Multi-objective optimal location planning of urban parks

In this paper, we present Geographic Information System (GIS) integrated with a multi-objective location-allocation (LA) model with a promising application for urban parks location planning by considering four independent factors: population density level, air pollution level, urban heat island effect level, and urban land use pattern. The model is executed using real datasets collected from the city of Shenyang through: 1) analyzing four independent factors respectively by GIS and LA model; 2) using a weighted composite overlay method to analysis single factor results for obtaining the multi-objective optimal locations of urban parks. The results shows that the second and third objectives (air pollution and urban heat island) has been shown to have a significant impact on locating urban parks compared to that of the other objectives. The results obtained by converting all objective functions into a composite one indicate that the model can successfully provide optimum locations for urban parks. The outcome of this GIS combined with multi-objective LA model consequently does have important implications for optimizing urban green spatial distribution.