Abstract

To make MDGs a reality, especially as it affects the built environment, and to conform with the UN Agenda 21 and Habitat Agenda summed up in the concept of urban physical sustainability, there is a need to rapidly improve the quality of decisions on land use, conversion and urban renewal in developing countries, especially with regards to physical developments. The potential of SDSS in determining optimum sites for physical developments within the built environment was the focus of this study. The SDSS developed took into consideration existing and future planning scenarios with the aim of creating a sustainable built environment. To do this, a framework for capturing existing land use was generated and the SDSS was used to generate physical development expansion scenarios of the Obafemi Awolowo University. The system facilitated integrated procedures for determining optimal sites for incremental physical development in such a way as to minimize impact on other aspects of development. The application of this system shows that planning especially as it relate to the urban environment can be made more flexible, dynamic and responsive to timely decisions on geographic space. The results of the spatial analyses show among other things the need to refocus development within the built environment for efficiency and sustainability of the near balance between physical development and the natural environment.

Key words: Spatial Decision Support System (SDSS), GIS, MDGs, sustainable physical developments.