Multi-criteria spatial decision support system for valuation of open spaces for urban planning

One of the major accompaniments of the globalization is the rapid growing of urban areas. At the end of the 1970th only 38% of world lived in cities, this number increased to more than 50% by 2008. In 2030 two third of all people worldwide are expected to live in cities, many of them in megacities. Urban sprawl is a major environmental concern affecting cities and urban. Urban sprawl depends on the socio-economic situation in the cities. Thus, reducing migration, sustainable handling of the limited resources and "smart growth" are acknowledged as key tasks for urban planning. Coping with these tasks requires precise and adaptive planning instruments. The presented study is part of the research project GAUS (Gaining Additional Urban Space) aiming at inventorying the open space available in urban environments and, moreover, providing flexible multi-criteria spatial decision support system for its development. The method is based on VHR (Very high resolution) optical satellite data (QuickBird (QB) and IKONOS (IK)) which is applied on three study areas: Berlin, Istanbul, and Ruhr Area. Object-based image analysis is applied to map land cover and land use and derive metrics describing urban form and inner-urban structure on multiple scales. The workflow has been standardized and leads to comparable results across different test sites and datasets. In intersection with available GIS (Geographical Information System) and local ancillary data, the outputs of image analysis serve as input for a multi-criteria spatial decision support system. Flexible multi-criteria spatial decision support (MC-SDSS) tool has been created by using MATLAB (Matrix Laboratory) software and its tools (Mapping toolbox etc.). Users can change their weights and parameters with this tool for their different study areas. Urban planners can use final suitability maps of this tool. Thus complex decisions are supported by numerical calculation and spatial visualization in order to come to objective solutions. This work contribute to close the gap between remote sensing methods and applied urban planning.