Suitable Abattoir Site Identification for Sustainable Urban Planning and Development: Case of Mekelle City, Tigray, Ethiopia
No Thumbnail Available
Date
2024-11
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Addis Ababa University
Abstract
The fast rate of urbanization presents new difficulties for land management and urban planning, particularly in managing essential services such as abattoirs. In the same fashion, the rapid urbanization of Mekelle city in Tigray, Ethiopia, necessitates sustainable urban planning, particularly in the context of essential infrastructure like abattoirs. In order to reduce negative environmental impacts, optimize land use, and guarantee public health and safety, selecting suitable abattoir site becomes increasingly important as towns and cities grow. Inadequately sited abattoirs can pose significant risks to public health, the environment, and urban developme nt. Hence, this thesis presents a comprehensive study on the use of Geographic Information System (GIS) and Remote Sensing (RS) technologies for identifying suitable abattoir site to ensure sustainable urban planning and development, with a specific focus on Mekelle City, Tigray, Ethiopia. The study integrates a variety of spatial datasets, including land use, topography, surface water, transportation accessibility, and population density, to develop an effective site suitability model. Environmental and socio-economic criteria such as land use land cover, elevation, slope, road, stream, settlements, industrial areas, social services, landfill sites, high tension lines and airport are taken into account to ensure that the locations of established abattoirs hinder the potential of environmental contamination, reduce the possibility of conflicts with nearby residential areas, and adhere to regulations. The study utilizes Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP), the most popular methods of Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) and weighted overlay techniques within the GIS environment, to evaluate potential abattoir sites and to rank them based on their suitability. Remote sensing data further refines the site selection process by offering critical insights into environmental factors and changes in land cover. According to the findings of the study, the produced final abattoir site suitability map comprises an area of 52.68 km2 (16.41%) unsuitable, 69.29 km2 (21.59%) moderately suitable, 193.68 km2 (60.34%) suitable, and 5.35 km2 (1.66%) highly suitable. The produced abattoir site suitability map reveals that the north, northwest, west, and southwest parts of the city contain highly suitable sites. Finally, the most suitable abattoir site is selected from the three candidate sites after comparing each other regarding their environmental, socio-economic and regulatory suitability. The study’s result suggested that the selected site is situated at the north periphery of Mekelle City, which is most suitable for abattoir development, considering both the current and future urban expansion of Mekelle City. The study’s findings underscore the importance of integrating geospatial technologies into urban planning processes to enhance the sustainability, health, and resilience of rapidly growing urban centers like Mekelle.
Description
Keywords
Abattoir, Mekelle, Suitable site selection, Urban planning