Progression of Greenway Corridors Through Conflict: Cellular Automata Simulation and AHP Evaluation

Much of the land transformation responsible for fragmentation of open landscapes occurs in rural and rural–urban fringe regions. Greenways provide connectivity between core open landscapes in these regions, sustaining natural ecosystems and preserving traditional, recreational, and visual functionalities. Developing such greenways, however, involves growing dynamic conflicts with societal needs for housing, commerce, industrial, and transportation areas. A new cellular automata simulation algorithm is presented that allows to represent the dynamic interaction between inhibitory and encouraging factors affecting expansion and connectivity of green landscape zones. Routes of six corridor alternatives, connecting three main core nature areas in the development-threatened northern Israel, were delineated based on simulation results. These corridors were evaluated using a new method based on the analytic hierarchy process that considers the direction of influence, positive or negative, of certain criteria when computing the corridors’ scores and implements attitudes of two expert groups — pragmatists and idealists — in these evaluations.