Planning of rural housings in reservoir areas under (mass) tourism based on a fuzzy DEMATEL-GIS/MCDA hybrid and participatory method for Alange, Spain

• We propose a planning approach for rural housing in reservoir areas under (mass) tourism.
• We apply the FDEMATEL-GIS/MCDA method to make a rural housing suitability map.
• FDEMATEL participatory model was used to decide criteria weight calculations.
• WLC and sensitivity analysis method was applied to find the final suitable areas for case study.
• Results can be used for sustainable and resilient planning at all decision-makings process.

Rural housings' development in reservoir areas of (mass) tourism is a complex process since the areas are under increasing construction sprawls with ecological consequences. This paper presents a new planning approach to develop a reliable model identifying suitable to unsuitable sites for rural housing planning in Alange reservoir areas, Badajoz, Spain. The hybrid model presented herein is the combined application of the geographic information systems (GIS) and the multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) with the fuzzy DEMATEL method in order to make rural housings' suitability map. The sixteen criteria were clustered into four groups, namely physical, natural, environmental and socio-economic group. The FDEMATEL participatory method was applied for groups/criteria weight coefficients calculation regarding with their influence and sensitivity on rural housings' development in reservoir areas under (mass) tourism. Total 146 respondents participated in the weighting process. With the aid of the weighted linear combination (WLC), the final rural housings' suitability map is evaluated for the study area reported on grading scale of 0–1, from least suitable areas to most suitable area. Here, it shows that 17.30% of Alange municipality has a most suitable area for rural housings' development after considering groups with stable sensitive analysis. The proposed methodology and the results, therefore, can be used for sustainable and resilient planning policy at all government levels in the decision-making process due to its flexible character. Thus, this approach could support to verify suitable housings’ sites in areas with similar geographical situations and conditions.