GIS-based suitability assessment of stone crushing site selection using AHP, Fuzzy-AHP, and Fuzzy-TOPSIS models: Navigating towards sustainable environmental management in Brahmani-Dwarka interfluve
Bhaskar Mandal, Kaushalendra Prakash Goswami, Sharmistha Mondal
Abstract
The primary objective of this present study is to carry out the suitability assessment for establishing prospective and existing stone-crushing units in Brahmani-Dwarka Interfluve, which has 764 operational units. The significance of this present study lies in its pioneering effort to identify appropriate locations for such a polluting industry that has not been explored in existing literature. The study utilized the AHP and Fuzzy-AHP to determine the weight of various criteria and sub-criteria. Fuzzy-TOPSIS was employed to identify suitable alternatives for new units, while a sensitivity analysis examined how changes in criteria weight affected those alternatives. The ROC-AUC curve was used to validate the robustness of the models. Results indicated that 144.22 km 2 and 154.44 km 2 areas were classified as low to very low suitable according to AHP and FAHP, respectively, while 144.45 km 2 and 113.36 km 2 areas were deemed very highly suitable. The assessment of existing units revealed that 577 units (AHP) and 493 units (FAHP) were located in low to very low suitable zones, with 12 (AHP) and 24 (FAHP) units in highly suitable areas. FTOPSIS identified 10 potential sites, with Site 1 being the most suitable. Sensitivity analysis indicated Site 5 was most responsive to changes in criteria weight. The AHP and FAHP models achieved AUC values of 0.719 and 0.815, respectively, demonstrating good prediction accuracy and confirming the model's robustness. The findings of the study will help policymakers, planners, and stakeholders develop environmentally friendly site selection strategies and policies in the study region or analogous region.