The analysis of the land use suitability for settlement at the east of Gallipoli Strait (Dardanelles)

This work aimed the realization of land use suitability analysis for settlement at the east of Gallipoli Strait (Dardanelles) which is having the surface of 1279 km². Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) method, one of the Multi Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) analyses, was used for land use suitability for settlement based on the natural environmental components. The integration to Geographical Information Systems (GIS) of weights obtained by AHP was done by linear combination technics. According to the obtained and synthesized results at different stages of the study, the percentages of suitable, half-suitable, less-suitable and non-suitable areas were determined as 7.2 % (91.8 km²), 12.7 % (162.8km²), 2.9 % (37.3 km²) and 77.2 % (987.1 km²) respectively. According to the recommendation map obtained from the results of analysis which is not including the present settlement areas, the less sloped and elevated areas, the qualified forest areas, the agricultural areas, the areas directly affect the drinkable and useful water sources and the irrigatable agricultural areas were determined as non-suitable for settlement. The spatial expansion of the present primary settlement and second homes areas is occurred as parallel to the sea-shore and this expansion mostly destructs the forest and agricultural areas located parallel to the sea-shore.