these four factors were selected and be used in the analysis of the land
suitability analysis for urban growth in Kisii town, Kenya. The main source of data were
LiDAR image that was acquired in 2012. Interviews were also conducted with various
stakeholders in urban planning in Kisii town. Direct observations were done. The process
considers multiple land use objectives, determines the amount of land required by each
together with their environmental requirements. This was in view of the fact that the practice
of urban land use allocation has all along been begged on economic factors devoid of
environmental concerns which play a vital role for sustainable urban development.
The results showed that from the study approximately 18.46km2 of the study area is very
suitable and this is represented by nearly 26% of the study area. The area under suitable
criteria for urban development is 31% represented by 22.01 km2. In addition nearly 21% of
the study area of moderate suitability for urban development and this is represented by
14.91km2. Areas of least suitable for urban development are represented by 9.23km2 which
makes up 13% of the study area. Unsuitable areas for urban development consist
approximately 6.39km2 represented by 9% of the study area. | en_US |
