Abstract

Environmental spatial planning of urban coastal regions is critical for sustainable development and designing of coastal resilience in developing countries. The process of environmental spatial planning in coastal regions involves classification of areas into different categories by retaining the synergy between environmental conservation and urban development. Existing coastal regulations for classification of coastal regions in India are based on the subjective approaches. In this study, a quantitative approach is developed by coupling geospatial science and multicriteria decision making in which we prioritized the different physical coastal features quantitatively based on the environmental sensitivity of particular physical coastal feature for the integrated natural coastal ecosystem. Afterwards, these quantitative ranking values of coastal features are combined with linear weighting schemes to derive distinct categories of urban coastal regions spatially, where each category embodies the unique environmental sensitivity. A final map indicating the environmental sensitivity of different coastal regions is prepared. Uncertainty analysis for different weighting schemes was performed to assess the robustness of the developed approach. Finally, we carried out a comparative assessment of the prevailing method of coastal area classification being used by planning authorities and the application of this quantitative approach along the coast of Mumbai, India. Results of comparison clearly demonstrate the effectiveness of the quantitative approach for environmental spatial planning in urban coastal regions. Essentially, the method is found useful for highlighting the locations which need special consideration by planning authorities for the application of inclusive coastal management measures. Furthermore, this approach is modular and scalable, which will facilitate the environmental spatial planning of urban coastal regions based on scientific principles in different coastal cities in developing countries.