International Journal of Human Capital in Urban Management

Abstract BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Rapid and disorganized urban expansion in developing countries often leads to severe imbalances in land-use distribution, undermining the core principles of sustainable development. The critical problem lies in the disconnect between strategic master planning and field enforcement, where market-driven growth frequently cannibalizes ecological resources. Focusing on Nasiriyah City, Iraq—a historic urban center facing intense demographic pressures and unregulated commercial growth—this research holds significant importance as it diagnoses institutional zoning deviations using spatial tools, thereby offering a replicable, science-based model for secondary cities facing sustainability deficits. To address these challenges, the primary objective of this study is to evaluate spatial land-use changes from 1990 to 2020. The methodology employs a multi-stage spatial and analytical framework, in which a comparative historical analysis of urban growth phases is conducted using Geographic Information System tools, and the official 2011 international master plan for Modern Nasiriyah is cross-examined against contemporary aerial and field data to detect deviations in zoning compliance. FINDINGS: The spatial analysis revealed structural shifts in Nasiriyah's urban fabric over the past 30 years. Industrial land use increased from 533.5 hectares (44.2%) to 1081.8 hectares (37.4%), shifting primarily to northern zones aligned with dominant wind vectors to protect residential quarters. Conversely, commercial zones experienced massive expansion, growing from 481.3 hectares (39.8%) to 1606.5 hectares (55.6%). This commercial sprawl directly compromised public infrastructure, resulting in a critical deficit of recreational green space, which dropped from 16.0% to a mere 7.0% of the active urban footprint. CONCLUSION: Unregulated commercial growth has severely cannibalized municipal green reserves, highlighting a significant disconnect between master-planning designs and on-the-ground development. To secure a sustainable urban future for Nasiriyah, municipal authorities must urgently implement rigid land-use enforcement, revitalize the Euphrates waterfront corridors, and structurally integrate the surrounding historic tourist clusters—such as the ancient City of Ur and the Mesopotamian Marshes—into the city's primary economic and spatial frameworks.

Abstract BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The destruction of urban areas has caused environmental, social and economic problems. One of these areas was identified in the Municipality of Humacao, on the east coast of Puerto Rico. This land is vast and unused, Fulladosa farm, located in the urban area of the Municipality of Humacao. It is suggested to create an eco-park in this place to restore this green space and help improve the environment.
METHODS: The collection of information through public documents offered information related to the study area. Through a physical spatial analysis, the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the study area could be obtained. This technique made it possible to identify areas with development potential to create an eco-park. Management strategies were developed for the development of the eco-park. Sustainable aspects were analysed to assess the viability of establishing an eco-park on the Fulladosa farm.
FINDINGS: The Fulladosa farm, located on Almodóvar Final Street in Barrio Cataño, has a high-density residential rating. According to the joint regulation, the use of parks in classified plots as high-density housing is not allowed. Therefore, a location query must be used to submit the project to the Licensing and Approval Office. Finally, it was found that the study area is prone to flooding. Flood insurance is also required, and the municipality must obtain the elevation certification required by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
CONCLUSION:The creation of this eco-park can provide environmental education, community interaction and recreational spaces. Completion of this project will generally provide environmental, social and economic benefits to the community.

Abstract The study was conducted with the objective of selecting suitable site for urban green space development of Arba Minch town in Ethiopia using geographic information system and remote sensing based multi criterion analysis. To produce suitable site, four parameters were considered, these are slope, land use land cover, distance to the main river and distance to road. Supervised classification followed by reclassification were done to classify suitable land use land cover for urban green space, digital elevation model data were used to generate slope suitability and buffering with different distance were used to produce suitable site using distance to the road and distance to the main river parameters’. Although a variety of techniques exist for the development of weight, one of the most promising techniques was the Pairwise Comparison Matrix in the context of a decision making process known as the Analytical Hierarchy Process and ratings were provided on a nine-point continuous scale, which ranges from 1 to 9. The most important parameters’ to predict the location of urban green space in the study area were distance to the main river followed by distance to the road as the experts’ rate it. Although, slope and land use land cover parameters’ are very important, they do not seem to have noticeable effect on urban green space development as of the experts’ response. So, on the bases of the ranks given by the experts the highest value was calculated for river which was 51.28%. The result shows that high suitability accounts 36.3 % of the total area, 45.5 % of the area is moderately suitable and the remaining 18.5 % of the town is not suitable for urban green space.

Abstract BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: As the population grows on the earth, transport and industrial sector have become the main parameters whose emissions increase pollutants like greenhouse gasses that have a snowballing impact on urban air quality and life in the area. This study aims to analyze the emission of greenhouse gases in the highly urbanized city of Karachi through Geographic information technique.
METHODS: This study used the Inverse distance weighted technique of Geographic information system to highlight the emission of greenhouse gases in ten different sites of Karachi, Pakistan. Target areas include Baloch colony, Clifton, Civic center, Garden police headquarters, II Chundrigar, Karimabad, Korangi, Nazimabad, SITE area and SUPARCO.
FINDING: Results showed that Baloch colony, Korangi, Nazimabad, SITE area and Garden police headquarter lies in the highly polluted areas among these ten sites of Karachi city. Karimabad with moderate pollution, II Chundriger and SUPARCO with low pollution rate and Clifton had very low pollution.
CONCLUSION: As all of the observed ten sites of the city have dense populations with heavy traffic and industrial pollution, there is a need to take serious steps towards areas indicated in this study to safeguard the people from the effects of GHG emission.  With the help of this study the general population and all concerned authorities with highly polluted areas, can be familiarized so that efficient and different ways to overcome the pollution, like plantation, can be applied.

Abstract The study was conducted with the objective of mapping landscape cover of Nechsar National park in Ethiopia to produce spatially accurate and timely information on land use and changing pattern. Monitoring provides the planners and decision-makers with required information about the current state of its development and the nature of changes that have occurred. Remote sensing and Geographical Information System have gained importance as powerful and efficient tools for land cover mapping of inaccessible area. Digital image classification is generally performed to produce land cover maps from remote sensing data, particularly for large areas. In this project, LANDSAT 7 ETM+ 2000 data was prepared for producing land cover map of study area, Nechisar National Park. Digital image processing techniques were conducted for the processes of radiometric and geometric correction and classification for land cover analysis. Additionally, training data for supervised classification were collected in the study area. Signature development was carried out and evaluated. Training sites were re-defined such that significant separability was obtained for all six bands of LANDSAT 7 EMT+. Finally, Supervised Classification was applied to classify the satellite image using Maximum Likelihood Classifier and five major land class cover were identified and mapped for the Nechsar National park. These are:  grassland, forest land, deciduous bush land, thickets, and water bodies.

Abstract Quality of urban environment as a subset of quality of life now represents the search for happiness and personal satisfaction in urban environment and is a broad concept which is concerned with the overall well-being in urban environment. The purpose of this study was to investigating the quality of urban environment according to the 5 urban landscape indicators; Land use, Green space, Population and Floor density, Accessibility and physical quality in Noor Town of Tabriz. In order to achieve this goal, the two-step research method has been used. The first step was field observation and conduction an organized interview with the citizens and the next step was the implementation of the results on the map using Geographical Information System analysis. The results of the research showed that the highest quality of urban environment related to green space and people are satisfied with the availability of green space in Noor Town. In contrast, the lowest quality of urban environment was related to the aspects of land use, such as the existence of wastelands in the southern parts of the study area and existence some industrial sites as air pollution sources near to the study area.

Abstract Land cover/land use categories are relevant components in land management. Understanding how land cover/land use change over time is necessary to assess the consequences of humans and natural stressors on the earth’s environment and resources. The aim of the study was to map and monitor the spatial and temporal change in land cover/land use for the periods of 1977, 1991 and 2016 and to predict change detection areas in Davidson County, Tennessee. The land cover/land use categories were classified using maximum likelihood algorithm and post classification comparison change detection analysis was performed. Classified image differencing technique was also used to predict change detection areas in Geographic Information System. The land cover/land use categories were successfully classified with a kappa value of about 78%. The land cover/land use classes changed significantly from 1977 to 2016 in Davidson County, Tennessee. Wetlands and bare land had a net decrease on average of about 97% between 1977 and 2016 whereas; developed areas and forest had a net increase on average of around 40% between 1977 and 2016. Urbanization appeared to be one of the main drivers of the change in land cover/land use.  This information could be used in land management and planning by environmental managers, policy makers and other stakeholders.

Abstract Northern areas of Pakistan have blessed with extremely beautiful natural landscapes, waterfalls, glaciated mountains, biodiversity rich valleys and forests and have extraordinary potential for ecotourism. Study is designed to propose potential sites for ecotourism in Kohistan, which is a least developed but biodiversity rich area of Pakistan.  Poor planning and mismanagement of tourism practices have already disturbed the ecosystems of these highlands; there is a need to involve the local community in environmental conservation practices. As ecotourism has the potential to provide various new means of income for local people. Geographic Information System serves as a decision support tool in finding suitable locations for ecotourism by taking multiple factors into account and helps in devising strategy by providing ecotourism potential sites map in return. Same approach has been applied in the study with use of remote sensing and Geographic Information System based hybrid techniques. Thematic layers from classified image are overlaid with slope, elevation, soil, and vegetation density layers. Multiple criteria based decision is made from weighted overlay analysis which has given potential sites map. These potential sites can be appropriate places for trekking, skiing, white water rafting, sailing, mountain resorts, forest reserves and sports related activities. It is expected that implementing ecotourism in Kohistan will bring positive change in their economic life and it will be equally beneficial for tourism industry of Pakistan.

Abstract Integrating a geographic information system and multi-criteria decision making methods have been lead to provide spatial multi-criteria decision making methods. In this study, the spatial potential of flooding was determined based on analytic network process and analytic hierarchy process. At first, six factors of flooding were determined as criteria. The criteria were the slope, hill-slope aspect, curve number, snow, and rainfall on snow and land use. Also, 25 sub-criteria were determined for them. Then, the criteria and their sub-criteria were weighted based on the analytic network process and the analytic hierarchy process methods. In the next stage, were integrated the weights of the criteria and sub-criteria on their layers in the IlWIS 3 and were calculated the relative weighted average of flooding as the spatial potential of flooding. The results showed that analytic network process and the analytic hierarchy process methods have a high capability to estimate the potential of flooding. The analytic hierarchy process method had calculated the relative weighted average of flooding in the control and sample sub-catchments 26 and 23 percent, respectively. Also, the analytic network process method had calculated it 25 and 21 percent. Based on the results, the both methods have the same capability to estimate the potential of flooding, but for comparison of sub-catchments, the analytic hierarchy process method is recommended, whereas the analytic network process method is recommended for studying one sub-catchment and spatial variations of flooding. Moreover, the analytic hierarchy process method is simpler than analytic network process method to estimate the potential of flooding.

Abstract An appropriate solid waste disposal has been a major problem in municipal environment. The use of landfills is the most economical and environmentally acceptable method for the disposal of solid waste all over the world. The analysis of spatial data and consideration of regulation and accepted criteria are part of the important elements in the site selection. The aim of this paper is to show how application of geographic information system could be used for siting solid waste disposal in Abadan city. In this paper, we consider types of soil suitable for solid waste disposals, land use/ land cover, transportation routes and proximity to surface water. Relative importance weight of each criteria in the geographic information system was determined and finally suitability map was prepared. Based on the final suitability map, appropriate solid waste landfill site was located in north east part of the study area. Select the best landfill site among the candidate ones, and   the output results can enable decision makers to make appropriate decisions to reduce the costs both in   economic and environmental criteria.