Analysis of Life Quality in a Tropical Mountain City Using a Multi-Criteria Geospatial Technique: A Case Study of Kandy City, Sri Lanka

Dissanayake Dmslb, Takehiro Morimoto, Yuji Murayama, Manjula Ranagalage and Perera Enc
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Dissanayake Dmslb: Department of Environmental Management, Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, Rajarata University of Sri Lanka, Mihintale 50300, Sri Lanka
Takehiro Morimoto: Faculty of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Tsukuba, 1-1-1, Tennodai, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8572, Japan
Yuji Murayama: Faculty of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Tsukuba, 1-1-1, Tennodai, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8572, Japan
Manjula Ranagalage: Department of Environmental Management, Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, Rajarata University of Sri Lanka, Mihintale 50300, Sri Lanka
Perera Enc: Department of Regional Science and Planning, SANASA Campus, Kegalle 71000, Sri Lanka

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 7, 1-22

Abstract: The blooming of urban expansion has led to the improvement of urban life, but some of the negative externalities have affected the life quality of urban dwellers, both directly and indirectly. As a result of this, research related to the quality of life has gained much attention among multidisciplinary researchers around the world. A number of attempts have been made by previous researchers to identify, assess, quantify, and map quality of life or well-being under various kinds of perspectives. The objectives of this research were to create a life quality index (LQI) and identify the spatial distribution pattern of LQI in Kandy City, Sri Lanka. Multiple factors were decomposed, a hierarchy was constructed by the multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) method, and 13 factors were selected under two main criteria—environmental and socioeconomic. Pairwise comparison matrices were created, and the weight of each factor was determined by the analytic hierarchy process (AHP). Finally, gradient analysis was employed to examine the spatial distribution pattern of LQI from the city center to the periphery. The results show that socioeconomic factors affect the quality of life more strongly than environmental factors, and the most significant factor is transportation. The highest life quality zones (26% of the total area) were distributed around the city center, while the lowest zones represented only 9% of the whole area. As shown in the gradient analysis, more than 50% of the land in the first five kilometers from the city center comes under the highest life quality zone. This research will provide guidance for the residents and respective administrative bodies to make Kandy City a livable city. It the constructed model can be applied to any geographical area by conducting necessary data calibration.

Keywords: life quality index (LQI); Kandy city; AHP; MCDM; gradient analysis; Sri Lanka (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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