Efficacy of cellular automata (CA) and GIS for making decisions about urban land use planning

It is a commonly held belief that urban land use planning and urban planning systems play a pivot of role in the efficient use of land in urban areas. In fact, there is a great need for modern methods and recourses, which can assist urban planners to make cost/effective decisions about the efficient use of land. Accordingly, this study aimed to investigate the efficacy of Cellular Automata and GIS for improving urban land use planning in the 1st municipal district of Isfahan City For this purpose, CA and GIS models were utilized to stimulate urban land use and predict the resultant changes by creating a number of virtual hierarchically ordered scenarios. The findings revealed that the first scenario defined by CA and GIS decision support system was most practical for residential development and developments of welfare services in the residential neighborhoods under the Jurisdiction of the 1st Municipal District of Isfahan city

Urban Land use Planning, Decision Support System, Cellular Automata, GIS, 1st Municipal District of Isfahan city