Level of suitability

 A land suitability analysis

examines selected land
characteristics to
determine the level of
suitability, and ranks
available land accordingly.
 The most suitable land will
be used for development
first.
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Set of factors for ranking (the 8 steps)
The study of selection/ ranking of land for a
specific project consist of 8 major steps:

 Select a land use type for analysis.

 Select factors to be considered and attribute
values of each factor.
 Determine a score for each factor attribute.
 Weigh the factors.

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the 8 steps
 Calculate a composite score from the
attribute values and weight it for each factor;
 Rank the combined scores to establish
suitability levels
 Identify available land based on existing land
uses;
 Compare with comprehensive plan, zoning
or other land use controls that further
remove unavailable land.
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 Step 1) Select a land use type for analysis

 A land suitability analysis

focuses on one type of land
development at a time.

 Normally, the development

can be grouped as
commercial, industrial, or
residential use.

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 Step 2: Select factors to be considered and
attribute values of each factor

 The purpose of a land suitability

analysis is to analyze the physical
and location attributes of land in
relation to a particular land use.
(for e.g to establish cement
industry in cherat)

 Review the local situation

 Involve stakeholders
 Environmental degradation
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 Step 2: contd
Normally 5 factors are considered
 Slope

 Flood plains

 Soil features

 Distance to sewer

 Distance to highway/ roads

 For example flat land more desirable for industrial construction

(>5% not acceptable)
 Safety: no residential construction on steep slope (land slide)
 Steep slope ►increase in runoff ► soil loss.
 Simillar is the case for flood and sewer plus distance from road. 6
Step 3:
After determining the factor ► attributes
need to be determined
Attribute ► variation ► at any 4 levels
 Nominal

 Ordinal

 Interval

 Ratio

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Step 3: Determine score for each attribute of each
factor:
Land suitability score for residential development
Factors Attributes Score

Slope ≤5% 5

5% to ≤ 15% 4

15% to ≤ 25% 2

› 25% 1

Flood plain Inside 100- year flood plain 1

Outside 100- year fl ood plain 5

Soil Slight 5
Classification
Moderate 3

High 1

Distance to ≤ 1 Km 5
major road
1 to ≤ 1 Km 4

2 to ≤ 5 Km 3

› 5Km 2
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Step 4: Weigh the factor
 Relative importance of each factor is reflected in the
weights assigned to each factor.
 Different weights assigned to different factors.
 When weights are expressed as % age, the total of
all factors must be equal to 100%.

For example the most important factor for

residential projects is Slope and the least important
are roads. Thus they are represented by a weight
of 30% and 10% respectively.

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Step 4:
Weights of land suitability factors

FACTORS WEIGHT

Slope 30%

Flood plain 20%

Soil classified based on restriction to on- 15%

site septic system

Sewer districts
25%
Distance to major roads
10%

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Step 5:
Calculate Composite Score and weights
S = ∑ si . wi
S= sum of product of individual weights w i and score si for each factor i.
For instance, for a piece of land
 With a slope of 20%, (si =2, wi =0.3).
 Outside the 100-year flood plain, (s i =5, wi =0.2).
 Within the sewer district, (s i =5, wi =0.25).
 Soil has moderate restrictions, (s i =3, wi =0.15).
 Major roads are 2 km away, (s i =4, wi =0.1).

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 Composite Score and weights
The composite suitability score for this land would be
S= (Slope score x slope wt.) + (flood plain score x flood
plain wt) + (sewer score x sewer wt.) + (soil score x soil
wt.) + (highway score x highway wt.)

S= (2 x 0.3) + (5 x 0.2) + (5 x 0.25) + (3 x 0.15) +

(4 x 0.1)
= 0.6 + 1+ 1.25 + 0.45 + 0.4
= 3.7
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 Step 6:
Rank the combine score to establish
suitability levels
 After calculating composite scores, the
land can be compared and ranked
based on scores,
 The highest score ► the more suitable
land for the proposed project.
 The least score ► the least suitable
land for the proposed project

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Suitability levels
 The suitability scores can be sued as a guide for land use
decision making.
 The most suitable land has a value above 4 and least suitable
has a value of 0.
Composite Score Land suitability class

0 to 1 Least Suitable

1.1 to 2 Less Suitable

2.1 to 3
Moderate Suitable
3.1 to 4
More Suitable
4.1 to 5
Most Suitable
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Suitability levels
The lowest possible scores for the five factors
discussed above are,
1 for slope, 1 for flood plain, 1 for soil, 2 for sewer
service district and 2 for distance to major roads,

Thus the minimum possible composite score is,

S = 1x 0.3 (Slope) + 1x 0.2 (flood plain) + 1x 0.25 (soil)

+ 2x 0.15 (sewer) + 2x 0.1 (roads)
= 0.3+0.2+0.25+0.3+0.2
= 1.25 15
 Step 7:Identify the available land

 Land use vary in intensity.

 Different land use can be based on human
impacts.
 Undeveloped/ forest/ barren land ► less
human impact ► new development likely
there
 Generally we never convert a higher
intensive land use to lower intensive land
use
 1)It’s the open spaces, barren land that can
be chosen for residential projects and not the
agricultural land
 2)Land suitability is taken into consideration
 From 1) and 2) we can identify the available
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land.
Step 8: comprehensive plans/
zoning/regulations

 Development to occur in permitted areas as

per regulations, zoning.
 If area reserved for conservation purpose ► no
residential or developmental projects allowed.
 For instance in US law, no residential
development within 400m of major
highways.

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Summarizing

The main advantage of LUSA is

 Choose the most suitable area
 Exclude the unsuitable areas
 Helping tool in zoning
 Helping tool for future development
 Conserve environment and help in sustainability

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