Land suitability assessment for urban green space using AHP and GIS: A case study of Ahvaz parks, Iran

Soil is a vital parameter for planting design in urban green spaces especially in adverse climate conditions. In this study, the utilization of analytic hierarchy process (AHP) in surveying land suitability for urban green space from measured criteria like suitability indices, including physical (i.e. clay, silt, sand, bulk density, penetration resistance), chemical (i.e. electrical conductivity, sodium absorption ratio, organic matter, Olsen phosphorus, water soluble potassium and DTPA-extractable of Fe, Zn, Cu, Mn) and heavy metal (i.e. total Ni, Cd and Pb) properties of soil and topography attributes (i.e. slope degree) data were investigated. The subjective value judgment, in light of questionnaire survey was utilized for pair-wise comparison after standard AHP method in a structure of four criteria (suitability indices) alongside related sub-criteria (19 factors). AHP method and GIS techniques were combined to create suitability map. The outcomes demonstrated that less than 8.86% of the all study region has no restriction and 34.54% has extreme restrictions for green space land use. The southern part of the riverside parks had higher suitability, whereas the northern area had lower suitability. The real limiting variables include soil compaction, soil salinity, and Zn deficiency; albeit direct mild accumulations were for lead in Ahvaz riverside parks. This study delineates the efficacy of AHP and weighted overlay model for the soil suitability investigation of green space in the study territory. In light of the outcomes, bulk density and organic matter are the most vital indices of soil in urban green space.