Multi-criteria analysis for locating new urban forests: An example from Isparta, Turkey

The concept of the urban forest is new for Turkey. Since many areas of Turkey are rapidly converting to urban and suburban landscapes, maintaining existing greenspace or creating new greenspace is important. Multi-criteria analysis (MCA) was used to determine the most suitable area for creating new urban forest in Isparta, Turkey, employing the approach used in Ghent, Belgium (Van Elegem et al., 2002. A methodology to select the best locations for new urban forests using multi-criteria analysis. Forestry 75, 13–22.). There are three stages in the MCA, the initial selection stage, the suitability stage, and the feasibility stage. In each stage, potential areas are evaluated according to several criteria. In the suitability stage, criteria are grouped according to three themes of the urban forest profile, recreational, ecological, and structure strengthening.The recreational theme was weighted more heavily than the others because surveys had shown this to be an important consideration for residents and greenspace management experts in Isparta. A sensitivity analysis did not show any change in the overall results as a consequence of the weighting. The two areas most appropriate for the creation of new urban forest in Isparta received high scores in the recreational theme due to their proximity to the city center.The flexibility of MCA was useful in adjusting criteria in each stage to adapt to contextual changes in Isparta. The flexibility of MCA should also expedite its application for other communities interested in creating new areas of urban forest. Application in other communities will probably require changing criteria, sub-criteria, and indicators according to local conditions and priorities. Input from local stakeholders facilitated the MCA and was likely an important reason that the results of the MCA were enthusiastically received by local officials and planners.