A GIS-based multi-criteria approach for finding urban growth directions: a case study in Siem Reap, Cambodia

Abstract

The main objective of this paper is to describe a methodology to estimate in which directions of urban expansion can occur in Siem Reap town, Cambodia. Three main urban driving force factors were identified: population density, distance to road networks, and distance to existing urban. Geographic Information System based multicriteria approaches were integrated to implement this research model. Fuzzyfication process was used to normalize data, allowing posterior aggregation. Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) pairwise comparison method was used to assign weights to each factor. This define hierarchy was integrated to map the direction of urban growth in Siem Reap by GIS spatial analyst tools.