Cemetery Site Selection using Fuzzy Spatial Decision Systems (Case Study: Isfahan city)

As the pattern of urban development, especially in the developing countries, shows that the density of activities and volume of settlement in the cities are increasing. These increases reflect the growing requirements and demands of citizens for public services.The absences of such facilities result in dissatisfaction of citizens. According to Muslims belief, cemeteries are one of the important places. Replete capacity of cemeteries and lack of studies for finding suitable new cemetery location in big cities in the next decade cause a serious crisis. Thus, the problem of finding a suitable location for a cemetery in city of Isfahan, one of the big cities in Iran, is addressed in this paper. In the first phaseof this study, the effective criteria are identified, and required spatial data are collected. Then, the fuzzy factor map of each layer is generated and multiplied to the weight of corresponding criterion. Afterwards, the maps are overplayed using fuzzy operators. According to evaluation of results, the selected potential locations for cemetery satisfy all economic, social, and environmental requirements.