Scenario-based spatial modelling for land use planning and evaluation

Abstract

The understanding of the urban system that promotes urban growth is crucial for the purpose of policy making, formulating development strategies as well as development plans preparation. Urbanization contributes many advantages in terms of economics, but if uncontrolled, would create negative consequences to the physical, social and natural environment. Since planning is a future-oriented activity and necessitates forecast, the urban model is one of the techniques that assist planners to implement their work systematically. Geographic Information System (GIS) has provided an alternative tool in spatial modelling which contribute to much clearer understanding of the real planning problems as well as prescriptive planning scenarios to enhance the quality of urban planning and management. GIS notably provide a strong platform for decision makers in its role as the main component in Planning Support System (PSS) and Decision Support System (DSS). This paper will discuss the development and application of a PSS and DSS in the generation and selection of alternatives. A case study in Gombak District, located in the Klang Valley which is a rapidly growing region in Malaysia, are used to generate land use planning scenarios based on specified planning policies. The planning scenarios are then evaluated by using a Decision Support Software Definite, to improve the quality of decision making through the selection of better alternatives.