A Fuzzy Multi-Criteria Evaluation Framework for Urban Sustainable Development

• Main Authors: Wei-Ming Wang, Hsiao-Han Peng
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2020-03-01
• Series: Mathematics
• Subjects: quality of life (qol); life–city; fuzzy multi-criteria decision analysis (fmcda); fuzzy delphi method (fdm); fuzzy extent analytic hierarchy process (feahp)
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7390/8/3/330

With the rapid transformations of living environments, urban sustainable development has become an important global issue for urban growth and management. In order to effectively implement urban sustainable development, it is necessary to establish an operational action model based on its nature. This study first clarifies the core value of urban quality of life (QOL), and proposes the corresponding concept of Life−City. A variety of factors may affect the content of Life−City, and when assessing the objectives of sustainable development, there are uncertain properties and value judgments. Therefore, Life−City evaluation is a fuzzy multi-criteria decision analysis (FMCDA) problem. This study constructs the dimensions and the possible impact factors for urban QOL development. The fuzzy Delphi method (FDM) is employed to screen evaluation criteria and develop the overall evaluation framework. In order to effectively convert the subjective and perceptual issues in the framework into objective and quantitative processing, this study adopts the extent analysis method on fuzzy AHP (EAFAHP) to aggregate experts’ comments as empirical evaluation. The research results can convert the abstract concept of sustainability to the evaluation of Life−City specific operation, and serve as guidance for self-examination of current status and future policy development.