Mapping favorability for residential development. Case study: Bucharest Metropolitan Area

The identification of areas with favorability and restrictiveness in the development of residential surfaces represent and useful instrument for local and regional planning, local authorities and population, as it can help avoiding emplacement conflicts at metropolitan or local level. The analysis was based on a series of attributes extracted from topographical maps (1977-1978) and aerial images (2005 and 2008), and considered to be of major impact upon residential surfaces, such as: public services, incompatible functions, road infrastructure, existent residential surfaces, forest, and water surfaces and soils characteristics. For each attribute a score from 1 to 5 was given based on the four orthogonal neighbors method for each cell of two grids: one with a cell size of 500×500 meters (for the metropolitan level) and the other with a cell size of 100×100 meters (local level). Scores have been integrated and the results were mapped, expressing the favorability for developing residential surfaces, with better results at local level, than at metropolitan, where the large surfaces requires a reconsideration of the cell size and an improvement of data availability. This type of analysis can determine the identification of optimal areas for the development of the residential surfaces and the avoidance of environmental sensitive areas. © 2012 Published by Elsevier Ltd. Selection and peer-review under responsibility of ICELEI 2011