Research on the evaluation of the livability of outdoor space in old residential areas based on the AHP and fuzzy comprehensive evaluation: a case study of Suzhou city, China

Abstract

China has experienced rapid urban development and renewal. However the infrastructure of many old residential areas (ORAs) more than 20 years old is deteriorating, affecting the living standards of residents and urban vitality. In this paper, the outdoor space of ORAs is studied. The aim is to discuss the livability evaluation system for the outdoor space of ORAs, to analyze the weights of elements, and to analyze the livability grade of ORAs, providing a clear reference for decision makers and city managers. Doing so requires the use of relatively fair and objective elements. As a comprehensive multicriteria decision-making tool, the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) is used to solve these problems. This paper optimizes the element weights obtained through the AHP by using the expert judgment weight method, and it evaluates the livability score and grade by using fuzzy comprehensive mathematics.The results show that the parameters obtained by optimizing the element weights have clear meanings and that the fuzzy comprehensive evaluation (FCE) results are robust. Taking the elements with high weights but low FCE scores as the priority targets, incorporating existing design guidelines and cases, this paper proposes a transformation scheme for the object plot and visualizes the analysis results.

Keywords

• old residential areas (oras)
• outdoor space
• analytic hierarchy process (ahp)
• fuzzy comprehensive evaluation (fce)
• livability