This study emphasizes the utility of decentralized urban planning in a developing region. The multi criteriaevaluation (MCE) method was applied to produce suitability surfaces for agriculture, environmentalprotection and urbanization. The SLEUTH urban growth model was calibrated using two of the suitabilitymaps: agriculture and environmental protection whereas the urbanization suitability layer was usedfor evaluating the results. These layers were used as weighted excluded inputs under two scenariosof agricultural land protection (AP) and environmental protection (EP). In this way ranges of resistancevalues against urbanization were provided for the SLEUTH model calibration. Hence, the model was forcedto allocate urban clusters in locations with a minimum negative impact on farmlands and natural areas.The MCE-informed SLEUTH calibration assisted in performing decentralized urban growth allocation.Predicted under both scenarios (up to 2040) in the Gorgan township area, Iran; the major urban coreswith large sizes were strictly constrained from further sprawl, instead, small scale and decentralizedurban centers were established and started their own growth cycles. While substantial increase in theamount of impervious surface was allowed to occur, no meaningful negative impact was brought about onthe land suitability of targeted land-uses. For both scenarios, the connectivity and compactness of urbanpatches were also investigated. The EP storyline yielded urban patches with more connectivity, whilethe AP scenario was more successful in retaining higher suitability values. The decentralized strategy canserve as a planning paradigm, which simultaneously considers several environmental parameters
کلید واژگان :Decentralized urban planning-SLEUTH model-Multi criteria evaluation-Weighted excluded-Gorgan township-Iran
ارزش ریالی : 600000 ریال
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