A Smart growth evaluation system based on Analytic Hierarchy Process

With the acceleration of urbanization, urban planning becomes more and more important. We did some in-depth discussion about sustainable city and smart growth initiatives in this paper. Firstly, we define a metric which is a comprehensive index to measure the success of smart growth of a city. On the basis of a comprehensive analysis of the all factors that affect the smart growth of urban, we use the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), which is a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods to define the metric. We select the smart growth index as the target layer, the three E's of sustainability (Economically prosperous, socially Equitable, and Environmentally Sustainable) as the principle layer. Besides, we select seven indicators (e.g. Gini coefficient, Employment growth rate) from a series of factors by using Cluster analysis and Principal component analysis to constitute the solution layer. Hence, we get a three-layer evaluation system. Secondly, we select Pittsburgh as our evaluation object. Using the metric defined and the data collected, we get the evaluation results of success of smart growth. Pittsburgh's current development plan does well in meeting the smart growth principle. Thirdly, according to the problems reflected in the evaluation results, combined with the local specific situation, we make the plans of sustainable development for the it-strengthening infrastructure construction of public transportation preferentially and constructing some distinctive places for residence. The suggestions and measures based on the evaluation results will be helpful for the sustainable development of cities.