Ecological Capability Assessment of Tabriz Suburb, Iran, for Urban Development using Multi Criteria Evaluation Approach

In order to achieve sustainable development, it is necessary to obtain and adopt planning procedures on the basis of Multi Criteria Evaluation of natural environment. Since biophysical (natural) environment has limited ecological capabilities for human use, ecological capability assessment, as an essence for environmental studies and with the aim of preventing existing crises, yields proper grounds for environmental planning. The analysis of land capability and sufficiency for urban development is one of the main categories with which urban planners deal. In this paper, by means of Weighted Linear Combination (WLC) through the perspective of Multi Criteria Evaluation (MCE) Approach and within Geographic Information Systems (GIS), ecological capability of the suburbs surrounding Tabriz city was assessed (natural and human in terms of 12 criteria) to examine physical development of Tabriz city and final mapping of the region was provided. This mapping shows regions suitable for physical urban development of the city. The results and finding of this research were applied by urban planners.