Geospatial assessment of urban green space using multi-criteria decision analysis in Debre Markos City, Ethiopia

Urban green space (UGS) serves as a lung for city dwellers to breathe and is critical for fostering the sustainable growth of urban ecology and improving residents' quality of life. Debre Markos City (DMC) lacks natural recreational areas such as lakes and artificial green spaces. A notable UGS study utilizing multiple contributing factors integrated with remote sensing and GIS has a significant advantage in making residents more comfortable. This study, therefore, aimed to assess the conventional methods (existing and proposed UGS) against remote sensing and GIS-based, and to identify, quantify and allocate the proper suitable site for UGS development.. Hence, ten UGS influencing factors were selected. Each criterion was analyzed with the use of its proper algorithm. Multicriteria decision-making (MCDM) analysis integrated with Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) method and Remote Sensing and GIS were applied. The weighted sum overlay analysis method of spatial analysis was implemented based on the criteria weight of each factor. A 90.6% and 0.8855 accuracy assessment and kappa coefficient were recorded for land use/land cover classification, respectively. The value of the consistency ratio was 0.043, which is < 1 and acceptable. Results revealed that 13.12% (2201 ha), 25.47% (4271.7 ha), 30.89% (5180.8 ha), 22.49% (3772.7 ha), and 8.2% (1345.8 ha) of the total area coverage had very high, highly, moderately, poorly and unsuitable for UGS development activity at DMC, respectively. In this study, a resident can access UGS with less than 1 km radius distance, closer to the national standard of Ethiopia (i.e. 500 m). However, in the existing UGS, a person is forced to walk or travel more than 8.4 km to get the service. In conclusion, remote sensing and GIS can make life easy to access UGS in the study area with minimum distance, cost, and a short period. It is recommended that policymakers, planners, and executive bodies in Ethiopia consider the future urban demand of dwellers with proper studies earlier to establish other urban infrastructures.