Sustainable sites in two generations of city development using GIS-MCDM and LEED LT and SS categories

Abstract

Generations of city development attempt better sustainable guidelines. This reflects on the number and areas of sustainable land plots therein. Nevertheless, city development goes without evaluating potential sustainable sites. This requires further spatial study to support sustainable site selection (SSS). Hence, this paper discusses SSS in new city development and locates potential land plots which comply with The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) credits' criteria in two categories: on the project level ‘Sustainable Sites’ (SS) and the context level, the ‘Location and Transportation’ (LT). This discusses two generations of city development in Egypt, taking a case study for each: the 10th of Ramadan city (first generation) and Badr city (second generation). This pilot study is based on reliable data obtained from the General Organization for the Physical Planning (GOPP) database in Egypt. A comparative Geographic Information System (GIS)-discrete Multiple-criteria decision-making (MCDM) method was adopted. This consisted of the following steps; 1) database layering and Geo-referencing maps were carried out using the GIS, 2) LEED credits' were used to populate the database to develop a weighted sum model (WSM) through a weighted-sum overlay technique, 3) a Land Suitability Index (LSI) was computed using GIS natural breaking classification to rank potential sites into ‘Yes’, ‘Maybe’ and ‘No’ scoring, 4) SSS raster maps were developed based on point-scoring contribution (PSC) of each city towards the environmental features described in each LEED credit. The result showed that Badr city (second generation) had more qualified sustainable sites compared to the 10th of Ramadan city (first generation). This was because the second generation of city planning guidelines provided more land plots with surrounding densities and diverse uses, access to quality transit, reduced parking footprint and more open spaces. Furthermore, land plots in both cities had more potential to obtain points under the SS category rather than the LT category due to missing sustainable local planning regulations. Also, the final weighted-sum overlay analysis showed that only 10% and 27% of total land areas in the 10th of Ramadan city and Badr city, respectively, were qualified to obtain points under both categories. The output interactive maps were made available for public use via a public domain website and the outcome of the study was tested among practitioners for validation. This showed major interest for planners and researchers, followed by investors and policymakers. Accordingly, this study can be replicated to create mapping criteria for sustainable sites in new development areas and consider it for a resilient urban planning policy.