A GIS-Based Framework for Sustainable Land-Use Decision-Making in Urban Renewal: A Case Study in Hong Kong

Land resources are very limited in many high-density cities such as Hong Kong, and land supply is the major concern of local governments in these regions. Urban renewal provides an effective channel for adjusting land-use allocation and improving land-use efficiency (in a sense, increasing land supply). Under these circumstances, this paper develops a GIS-based framework consisting of a planning support model and a land information database to support the decision-making process of sustainable land use in urban renewal. Specifically, general criteria for land-use decision-making in urban renewal (including sustainability criteria) and the sources of the associated data are identified. An integrated approach to quantitatively assessing land-use suitability for sites to be redeveloped is developed. At last, application of this proposed framework is reported by showing analysis results of land-use suitability. It is proved that the framework is a useful tool for both practitioners and researchers involved in sustainable land use for urban renewal.