Balancing Urban Green Space and Residential Infill Development: A Spatial Multi-Criteria Approach Based on Practitioner Engagement

The objectives in consolidating the urban form and preserving green spaces are often in conflict in growing cities. The usability of spatial multi-criteria decision analysis (SMCDA) was tested as a tool for integrating residential infill development and urban green spaces in the City of Jarvenpaa, Finland. In collaboration with local practitioners, this study focused on the benefits and challenges of SMCDA. The results were based on two workshops with the practitioners along with comprehensive GIS analyses based on a wide range of available data. The practitioners saw SMCDA as a useful method to bring together a variety of factors related to infill development. They highlighted the importance of the method’s transparency, emphasising the comprehensive explanation of each step of the method. Better understanding of the impact of individual criteria weightings on the results was mentioned as one of the key future developments of the method.