A decision support system for the residential land development site selection process

An important phase within the overall residential land development process is preliminary project planning which is a highly coordinated effort involving a variety of decisions that are made by a number of individuals. Since residential land development is a risk taking venture, scientific methods must be applied to the process in order to mitigate the level of uncertainty and assist in the successful completion of the project. A critical decision faced by the project owner and the development team, during the preliminary planning phase, is the initial selection of the most appropriate site for a proposed development. The process of site selection inherently includes decisions involving: the conceptual plan, market research, feasibility studies, the regulatory conditions, the site characteristics, and off-site factors. All of these elements comprise both quantitative and qualitative factors that must be considered during site selection. This research effort focuses on the development of a decision support system that can assist the development team during the site selection process. The analytical hierarchy process is the quantitative tool that is applied to the site selection decision support system. The use and applicability of the decision support system to the residential site selection process is demonstrated in a case study site example. Appropriate discussions and conclusions are also provided.