Application of GIS and Multi Criteria Decision Analysis in Selecting Accessible Urban Park Sites in Kumasi Metropolis

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2015-02-09
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Urban areas show increasing signs of environmental problems such as the quality of air, traffic congestion, acoustic quality and limited land resources, while green areas and open spaces are under continuous threat due to more competitive land uses. With parks acting as “natural tranquilizers”, their importance lies in helping one to escape the stress of city life in Kumasi metropolis, the second most highly populated city in Ghana, which lacks accessible and well distributed green parks and green spaces. Current urban greens in Kumasi have come under great pressure due to rapid increase in development projects. Being the region’s transit and market centre, residents face daily air pollution problems as well as excess heat problems amidst the “automobile infested” concrete space and bare open spaces in green deficient neighbourhoods. Field studies showed that overall, residents have knowledge of the benefits of green spaces in urban areas, but are less willing to patronise them due to their current poor conditions. With the rapid increase in population in Kumasi in the last decade, it is highly necessary to improve the urban green spaces such as parks (especially in high density areas) in order to maintain quality of life. Owing to the fact that Kumasi lacks accessible urban parks for use by its residents, Geographic Information System (GIS) tools were used in creating different datasets of the study area and three sets of criteria which were integrated into the Multi Criteria Decision Process (MCDP). Using literature, field surveys and experts opinions, data layers were created both criteria and sub-criteria to produce the final map of suitable areas for urban green parks in Kumasi. The results showed that 10,968,100 m2 of study area was very suitable, 9,168,250 m2 was suitable and 3,016,650 m2 was least suitable for urban park development in Kumasi metropolis.  
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A Thesis Submitted To Department of Theoretical and Applied Biology, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology In Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Environmental Science, 2014
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