Integrating multi-criteria evaluation techniques with geographic information systems for landfill site selection: a case study using ordered weighted average

Integrating regional forest productivity maps with supplemental data to optimize forest management priority: A case study in Ibiza (Spain)

Forest Management Priority (FMP) refers to the allocation of limited resources in forestry to achieve pre-established objectives. In Mediterranean forests, wildfire suppression is a primary focus yet challenges arise when forest management needs to be actively implemented. Additionally, productivity, a critical factor in FMP, is often overlooked. In response, we propose (1) a method to estimate forest productivity using remote sensing and (2) the integration of this data into a GIS-based Multiple-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) framework with a participatory approach to propose a novel FMP index for Mediterranean forests. This method aims to enhance FMP by guiding resource allocation to key areas, using the island of Ibiza as a test case. Our approach to mapping forest productivity yielded a 20.4 % relative error in site index and 43.5 % in mean annual increment. Incorporating this data into the GIS MCDA allows decision-makers to evaluate multiple information layers also including wildfire risk, terrain slope, forest stress, accessibility, and landscape visibility. We tested five prioritization scenarios: high productivity, environmental protection, wildfire risk management, a multipurpose scenario, and a business-as-usual scenario. When comparing the FMP index distribution, most scenarios showed a broader prioritization of areas than current practices, highlighting opportunities for improvement. In the high productivity scenario, 0.903 M m3 of timber were categorized as high priority for management, translating to a mean annual growth of 20,539 m3. We believe this work provides a valuable framework for stakeholders to adopt better forest management practices, promoting bioeconomy and optimizing the use of limited public and private funds.

A novel approach for optimisation of bioenergy supply chain: Integrating mathematical programming, Geographic Information System, and Analytic Hierarchy Process

The crucial role of sustainable energy in addressing environmental challenges and using agricultural waste for bioenergy supports a circular bioeconomy. This paper presents a four-stage approach to optimise a biorefinery supply chain for Ireland's agricultural waste sector. The spatial availability of agricultural waste was assessed, followed by evaluating land suitability for biorefinery development under economic, environmental, and social constraints. A hybrid method using GIS and AHP was employed to rank suitable areas, and a mathematical model was used for supply chain optimisation. Results showed only 12 % of the study area is highly suitable for biorefineries, with an average transportation distance of 39 km, leading to reduced costs and emissions. The framework's efficiency is highlighted by a transportation cost of only 4 %, compared to 16 % in previous studies. This research fills a gap in bioenergy supply chain management by demonstrating advanced tools for optimising sustainability and site suitability.

A comprehensive review on the integration of geographic information systems and artificial intelligence for landfill site selection: A systematic mapping perspective

Properly selecting landfill sites for waste disposal is crucial for mitigating environmental and public health risks. Geographic Information Systems (GISs) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) techniques have emerged as valuable tools for identifying suitable landfill locations. This study presents a systematic mapping study (SMS) that investigates the usage of GIS and AI in landfill site selection. We searched six databases (IEEE Xplore, ACM Digital Library, Science Direct, Emerald Insight, Taylor & Francis Online and Web of Science) using predefined keywords related to landfills, GIS and AI. From 858 initially retrieved articles, we selected 48 relevant articles for in-depth analysis. Our research aimed to answer various questions, such as publication trends, the geographic distribution of case studies, criteria for assessing landfill suitability, tools and techniques employed, preliminary site screening methods, decision-making processes, limitations and future research directions. We used bubble charts, bar charts and tables to visualize the results. The findings of our study highlight the growing interest in using GIS and AI for landfill site selection and emphasize the importance of incorporating multi-criteria decision-making techniques. Furthermore, the results reveal the need for developing more advanced AI models, addressing the limitations of current approaches and exploring novel visualization techniques for enhancing landfill site selection processes. This study provides valuable insights for researchers and practitioners in waste management, environmental science and geoinformatics. It sets the groundwork for future research on improving GIS- and AI-based landfill site selection methodologies.

Integrating fuzzy-AHP and GIS for solid waste disposal site selection in Kenitra province, NW Morocco

Selecting an optimal solid waste disposal site is one of the decisive waste management issues because unsuitable sites cause serious environmental and public health problems. In Kenitra province, northwest Morocco, sustainable disposal sites have become a major challenge due to rapid urbanization and population growth. In addition, the existing disposal sites are traditional and inappropriate. The objective of this study is to suggest potential suitable disposal sites using fuzzy logic and analytical hierarchy process (fuzzy-AHP) method integrated with geographic information system (GIS) techniques. For this purpose, thirteen factors affecting the selection process were involved. The results showed that 5% of the studied area is considered extremely suitable and scattered in the central-eastern parts, while 9% is considered almost unsuitable and distributed in the northern and southern parts. Thereafter, these results were validated using the area under the curve (AUC) of the receiver operating characteristics (ROC). The AUC found was 57.1%, which is a moderate prediction's accuracy because the existing sites used in the validation's process were randomly selected. These results can assist relevant authorities and stakeholders for setting new solid waste disposal sites in Kenitra province.

Ecological security warning in Central Asia: Integrating ecosystem services protection under SSPs-RCPs scenarios

Ecological security patterns (ESPs) are designed to enhance ecosystem structure and functionality while preserving vital ecosystem services (ESs). This study not only integrated the ES trade-offs related to ecological security warning, but also considered the effects of future climate changes and human activities on ESPs. By combining the revised universal soil loss equation (RUSLE), the revised wind erosion equation (RWEQ), the dry sedimentation (DS) model, the recreation opportunity map (ROM) and the integrated valuation of ESs and trade-offs (InVEST) model, this study projected provisioning services, regulation services and cultural services in Central Asia (CA) for historical periods (1995-2014) and future scenarios (2021-2099). An ecological security early-warning (source - corridor - barriers) framework was constructed based on the protection of ESs under the SSP126, SSP245 and SSP585 scenarios. The ordered weighted averaging method (OWA) was applied to this framework to identify ecological sources. The Minimum cumulative resistance model (MCR) and circuit theory were used to construct ecological corridors and barriers. Our results revealed that ES hotspot areas will decrease by 11.75 % to 16.42 % in CA under the SSP126, SSP245, and SSP585 scenarios. Under the ecological warning framework, the ecological source warning area will reach 792 km2-1942 km2 and 6591 km2-17,465 km2 under the SSP126 and SSP585 scenarios, respectively. In particular, in the 2050s under the SSP245 scenario, the number of key ecological corridor warnings will exceed 50 % of the total number of corridors. We found that ecological barrier warnings will mainly be distributed in desert areas with low vegetation coverage in southwestern CA. Building upon the reorganization of ESs within the ESP framework, we propose an ecological early warning strategy referred to as "one axis, two belts, two cores, and three zones". This novel approach aims to enhance our ability to predict and respond to ecological threats and challenges.

Optimal site selection for construction and demolition waste disposal using GIS-FAHP: a case study from Kafr El Sheikh City, Egypt

The increasing number of building and demolition projects results in huge amounts of construction and demolition wastes (CDWs) that are illegally dumped. However, these wastes must be disposed of in appropriate legal sites to protect the environment and human health. After reviewing the literature, no prior research examined optimal site selection for dumping or recycling CDW in an Egyptian city. Furthermore, the absence of field surveys did not offer a holistic understanding of the specific criteria used in the model for this region, nor did it permit an assessment of the suitability of existing dumpsites, thereby revealing certain limitations in the final results. In this regard, this research aims to apply a multi-criteria geographic information system (GIS)-based framework to identify an optimal site for CDW disposal in Kafr El Sheikh City. The criteria affecting the site selection are identified and categorized from prior literature, which are further refined using field surveys and focus group to evaluate their applicability in the context of an Egyptian city. After conducting questionnaire surveys, the trapezoidal interval type II fuzzy analytic hierarchy process is applied to compute the weights of the identified criteria from the perspective of each group of experts. The entropy-based aggregation approach is employed to identify the compromise weights taking into account the preferences of different groups. GIS is a powerful tool for geoprocessing and analyzing spatial big data. The result is a scenario map for the optimal site locations with varying suitability scales (i.e., excellent, very good, good, average, poor, and very poor). The proposed methodology provides what-if scenarios based on a selected set of criteria. According to the results of the multi-criteria decision analysis models, the suitability varies based on the weights of the criteria. For the equal-weighted criteria model, the excellent category covers 5.96% of the study area, increasing to 6.48% for the weighted criteria model. These areas primarily lie in the northeast direction. Conversely, the majority of the study area, 41.80% under equal-weighted criteria and 32.39% under weighted criteria, falls within the average and poor suitability categories, respectively. In general, the most suitable areas are located on the outskirts of the city, and the suitability decreases near the central business district. To bridge the gap between research findings and practical applications, a land use analysis employing satellite imagery is conducted to pinpoint suitable locations for CDW disposal. Existing CDW dumpsites predominantly fall within the range of poor to very good for the equal-weighted criteria model, while the weighted criteria model categorizes them into the poor (16.66%) and average (83.33%) categories. The findings demonstrated the applicability of the proposed framework for CDW disposal management and planning.

Landfill site selection using MCDM methods and GIS in the central part of the Nile Delta, Egypt

One of the most prevalent and serious issues afflicting developing countries is the lack of adequate space for waste disposal. Al-Gharbia Governorate, located in the middle of the Nile Delta in Egypt, suffers from random selection of sites for solid waste disposal, resulting in significant environmental challenges. The aim of this study is to determine optimal landfill locations within Al-Gharbia Governorate and validate the existing landfill sites. Four techniques of multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) were applied to generate suitability maps for the Governorate: the analytical hierarchy procedure (AHP), ratio scale weighting (RSW), straight rank sum (SRS), and Boolean method. Eleven effective criteria were considered: groundwater, surface water, elevation, slope, soils, land use, roads, railways, urban areas, villages, and power lines. The suitability maps were categorized into four different classes: suitable, moderately suitable, low suitable, and unsuitable. The latest suitability map was determined by combining the results from the different methods, providing decision-makers with the means to select the optimal landfill site. The suitable zone encompasses a small area (3%), predominantly located in the northeast region (Al-Mahalla), central region (Tanta), and northern region (Kotour). Conversely, the unsuitable area covers a substantial portion (72.7%) due to the agricultural nature of the governorate, high population density, and elevated groundwater levels. Furthermore, all existing landfill sites fall within unsuitable or low suitable areas, inflicting severe impacts on the nearby environment, public health, and groundwater integrity.

QGIS-based weighted linear combination plugin for landfill site selection: a case study in Tokat Province, Turkey

Proper disposal of solid waste is crucial for the protection of natural resources and human health. However, increasing population and changes in consumption habits have led to a global increase in solid waste production. Therefore, a site selection process for solid waste management that takes into account environmental, economic, and social factors is needed. The number of open-source GIS (geographic information system) software programs used in site selection analysis is increasing day by day. QGIS software is an open-source GIS software developed by free software developers, with its popularity increasing with each new version and allowing for the development of plugins with the Python programming language. The shareability of plugins developed with QGIS software brings together open-source GIS users around the world for common goals. In this study, a plugin called "LANDFILL SITE SELECTION (LFSS)" was developed in the QGIS software environment for solid waste landfill site selection and a suitability map was created for solid waste landfill site selection in Tokat, Turkey, using this plugin. For this purpose, 14 evaluation criteria and 8 exclusion criteria were selected, the importance levels of criteria and sub-criteria were determined using the AHP method, and a solid waste landfill site selection suitability map was created using the developed plugin.

Site suitability analysis for sanitary landfills using geospatial methods in a part of southern Peninsular Malaysia

Globally, around 1.3 billion tonnes of waste are generated annually, and solid waste management has thus become a major concern worldwide. There are projections of a 70% increase in waste generation from 2016 to 2050 owing to urbanization and the rapid growth of the global population. Estimates indicate that around 38,200 tonnes of waste are generated per day in Malaysia, and this volume of waste is significantly shortening the planned life spans of operating sanitary landfills in the country. Batu Pahat is a district in the state of Johor, Malaysia, with a relatively large population of 495,000 and with no record of an operational sanitary landfill. This study was conducted to identify and classify the most suitable sites for sanitary landfill developments in southern Peninsular Malaysia by means of the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP), which is recognized as a competent technique for multicriteria decision-making. The resulting landfill site suitability index map established 33.88 km2 of area coverage as very highly suitable for landfill development, while 353.86 km2 of area coverage was classified as unsuitable. Sites 1-6 were identified as the most suitable for landfill activities. Sites 1-5 are situated in agricultural land areas, while site 6 is in a forested land area; this implies public participation and the adoption of compensatory measures in the event of landfill development in these areas, given their socioeconomic importance. The six suitable sites are all at least 2000 m from rivers: 2000-3000 m for sites 1, 3, and 5 and > 3000 m for sites 2, 4, and 6. The six sites are all > 3000 m from fault zones and > 1000 m from flood-prone areas, meaning that occurrences such as fault movements and flooding will have minimal impact on the operational activities of landfills at these sites. The selection of sites 1-6 as very suitable for landfill development was associated with an overall accuracy rating of 93.33% and kappa coefficient score of 0.92 based on accuracy assessment analysis of all sites. This study will guide the actions of policymakers, city planners, and local authorities toward sustainable and environment-friendly landfill development and operation in Batu Pahat and other districts in the state of Johor.

Location-allocation combining fuzzy analytical hierarchy process for waste to energy facilities siting in developing urban areas: The case study of Lomé, Togo

Waste facilities siting is one of the complex problems encountered by decision makers of waste management in urban developing areas. Waste to Energy (WtE) facilities siting alongside transfer stations involves a Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) and has leveraged waste value chain. However, the process requires to consider the interlinked fields of environment, socio-cultural and economic/technical factors as Geographical Information Systems (GIS) in a context of lack of knowledge and expertise. This study aims to propose a framework of WtE facilities siting through a GIS-based Fuzzy Analytical Hierarchy Process (FAHP) and location-allocation method in Lomé's case study in Togo. This method was applied with boolean logic and fuzzy overlay operators, to assess the potential sites and optimize their selection through a location-allocation solver considering transfer stations and road networks under ArcGIS. Moreover, WtE technologies were attributed to sites based on the territorial aspect. As result, 30.70% of the study area was excluded and three potential areas with a minimum value of 3.47 km2 comprised between 0.81% and 1.01% of the study area, and have been obtained with an acceptable consistency ratio of 0.09. The potential sites are more influenced by slope and residence criteria under economic/technical and socio-cultural factors, with 29.13% and 19.84% of weight respectively. Therefore, through the location-allocation method two optimized sites are obtained and assigned to transfer stations; the first suitable site close to industrial area is appropriate for the gasifier which consequently classified ahead of the anaerobic digester that is suitable for the second suitable site close to agricultural area. As result, prioritizing WtE technologies and site selection should take into account territory aspect, waste sources as well other environmental, socio-cultural and economic/technical factors. This approach has demonstrated its robustness and serves as a stepwise tool for decision makers in WtE facilities siting in developing urban areas.

Integration of LCSA and GIS-based MCDM for sustainable landfill site selection: a case study

The paper aims at developing a framework for decision-support to select a sustainable landfill site in Bardaskan City (Iran) by combining life cycle sustainability assessment (LCSA) concepts and geographic information system (GIS)-based multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM). Overall, 13 criteria were chosen (three constraints and 10 factors) and classified into three main aspects of sustainability (i.e., environmental, social, and economic) to achieve the research goals. Boolean and fuzzy logic were employed to standardize the classified constraints and factors, respectively. Analytic hierarchy process (AHP) was used to calculate the factors' weights and then suitability maps were produced using the GIS analysis. The layers were combined using simple additive weighting (SAW). Next, the most sustainable sites were obtained. The results indicated that distance from city backline, groundwater depth, and distance from rural areas were the most significant factors with the weight of 0.338, 0.141, and 0.129, respectively. The final map of suitable sites was created by classifying the SAW layer according to 75, 80, and 85% of suitability to show the high, medium, and low priority areas for landfill site selection, respectively. Therefore, integration of LCSA and GIS-based MCDM to select the sustainable landfill site for municipal solid waste (MSW) is highly important, which can be effectively employed in regional and urban planning to select the location of appropriate and sustainable landfills.

Sanitary landfill site selection using GIS-based on a fuzzy multi-criteria evaluation technique: a case study of the City of Kraljevo, Serbia

Adequate disposal of municipal solid waste (MSW) is one of Serbia's most complex environmental challenges. The problem is more serious in urban areas, since large amounts of waste are disposed of in locations that do not comply with environmental, technical, and socio-economic standards. Such is the case for the city of Kraljevo, where about 116,000 inhabitants do not have a sanitary landfill facility. This research includes a multi-criteria analysis, conducted with the help of geographic information systems, to find a suitable landfill site location. After data collection, the first step was to process 15 environmental and socio-economic factors utilizing the fuzzy analytic-hierarchy process method. The second step comprised the visual analysis and selection of the ten most suitable locations from the synthetic convenience map. The third step involved the final ranking of sites by means of the fuzzy multi-objective analysis by ratio, plus the full multiplicative form method, based on four additional beneficial and non-beneficial criteria. The results show that sanitary landfill candidate site A4 is the most suitable location for constructing a sanitary landfill site due to its large area (569 ha) and relatively short distance from the urban zone (8 km). This study is the first to integrate geographic information systems and the fuzzy analytic-hierarchy process, multi-objective analysis by ratio, and the full multiplicative form algorithm for sanitary landfill selection. The results of the research can be used as a reference for safe waste disposal in the city of Kraljevo.

Development of a site selection methodology for run-of-river hydroelectric power plants within the water-energy-ecosystem nexus

Even though water-energy systems and ecosystems have complex relationships, regional energy policies seldom consider this connection. The current regional energy policies are developed primarily based on technical and socio-economical aspects and lack ecological considerations that may deteriorate the ecosystems and sustainability of these policies. Hence, considering the water-energy-ecosystem nexus in the development stage of the energy policies can aid decision-makers in initiating successful multi-dimensional energy policies. This study proposes a novel approach to develop an environmental index to support the regional energy policies that rely on Run-of-river (RoR) hydroelectric power plants (HEPPs) with a nexus approach. First, significant environmental impacts of RoR HEPPs are identified as environmental flows, impacts on ecologically valuable areas such as heritage sites, wetlands, national parks, river water quality degradation, modification of habitat, and impact on ecosystems and biodiversity loss. Then these impacts are represented through indicators and are aggregated into an overall environmental performance index through a fuzzy multi-criteria decision-making approach. The proposed approach allows the integration of ecological dimensions into the evaluation of RoR HEPPs through easy-to-measure indicators, among which environmental flow is a critical component.

Site Selection of Urban Parks Based on Fuzzy-Analytic Hierarchy Process (F-AHP): A Case Study of Nanjing, China

The scientific siting of urban parks is critical for sustainable urban environment development, and this study aimed to identify suitable areas for future urban parks in Nanjing, China. This study has integrated geographic information systems (GIS) and fuzzy hierarchical analysis (F-AHP) in order to evaluate the suitability of the site selection of urban parks in Nanjing, China. Different physical, natural, environmental, accessibility, and human activity factors were evaluated in order to assess the suitability of a park site. The results revealed that 5% were highly suitable for urban park site selection, 36% were more suitable, 32% were moderately suitable, 19% were less suitable, and 8% were unsuitable for urban park site selection. The findings suggest that the areas that are highly suitable for urban park placement are located in the western and eastern parts of Nanjing. Carbon storage was the most important factor in the suitability of urban park site selection, followed by the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and the heat-island effect. The methodology that has been adopted in this study helps to improve the methodological framework of combining F-AHP and GIS; in addition, generating urban park site selection maps assists planners and decision-makers in making scientific site selection decisions.

Emerging paradigm shift in urban indicators: Integration of the vertical dimension

Since new urbanism strategies encourage higher density and compact city development, it is expected that the height of urban environments will increase in the next few years as a remedy for many urban problems such as urban sprawl, cost of living, and detrimental environmental impacts of horizontal development of cities. Therefore, urban designers and planners should consider the third dimension of cities according to the vertical growth paradigm that is inherently a three-dimensional (3D) socioeconomic and environmental process. While a large body of literature is focusing on horizontal or two-dimensional (2D) urban indicators, it still lacks more research to compare 2D and 3D urban indicators. In this study, urban environment quality indicators, as a prominent example of urban indicators, were measured in two and three dimensions in the central business district of Urmia in Iran. Also, a Pearson's correlation analysis was performed to find a pairwise relationship between indicators. The results of the correlation analysis revealed that most 3D indicators have no significant linear relationship with other indicators, so predicting 3D indicator values based on other indicators is a difficult or even impossible task. Comparing 2D indicators with 3D ones shows that approximately 30 percent of the study area has a different urban environmental quality if it integrates the vertical dimension with 2D indicators. In addition, measuring and modelling 3D indicators provide better locational information on urban conditions and the life of citizens than traditional 2D urban indicators. This study recommends planning for the expansion of 3D information and associated tools that lead to deeper analytical insights into 3D Urban Environmental Quality assessment.

A Spatial Decision Support Approach for Flood Vulnerability Analysis in Urban Areas: A Case Study of Tehran

Preparedness against floods in a hazard management perspective plays a major role in the pre-event phase. Hence, assessing urban vulnerability and resilience towards floods for different risk scenarios is a prerequisite for urban planners and decision makers. Therefore, the main objective of this study is to propose the design and implementation of a spatial decision support tool for mapping flood vulnerability in the metropolis of Tehran under different risk scenarios. Several factors reflecting topographical and hydrological characteristics, demographics, vegetation, land use, and urban features were considered, and their weights were determined using expert opinions and the fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (FAHP) method. Thereafter, a vulnerability map for different risk scenarios was prepared using the ordered weighted averaging (OWA) method. Based on our findings from the vulnerability analysis of the case study, it was concluded that in the optimistic scenario (ORness = 1), more than 36% of Tehran’s metropolis area was marked with very high vulnerability, and in the pessimistic scenario (ORness = 0), it was less than 1%was marked with very high vulnerability. The sensitivity analysis of our results confirmed that the validity of the model’s outcomes in different scenarios, i.e., high reliability of the model’s outcomes. The methodical approach, choice of data, and the presented results and discussions can be exploited by a wide range of stakeholders, e.g., urban planners, decision makers, and hydrologists, to better plan and build resilience against floods.

Application of ArcGIS and QFD-based model for site selection for bio-medical waste disposal

With the increasing formalisation of the health sector in India, the bio-medical waste (BMW) disposal regulations are getting stringent and its implementation is being enforced strictly. The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) created a healthcare crisis because of the highly contagious nature of the novel virus. Measures employed for the prevention and management of COVID-19 resulted in the generation of an unprecedented amount of BMW in Indian medical history. This BMW needs to be disposed of safely at a suitable site to prevent secondary infection and the potential spread of the virus in the environment. The selection of an appropriate site for BMW disposal requires comparing a wide range of social, economic and environmental factors corresponding to different site locations, which makes it a multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) problem. This study aims to solve the BMW site selection problems using a quality function deployment-based model that can consider both the subjective and the objective criteria, and evaluate them as per the user's requirements. The proposed model is applied to evaluate the suitability of waste disposal sites in the city of Bilaspur in Chhattisgarh, India. At first, eight possible locations for BMW disposal are identified, while utilising geographical information system (GIS). Consequently, the developed model is applied to evaluate the identified sites, taking 18 relevant criteria into consideration. A software prototype is developed in Visual BASIC 6 to automate the entire decision-making process, further adding to the novelty of the work.

A spatial decision support system for municipal solid waste landfill sites (case study: The Mazandaran Province, Iran)

Landfilling is an inevitable step for the municipal solid waste (MSW) management system in developing countries. This article presents a Spatial Decision Support System (SDSS) that was developed for the monitoring of municipal landfills and siting the new places for waste disposal at Mazandaran province, south of Caspian Sea, Iran. The effective criteria and evaluation constraints were chosen according to the Iran waste management law. The ArcGIS 10.4.1 software was used for creating a geospatial database and the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) was used for ranking the criteria. By integrating the criteria, a suitability map was generated into four categories: high suitability, moderate suitability, low suitability and illegal areas. Using ArcGIS online, the maps were shared on a website that was specifically designed for this purpose. The decision-makers can check online the laws, the effective criteria and the results of spatial analysis for optimal siting. Also, the results of environmental evaluations for active landfills have been provided. Given the characteristics of active landfills and the optimal sites for the possible development, the SDSS can provide a mutually beneficial relationship between the experts, decision-makers and stakeholders to decide about the priority of actions required for the relocation of landfills, site closure or emergency care.

Combining multi-criteria decision analysis with GIS approaches for decentralized organic wastes composting plants site selection in Tiassalé, Southern Côte d'Ivoire

In recent years, decentralized composting appeared as one of the most appropriate treatment options for organic waste valorization in low- and middle-income countries. In Cote d'Ivoire, a pilot project has proved the feasibility of organic municipal solid waste composting for the city of Tiassalé. However, numerous issues still need to be addressed for the establishment of a sustainable decentralized composting system in this city. One of the key issues is site selection. Until now, there is no clear model for such plant site selection. In this study, multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) and geographical information system (GIS) approaches were combined to develop an appropriate model for selecting decentralized composting sites in the city of Tiassalé. The methodology used involved two different and complementary phases. First, MCDA and GIS techniques were used to identify the most suitable site areas. Seven criteria clustered in three main factors (environmental, social and economic), and five constraints were considered in the analysis process. Second, five sites were selected within the most suitable areas after a basic field visit and ranked using the Analytic Hierarchy Process. The results showed that the most suitable spaces for decentralized composting plant siting represent only 2.6% of the study area. The investigation yielded on the selection of the two best options for decentralized composting plant siting for the city of Tiassalé. This study proved that the combination of MCDA and GIS is a practical and efficient method to identify suitable sites for decentralized composting plants.

Application of Multi-Criteria Decision-Making Analysis to Rural Spatial Sustainability Evaluation: A Systematic Review

The rational allocation of spatial resources is an important factor to ensure the sustainable development of rural areas, and effective pre-emptive spatial evaluation is the prerequisite for identifying the predicament of rural resource allocation. Multi-criteria decision-making analysis has advantages in solving multi-attribute and multi-objective decision-making problems, and has been used in sustainability evaluation research in various disciplines in recent years. Previous studies have proved the value of spatial evaluation using multi-criteria decision analysis in guiding rural incremental development and inventory updates, but systematic reviews of the previous literature from a multidisciplinary perspective and studies of the implementation steps of the evaluation framework are lacking. In the current paper, the research is reviewed from the two levels of quantitative statistics and research content, and through vertical and horizontal comparisons based on three common operating procedures: standard formulation, weight distribution, and ranking and verification. Through the results, the application status and characteristics of the MCDA method in related research are determined, and five research foci in the future are proposed.

Multi-scenario simulation of ecological risk assessment based on ecosystem service values in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region

In this study, a framework for ecological risk assessment based on ecosystem service values and risk probability was established. Remote sensing was used to estimate the value of ecosystem services at the regional scale. Considering the natural and anthropogenic factors and using the entropy weight method to assign weights, probability index was constructed. In addition, multiple scenarios based on the ordered weighted averaging (OWA) method were simulated to reduce subjective uncertainty in the assessment. The results showed that the ecosystem service values generated by the gas regulation value accounted for the largest proportion, with a ratio of 46% in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. From 2005 to 2015, the value of ecosystem services decreased, falling by 2.5 × 10⁷ Yuan. The level of ecological risk was relatively high, with a corresponding area ratio of 32.89%. Spatially, the areas with high risk were concentrated in the southeastern areas, and areas with relatively low risk were distributed in the western and northern areas. This high risk was probably caused by urbanization which was characterized by reduction of farmland and increase in impervious surface. Multi-scenario simulation showed that the areas of unstable ecological risk zones covered 30% and were mainly concentrated in the surroundings of developing cities. In areas of unstable risk distribution, the relationship between development and protection should be considered. This framework increases the reliability and practicability of ecological risk assessment results and has potential application value for regional risk control in the context of urbanization.

A GIS-based novel approach for suitable sanitary landfill site selection using integrated fuzzy analytic hierarchy process and machine learning algorithms

Disposal of waste without treatment is the least preferable way of sustainable solid waste management (SWM). But most cities in developing nations still use open dumps, causing negative impacts on the environment and human health. This study offered a novel approach for selecting landfill sites and sustainable SWM in Aligarh city, India. This was done through data collection, selecting models for criterion weighting, and validation. In order to prepare a landfill site suitability map, a geographic information system (GIS)-based ensemble fuzzy analytic hierarchy process-support vector machine (FAHP-SVM) and fuzzy analytic hierarchy process-random forest (FAHP-RF) models were implemented. Considering the previous studies and the study area characteristics, eighteen thematic layers were selected. The result revealed that land value; distance from residential roads, hospitals and clinics, and waste bins; and normalized difference built-up index (NDBI) have a fuzzy weight greater than 0.10, indicating significant factors. In contrast, land elevation, land slope, surface temperature, soil moisture index, normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), and urban classification have a zero fuzzy weight, indicating these criteria have no importance. The result further revealed that FAHP-RF with an area under curve (AUC) value of 0.91 is the more accurate model than FAHP-SVM. According to the final weight-based overlay result, seven potential landfill sites were identified, out of which three were determined as most suitable by considering current land cover, public opinions, and environmental and economic concerns. This research proposed a zonal division model based on landfill sites location for sustainable SWM in Aligarh city. However, the findings may provide a guideline to the decision-makers and planners for optimal landfill site selection in other cities of developing countries.

A new application of multi-criteria decision making in identifying critical dust sources and comparing three common receptor-based models

Dust storms are a common phenomenon in arid and semi-arid regions in West Asia, which has led to high levels of PM₁₀ in local and remote area. The Yazd city in Iran with a high PM₁₀ level located downstream of dust sources in the Middle East and Central Asia. In this study, based on meteorological and PM₁₀ monitoring data, backward trajectory modeling of air parcels related to dust events at Yazd station was performed using the HYSPLIT model in 2012-2019. The trajectory cluster analysis was used to identify the main dust transport pathways and wind systems. Three methods of Cross-referencing Backward Trajectory (CBT), Potential Source Contribution Function (PSCF) and Concentration Weighted Trajectory (CWT) were used to identify the most critical dust sources. Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) methods were also used to integrate the results. Nine dust sources affecting central Iran were determined, and six criteria from different aspects were considered. To prioritize the dust sources affecting central Iran from four new MCDM methods, including WASPAS, EDAS, ARAS and TOPSIS were used. The results showed that the Levar wind system (51%), the Shamal wind system (32%) and the Prefrontal wind system (18%) were the most important wind systems to cause dust events in central Iran. The MCDM approach to identify dust sources also showed that Dasht-e-Kavir in central Iran was the most critical dust source. The results also showed that in hot seasons (spring and summer), local and Central Asia dust sources and cold seasons (autumn and winter), Middle East dust sources have the greatest impact on dust events in central Iran. Also, a comparison of common receptor-based methods for identifying dust sources showed that CBT, CWT and PSCF were the most appropriate methods for identifying dust sources, respectively.

A GIS-based multi-criteria fuzzy approach to select a suitable location for a MSW-based power plant and landfill: a case study, Khuzestan province, Iran

The aim of this study was to find the best location for municipal solid waste (MSW)-based power plant and landfill. Another goal was to investigate the energy recovery potential of MSW by anaerobic digestion and recycling process. A combination of multi-criteria fuzzy decision making system was applied in GIS environment to select the most suitable site for MSW-based power plant and landfill. The effective sub-criteria were classified into three main categories of environmental, social, and economic criteria, and fuzzy analytic hierarchy process was used to weight and integrate them. The method was used in a case study to find the best location of MSW-based plant and landfill in Khuzestan province, Iran. Based on the amount of MSW production in this province and as a result, the potential for energy savings by recycling the recyclable part and recovering energy from the digestible part, the amount of fossil fuel that can be saved and the emission of greenhouse gases that can be avoided were estimated. Based on the results, in total, recycling the recyclable portion (dry waste) and producing energy from the digestible portion (wet waste) of MSW in Khuzestan province, leads to avoid burning 7.4 billion MJ of fossil fuels and emitting 644,169 t of CO₂eq GHG. The results also showed that the integration of fuzzy logic and multi-criteria fuzzy decision making system provides more flexibility in choosing the best location for the MSW-based plant. This method is flexible enough and in other situations can include other necessary criteria and can provide a comprehensive guideline for decision makers in choosing the optimal location for a power plant or a landfill.

Odor-aided analysis for landfill site selection: study of DOKAP Region, Turkey

In our world, with the increase of factors such as the rapid and irresponsible consumption of natural resources, man-made environmental disasters, global warming, and pollution of water resources in our world, the need for more efficient storage and disposal of solid waste has arisen. The presentation of the data required to solve spatial problems such as storage, management, and location selection can be carried out extensively and effectively using geographic information systems (GIS). On the other hand, the unsatisfactory results obtained with GIS recently have made it mandatory to use spatial multiple criteria decision-making (S-MCDM) methods that include the decision-makers in the process. In this study, landfill site selection was carried out in eight provinces in the region under the responsibility of the Eastern Black Sea Project Regional Development Administration (DOKAP). GIS and S-MCDM were used together in this site selection process. A total of eight spatial data layers were used in the site selection application. Afterwards, storage areas determined as suitable via GIS analysis underwent additional evaluation, taking into account geological, seismic, and environmental factors as well as transportation costs. In addition to these multi-component evaluations, odor analyses were carried out on the proposed storage areas using the prevailing wind direction.

A GIS-based multi-criteria decision-making method for the selection of potential municipal solid waste disposal sites in Mersin, Turkey

Due to rapid urbanization and the resulting rapid population increases, an important problem for cities today is the elimination of solid waste or finding suitable places for waste storage. Municipal solid waste disposal (MSWD) site selection is one of the most important steps in urban waste management. Many criteria political, economic, social, and technological should be considered in this process. Geographic information systems (GIS) and multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) are tools that are superior to traditional methods in the planning phase of site selection studies. In this study, suitable MSWD sites were determined in Mersin (a Turkish province) based on GIS and the analytic hierarchy process, an MCDM method. Unsuitable areas in the study were removed at the beginning of the analysis. Eleven evaluation criteria were selected: elevation, slope, permeability, distance from lineaments, groundwater level, distance from rivers and water surfaces, distance from roads, distance from settlements, distance from protected areas, and land cover. Considering the evaluation and exclusion criteria, 19.12% of the study area was deemed suitable, and 80.88% was determined unsuitable for an MSWD site. An MSWD suitability map was created as a result of the study. The outcomes indicate that 80,377 ha and 83,022 ha of the study area were classified as high and very high suitability, respectively. Based on these results, we evaluate whether the locations of existing solid waste landfills are appropriate and propose alternative solid waste landfills for each district.

Site selection and environmental risks assessment of medical solid waste landfill for the City of Kermanshah-Iran

In this study, an integration of multi-criteria evaluation, geographic information system, and remote sensing techniques were used for site selection of medical waste landfills in Kermanshah, Iran. Also, an environmental risk assessment for the selected site has been conducted in order to minimize the possible hazardous. The GIS and remote sensing were used for acquiring and preparing layers and maps and the multi-criteria evaluation was used for setting aim, criteria selection, criteria weighting, and final decision making. The results showed that only 1.2% of the study area is scored high-suitable, while 90% of the area is considered unsuitable that makes this region critical for preservation. After further assessment and field visits, a suitable site was selected for landfilling. Environmental risk assessment showed that the selected site poses a low-level of risks to the environment and surrounding areas and this is because various environmental and health aspects have been considered in the site selection process.

Spatial analysis and modelling for primary healthcare site selection in Midnapore town, West Bengal

Unprecedented and chaotic growth of cities results in reducing open spaces and water bodies, worsening infrastructure facilities and changes in ecological morphology. This unregulated growth of the urban population led to uneven distribution of urban amenities, facilities and healthcare services. Considering this, the study aimed to draw attention to the existing spatial pattern of healthcare facility centres as well as to find out the possible sites for the provision of healthcare facility centres in the municipal ward (micro-scale) of Midnapore town. This prototype study was conducted using Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Ordinary Least Square (OLS) evaluation model based on various criteria through Arc GIS environment. The findings indicate that the spatial distribution patterns of existing public healthcare centres were significantly dispersed. Weights based on a set of criteria were calculated by AHP and OLS algorithm and generated suitability evaluation maps classified from 1 (poor suitable) to 4 (most suitable). According to the employed criteria in this study unveil those existing hospitals and primary healthcare centres have not been located in the appropriate locations. The model is found to be valid for the given study area and there is no significant difference between AHP and OLS results. Further, it can be used for preparing the suitability map for the other areas with similar geo-environmental conditions for the proviso of healthcare services as well as will be most effective in preventing disease progression and reducing healthcare inequality on a large scale.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10708-021-10528-w.

A novel MADM algorithm for landfill site selection based on q-rung orthopair probabilistic hesitant fuzzy power Muirhead mean operator

With the rapid development of economy and the acceleration of urbanization, the garbage produced by urban residents also increases with the increase of population. In many big cities, the phenomenon of "garbage siege" has seriously affected the development of cities and the lives of residents. Sanitary landfill is an important way of municipal solid waste disposal. However, due to the restriction of social, environmental and economic conditions, landfill site selection has become a very challenging task. In addition, landfill site selection is full of uncertainty and complexity due to the lack of cognitive ability of decision-makers and the existence of uncertain information in the decision-making process. Therefore, a novel multi-attribute decision making method based on q-rung orthopair probabilistic hesitant fuzzy power weight Muirhead mean operator is proposed in this paper, which can solve the problem of landfill site selection well. This method uses probability to represent the hesitance of decision maker and retains decision information more comprehensively. The negative effect of abnormal data on the decision result is eliminated by using the power average operator. Muirhead mean operator is used to describe the correlation between attributes. Then, an example of landfill site selection is given to verify the effectiveness of the proposed method, and the advantages of the proposed method are illustrated by parameter analysis and comparative analysis. The results show that this method has a wider space for information expression, gives the decision maker a great degree of freedom in decision-making, and has robustness.

Multi-criteria healthcare waste disposal location selection based on Fermatean fuzzy WASPAS method

Medical services inevitably generate healthcare waste (HCW) that may become hazardous to healthcare staffs, patients, the population, and the atmosphere. In most of the developing countries, HCW disposal management has become one of the fastest-growing challenges for urban municipalities and healthcare providers. Determining the location for HCW disposal centers is a relatively complex process due to the involvement of various alternatives, criteria, and strict government guidelines about the disposal of HCW. The objective of the paper is to introduce the WASPAS (weighted aggregated sum product assessment) method with Fermatean fuzzy sets (FFSs) for the HCW disposal location selection problem. This method combines the score function, entropy measure, and classical WASPAS approach within FFSs context. Next, a combined procedure using entropy and score function is proposed to estimate the criteria weights. To do this, a novel score function with its desirable properties and some entropy measures are introduced under the FFSs context. Further, an illustrative case study of the HCW disposal location selection problem on FFSs is established, which evidences the practicality and efficacy of the developed approach. Comparative discussion and sensitivity analysis are made to monitor the permanence of the introduced framework. The final results approve that the proposed methodology can effectively handle the ambiguity and inaccuracy in the decision-making procedure of HCW disposal location selection.

Coupling Fuzzy Multi-Criteria Decision-Making and Clustering Algorithm for MSW Landfill Site Selection (Case Study: Lanzhou, China)

The siting of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) landfills is a complex decision process. Existing siting methods utilize expert scores to determine criteria weights, however, they ignore the uncertainty of data and criterion weights and the efficacy of results. In this study, a coupled fuzzy Multi-Criteria Decision-Making (MCDM) approach was employed to site landfills in Lanzhou, a semi-arid valley basin city in China, to enhance the spatial decision-making process. Primarily, 21 criteria were identified in five groups through the Delphi method at 30 m resolution, then criteria weights were obtained by DEMATEL and ANP, and the optimal fuzzy membership function was determined for each evaluation criterion. Combined with GIS spatial analysis and the clustering algorithm, candidate sites that satisfied the landfill conditions were identified, and the spatial distribution characteristics were analyzed. These sites were subsequently ranked utilizing the MOORA, WASPAS, COPRAS, and TOPSIS methods to verify the reliability of the results by conducting sensitivity analysis. This study is different from the previous research that applied the MCDM approach in that fuzzy MCDM for weighting criteria is more reliable compared to the other common methods.

Optimizing locations of waste transfer stations in rural areas

Many studies have considered the location of rural waste transfer stations, but most have omitted the impact of transportation network conditions. Traffic accessibility must be considered in optimizing the location of rural waste transfer stations, which is an important difference from the location of rural waste transfer stations. On the basis of previous studies, this study will consider the impact of traffic network on the optimization locations of waste transfer station in the rural areas. The objective of this study was to ensure the minimum Euclidean distance between the waste transfer station and the population center is the maximum, minimize the garbage transportation cost of each population center, construction costs for waste transfer stations, construction and upgrade costs for roads on a traffic network. A multi-objective facility location-network design model and an improved multi-objective simulated annealing algorithm was used to solve the problem. A detailed practical case study was used to illustrate the application of the proposed mathematical model. The results show that transportation network plays an important role in facility location optimization, and the improvement of traffic network conditions can greatly reduce waste transportation costs.

A new approach in the optimal site selection of landfills for drilling cuttings from petroleum and gas fields

Drilling cuttings contain dangerous elements to human life and other organisms. Different criteria are effective in increasing or decreasing the transmission of this pollution to the environment. By studying and reviewing the scientific sources, these criteria were identified and the type of causal relationships between these criteria was determined using the Fuzzy DEMATEL¹ technique. Finally, the appropriate location of the landfill was determined by recognizing these criteria and their internal relationships. The results of this study showed that Slope criterion has the highest degree of effect and Distance from airport criterion has the lowest degree of effect. Distance from city centres criterion has the highest and Distance from airport criterion has the least degree of importance in choosing the appropriate location for drilling cuttings. Distance from city centres criterion has the highest and Geology criterion has the least net effect on selecting the appropriate location of drilling cuttings. Considering the effective criteria on the selection of drilling waste disposal site, the proposed landfills were introduced in 5 different classes from very good to very poor. Accordingly, part of the land located in the southern regions of Khark Island and the central regions of Lavan Island is desirable for the burial of drilling wastes. These areas are suitable due to their distance from urban centres, distance from the road, distance from the river, distance from the airport and other waste disposal factors.

An improved OWA-Fuzzy AHP decision model for multi-attribute decision making problem

Multi-attribute decision-making (MADM) is an important part of modern decision-making science. Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (Fuzzy AHP) is a popular model to deal with the issue of MADM for its flexible and effective advantages. However, The traditional Fuzzy AHP with some limitations does not consider the preference (attitude) of decision makers (DMs). In addition, some ideas of combining Ordered Weighted Average (OWA) and Fuzzy AHP don’t investigated the MADM well. Some programs are only applicable to a few examples, and more general cases do not result in effective decision making. Considering these shortcomings, an OWA-Fuzzy AHP decision model using OWA weights and Fuzzy AHP is proposed in this paper. Our contribution is that the proposed method can handle situations where the degree of fuzzy synthesis is not intersected. Moreover, the loss of information can be reduced in the process of applying the proposed method, so that the decision result is more reasonable than the previous methods. Several examples and comparative experimental simulation are given to illustrate the effectiveness and superiority of the proposed model.

Landfill site selection by integrating fuzzy logic, AHP, and WLC method based on multi-criteria decision analysis

Rapid population growth integrated with poor governance and urban planning is highly challenging resulting key for the selection of unsuitable landfill sites, particularly in developing counties. Therefore, the aim of this study is to investigate the suitable solid waste landfill sites in the capital of the country as a case study, by the integration of Geographical Information System (GIS) with fuzzy logic, analytical hierarchy process (AHP), and weighted linear combination (WLC) method based on multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM). We chose thirteen (13) criteria (9 factors and 4 constraints) and grouped them into two main categories (environmental and socioeconomic) to achieve the objectives. The AHP was employed to evaluate the relative importance of the factors followed by standardization of criteria factors based on fuzzy set theory. Subsequently, all criteria factors were combined based on AHP and fuzzy logic-WLC method in order to obtain land suitability map. Finally, the sites were identified by the intersection of two combined suitability index layers. The obtained results depicted that the integration of fuzzy logic, AHP, and WLC technique with GIS can produce satisfactory results for the suitable locations of solid waste landfill sites over complex topographic regions. Overall, the land suitability obtained based on fuzzy-WLC is more refined and smooth because of its better segregation and its potential to consider full tradeoff between factors and average risk. The AHP was identified (47 km2) as high suitable while fuzzy-WLC generated 36 km2 as suitable area. Finally, the intersection of both suitability index map shows numerous suitable landfill sites available in Islamabad city; however, the surface areas of the sites are small at individual level (less than 15 ha).

Site selection for waste vegetable oil and waste battery collection boxes: a GIS-based hybrid hesitant fuzzy decision-making approach

The amount of municipal solid waste (MSW) has been increasing rapidly in the urban centres of developing countries during the last few decades; however, municipal solid waste management (MSWM) remains inadequate. One of the largest aspects of cost of the MSWM system is the collection of waste. This paper describes a methodology that combines geographic information systems (GIS), hesitant fuzzy linguistic term set (HFLTS), and the full multiplicative form of multi-objective optimization by ratio analysis (MULTIMOORA), to determine suitable locations for waste collection boxes (named AYPIKUT), which have been designed specifically for collection of domestic waste vegetable oil and waste batteries. It takes as case study, Atakum, a district of Samsun city, Turkey. As a solution to the problem, first, a total of 88 items have been identified for consideration by seven criteria elicited from the insights of experts, and spatial analyses were performed. Multi-criteria HFLTS was then used to determine weights of the criteria. Population density was the most significant criterion affecting the selection process, and proximity to housing complexes with more than 150 dwellings was the least important. According to the weights of the seven criteria, and three rules determined by the experts, 15 AYPIKUT locations were identified using GIS. As a final step, the alternative locations (A1-A15) were ranked with the MULTIMOORA method. A5 was the most suitable site, and A6 was the least suitable site for an AYPIKUT. The results indicated the ability of the proposed model to select the suitable locations for waste collection box.

Accessibility and Connectivity Criteria for Assessing Walkability: An Application in Qazvin, Iran

Distance is a recognized key determinant of walking. Pedestrians tend to choose the shortest route between two points. Shortest routes can be spatially described in terms of distances between two points or topologically described as the number of turns/directional changes between these points. This paper presents a methodology to evaluate the conditions provided by a street network to pedestrians, by using two space syntax measures. Accessibility was calculated through Angular Segment Analysis by Metric Distance (ASAMeD), a measure of street integration and choice strongly correlated with pedestrian movement pattern. Street Connectivity was calculated by using the space syntax measure of connectivity, which shows the direct connection of street nodes to each individual nodes. The streets criterion values of both approaches were normalized by using fuzzy logic linear functions. The method was applied in the city center of Qazvin, Iran. Results showed that the urban structure of Qazvin has a strong impact on the performance of the network. The old neighborhood centers widespread in the city center presented a high topological accessibility, while the most connected street are those streets crossing and surrounding the neighborhood areas. The method can be used to evaluate and improve pedestrian networks, as it can distinguish the most and least attractive streets according to the criteria used. These findings can be used to guide policies towards improving walkability and to create more walkable and sustainable cities.

A New Integrated Approach for Municipal Landfill Siting Based on Urban Physical Growth Prediction: A Case Study Mashhad Metropolis in Iran

Due to irregular and uncontrolled expansion of cities in developing countries, currently operational landfill sites cannot be used in the long-term, as people will be living in proximity to these sites and be exposed to unhygienic circumstances. Hence, this study aims at proposing an integrated approach for determining suitable locations for landfills while considering their physical expansion. The proposed approach utilizes the fuzzy analytical hierarchy process (FAHP) to weigh the sets of identified landfill location criteria. Furthermore, the weighted linear combination (WLC) approach was applied for the elicitation of the proper primary locations. Finally, the support vector machine (SVM) and cellular automation-based Markov chain method were used to predict urban growth. To demonstrate the applicability of the developed approach, it was applied to a case study, namely the city of Mashhad in Iran, where suitable sites for landfills were identified considering the urban growth in different geographical directions for this city by 2048. The proposed approach could be of use for policymakers, urban planners, and other decision-makers to minimize uncertainty arising from long-term resource allocation.

Developing a GIS-Based Decision Rule for Sustainable Marine Aquaculture Site Selection: An Application of the Ordered Weighted Average Procedure

Fish consumption is on the increase due to the increase in growth of the global population. Therefore, taking advantage of new methods such as marine aquaculture can be a reliable source for the production of fish in the world. It is necessary to allocate suitable sites from environmental, economic, and social points of view in the decision-making process. In this study, in order to specify suitable areas for marine aquaculture by the Ordered Weighted Averaging (OWA) methodology in the Caspian Sea (Iran), efforts were made to incorporate the concept of risk into the GIS-based analysis. By using the OWA-based method, a model was provided which can generate marine aquaculture maps with various pessimistic or optimistic strategies. Eighteen modeling criteria (14 factors and 4 constraints) were considered to determine the appropriate areas for marine aquaculture. This was done in 6 scenarios using multi-criteria evaluation (MCE) and ordered weighted average (OWA) methodologies. The results of the sensitivity analysis showed that most of the parameters affecting the marine aquaculture location in the region were as follows: Social-Economic, Water Quality, and Physical–Environmental parameters. In addition, based on Cramer’s V coefficient values for each parameter, bathymetry and distance from the coastline with the most effective and maximum temperature had the least impact on site selection of marine aquaculture. Finally, the final aggregated suitability image (FASI) of weighted linear combination (WLC) scenario was compared with existing sites for cage culture on the southern part of the Caspian Sea and the ROC (Relative Operating Characteristics) value turned out to be equal to 0.69. Although the existing sites (9 farms) were almost compatible with the results of the study, their locations can be transferred to more favorable areas with less risk and the mapping risk level can be controlled and low- or high-risk sites for marine aquaculture could be determined by using the OWA method.

A worldwide meta-analysis review of restriction criteria for landfill siting using geographic information systems

One of the most crucial parts of solid waste management is determining landfill site location, since multiple factors must be considered and there is no universal formula. The main purpose of this study is to make a worldwide systematic review of restriction criteria used for landfill siting using geographic information systems (GIS). Literature from the last years was thoroughly assessed, and 45 restrictions found were classified as environmental, economic, or social criteria. Our findings show that although the number of articles published has increased recently, they use on average seven restrictions, focusing mainly on environmental over economic and social criteria. In our boxplot statistical analysis, the most frequently used environmental restrictions are the distance from surface water resources (used in 77% of articles), slope (52%), and distance from groundwater founts (40%), with a median of 300 m, 20%, and 250 m, respectively. The most frequently used economic restrictions are distances from roads (60%), airports (40%), and power lines (18%), with medians of 275 m, 3000 m, and 75 m, respectively. The most frequently used social restrictions are distances from urban areas (45%), settlements and residential areas (40%), and cultural heritage or archaeological areas (23%), with medians of 1000 m. This information might help, on the one hand, governments to develop new legislation about landfill siting and on the other hand, decision-makers and scientists to produce new studies with different restrictive scenarios.

GIS- and MCD-based suitability assessment for optimized location of solid waste landfills in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

Despite recent advancements in waste management technologies, landfills remain the dominant approach for the final disposal of solid waste (SW) around the world. However, landfills are associated with adverse environmental and health-related impacts. This study is primarily applied to Dar es Salaam, a city in the East African region that has failed to follow appropriate approaches for site selection and that the methods used to select the current sites are manually operated. The study used a geographical information system (GIS) combined with multicriteria decision analysis (MCDA) to objectively determine the optimal landfill sites. A comprehensive list of assessment criteria was examined through a computerized site selection procedure based on GIS to analyze the ground that was surveyed and to remotely obtain data. Analytical hierarchy process (AHP)-one of the best MCDA approaches-was used to assign relative weight and evaluate each criterion. Finally, the study computed site suitability indices (SSIs), which aids in the identification of site suitability levels (SSLs) for the entire region. The final suitability map produced by overlaying the criteria map layers showed that a large part of the study area (60.92%) was completely unsuitable for landfill siting. The remaining areas consisted of land with varying suitability level, which were grouped into four classes: very low (30.92%), low (2.05%), moderate (5.65%), and high (0.46). To this end, only the high suitability class (0.46%) was of acceptable suitability levels (ASLs) (SSI ≥ 2.0). From the numerous identified sites with ASL, only three sites were suggested. Due to concerns regarding the lifespan and environment-related risks associated with these suggested sites, there is a need to further study new environmentally friendly techniques, considering the importance of circular economy agenda of waste to resource/energy for sustainable solid waste management.

Municipal Solid Waste Landfill Site Selection Based on Fuzzy-AHP and Geoinformation Techniques in Asir Region Saudi Arabia

One of the main issues with solid waste management is finding appropriate sites for landfill. Non-scientific and inappropriate disposal practices have a negative impact on the environment which affects the quality of life. The study provides an integrated framework with a focus on structuring the decision-making process for the landfill suitability site map. This could be determined by the use of proper data collection, criterion weighting and normalization. In order to understand the procedures that affect the suitability of landfill sites, the integrated GIS-based fuzzy-AHP-MCDA method was implemented to appropriate landfill site for Abha-Khamis-Mushyet located in Aseer region Following the extensive literature review and expert opinion, 10 themes were selected for this study such as drainage density, land use/land cover (LULC), slope, elevation, lineament density, normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), rainfall, distance from the airport, distance from road, and geology. These themes have been developed through RS (remote sensing) and conventional data. Subsequently, potential landfill sites were identified and divided into five classes: very low suitable (fuzzy value 0.20–0.45), low suitable (0.46–0.55), moderately suitable (0.56–0.65), high suitable (0.66–0.75), and very high suitable (0.76–0.92). According to the statistical analysis, 23.91% and 3.67% of the total area were within a very good and good landfill area, while 38.14% and 22.84% accounted for the moderate and poor suitable zone, respectively. As a quality-based site, the existing two landfill sites were located over a very low suitable and low suitable potential area while one landfill site was located over the high suitable∙ The spatial variance of high and very high potential landfill site zones found in the north-eastern, east-central and south-eastern parts of the watershed. The sensitivity analysis was performed to determine the efficacy of each parameter and reveals that the effective weights for each theme differ slightly from the theoretical weight assigned to the landfill site suitability zone. This technique and its findings can provide an appropriate guideline to assist hydrogeologists, engineers, regional planners, and decision-makers in selecting an optimal landfill site in the future.

Sanitary landfill site selection by integrating AHP and FTOPSIS with GIS: a case study of Memari Municipality, India

Sanitary landfill is still considered as one of the most significant and least expensive methods of waste disposal. It is essential to consider environmental impacts while selecting a suitable landfill site. Thus, the site selection for sanitary landfill is a complex and time-consuming task needing an assessment of multiple criteria. In the present study, a decision support system (DSS) was prepared for selecting a landfill site in a growing urban region. This study involved two steps of analysis. The first step of analysis involved the application of spatial data to prepare the thematic maps and derive their weight. The second step employed a fuzzy multicriteria decision-making (FMCDM) technique for prioritizing the identified landfill sites. Thus, initially, the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) was used for weighting the selected criteria, while the fuzzy technique for order of preference by similarity to ideal solution (FTOPSIS) was applied for addressing the uncertainty associated with decision-making and prioritizing the most suitable site. A case study was conducted in the city of Memari Municipality. The main goal of this study was the initial evaluation and acquisition of landfill candidate sites by utilizing GIS and the following decision criteria: (1) environmental criteria consisting of surface water, groundwater, land elevation, land use land cover, distance from urban residence and buildup, and distance from sensitive places; and (2) socioeconomic criteria including distance from the road, population density, and land value. For preparing the final suitability map, the integration of GIS layers and AHP was used. On output, 7 suitable landfill sites were identified which were further ranked using FTOPSIS based on expert's views. Finally, candidate site-7 and site-2 were selected as the most suitable for proposing new landfill sites in Memari Municipality. The results from this study showed that the integration of GIS with the MCDM technique can be highly applied for site suitability. The present study will be helpful to local planners and municipal authorities for proposing a planning protocol and suitable sites for sanitary landfill in the near future.

A comparison of fuzzy logic and TOPSIS methods for landfill site selection according to field visits, engineering geology approach and geotechnical experiments (case study: Rudbar County, Iran)

The present study evaluated and selected the best location among susceptible landfill sites in Rudbar County using 27 criteria, as the maximum effective criteria, in the decision-making process. The emergence and comparison between the two methods of fuzzy and Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) with an engineering-geological approach have been conducted to obtain the best results. In this regard, inappropriate regions for landfill construction have been restricted after the conflation of two maps based on the restriction criteria. Then, the direction of prevailing winds and proper area for landfill construction was investigated for a 20-year perspective, and the regions that had more than 35-hectare area and were not located in the direction of the prevailing winds have been identified as responsive sites for landfill construction. Ultimately, selected susceptible regions were prioritized separately based on the TOPSIS and fuzzy methods. To ascertain the accuracy of the results and the reality of the resulted models, complementary field studies, geotechnical digging, and engineering-geological experiments have been used as verification parameters. According to the results of the verification, the fuzzy model having maximum matches with the verified data has been suggested for prioritizing susceptible regions.

A GIS-Based Approach for Spatially-Explicit Sustainable Development Assessments in East Azerbaijan Province, Iran

We propose an efficient integrated approach of spatial decision-making systems and geographical information science for spatially explicit sustainable development mapping. The approach was developed, and its efficiency examined for sustainability assessment in East Azerbaijan Province, Iran. To achieve this goal, sustainable development indicators were employed through GIS decision rule and spatial analysis. Accordingly, 13 main criteria and 44 sub-criteria were identified and prepared as GIS dataset. The fuzzy analytical network process (FANP) method was employed to derive the criteria weights and their significance. We also applied the Global Sensitivity Analysis (GSA) for minimizing the uncertainties associated with the FANP weights. The Ordered Weighted Averaging (OWA) method was applied to aggregate the indicators and develop the sustainable development maps. Results confirmed that integrated GIS-based decision rules can be applied for any sustainable development mapping efficiently. Results of this research present an approach for sustainable development assessment and can be applied for similar research effectually. In the case of East Azerbaijan Province, the detailed results represent the unbalanced sustainable development within the different counties of this province. This requires taking necessary actions to ensure more balanced and just economic development in the province. The degree of sustainable development shows a significant spatial correlation with the industrial activities, employment, demography, poverty and infrastructure properties. The obtained results are of great importance for decision makers to identify efficient approaches in light of sustainable development mapping.

Information system with multiple data layer approach to select the C&D waste landfilling infrastructure

Landfilling is a critical method in managing massive generated C&D waste, and the appropriate selection of C&D waste landfill sites can reduce the impacts of landfilling. This study proposes an approach combined F-AHP and GIS to select suitable C&D waste landfills. The proposed model considers multiple factors from environmental, social and economic aspects. A case study of Shenzhen, China, is undertaken to showcase the implementation of the proposed model. It is found that about 25 million m² of land has the potential to be used for C&D waste landfills in the study case, but the actual usable land is limited as some lands are too small for a landfill site. The study contributes to the waste management discipline as it provides an improved framework for selecting a landfill site. Besides, the landfill site selection procedure and results have practical implications for urban planning.

Landfill site selection using multi criteria decision making: Influential factors for comparing locations

Although a lot of research has focused on energy recovery and recycling of valuable materials from wastes to reduce loads on landfills, landfilling is still an inseparable part of solid waste management. Since landfills potentially pose a risk to human health and the surrounding environment, landfill site selection is an important endeavor that has to be carried out with great care. Choosing a suitable location for landfills depends on several factors and is a complicated procedure. In this paper, a comprehensive review of landfill site selection methods, with an emphasis on multi criteria decision making (multiple criteria decision analysis) has been presented. Assessments indicate that the most frequently used methods are weighted linear combination (WLC), ordered weighted averaging (OWA), analytic hierarchy process (AHP), fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (F-AHP), TODIM, fuzzy TODIM, analytic network process (ANP), fuzzy-analytic network process (F-ANP), and grey systems theory, each of which is discussed. The most widely used factors for selecting a landfill site are groundwater depth, surface water vicinity, elevation, land slope, soil permeability, soil stability, flooding susceptibility, lithology and stratification, faults, land use type, nearby settlements and urbanization, cultural and protected site vicinity, wind direction, roads, railways, proximity to building materials, pipelines and powerlines, and proximity to airports.

Selection of MSW landfill site by fuzzy-AHP approach combined with GIS: case study in Ahvaz, Iran

The study was aimed to use fuzzy multi-criteria decision making integrated with GIS to select the optimum location for municipal solid waste (MSW) landfill sites that comply with standard landfill guidelines and environmental and socio-economic criteria. Fuzzy logic and, in particular, fuzzy sets were applied to create the criteria layers in GIS and to weigh and integrate these layers in GIS. Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) was also used to determine the land suitability for landfill. The method was used as a case study to determine the location of landfills in the suburbs of Ahvaz, Iran. According to the results, transportation networks and residential and commercial areas were the most influential factors on the placement of landfills, with a final weight of 0.163 and 0.131, respectively. Areas near roads and transportation networks but far from the sensitive environmental zones were most suitable for landfill. Finally, 11 sites that met the defined requirements were selected as suitable locations for MSW landfill. This technique and its results can provide a proper guideline to help decision makers choose the optimal landfill site in the future. Depending on their importance in each region, the methodology can incorporate other factors and criteria.