Multifactor sensitivity assessment for spatial planning in Izmir, Turkey

Abstract

Sensitivity assessment produces data to guide spatial plan-ning by determining areas that need to be protected. Izmir, the study area of this article, is a city with rich ecological values but rapidly changing spatiality. This study deter-mines ecologically sensitive areas of Izmir and reveals the relationship between ecologically sensitive areas and spa-tial planning decisions. To achieve this goal, ecologically sensitive areas are defined by the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) and overlapped with planning decisions. The study evaluates ecological factors and processes using nine main parameters and twenty-one sub-parameters. Each of the parameters selected was divided into eco-logical sensitivity levels. The result of the analysis found 16.8% of the area to have very high sensitivity, 18.5% high sensitivity, 22.7% average sensitivity, 28.5% low sen-sitivity, and 13.5% very low sensitivity. A comparison of these areas with the 1:100,000 Environmental Regulation Plan decisions showed that the planning decisions are not compatible with the ecological sensitivities of the study area. As a result, the study provides an ecological sensi-tivity assessment model that can contribute to improving decision-making processes in urban plans.