APPLICATION OF THE AHP METHOD IN THE SELECTION OF SHELTER LOCATIONS IN EXTREME SITUATIONS: CASE STUDY OF THE CITY OF NOVI SAD

Historically speaking, the need to protect the population, especially from the dangers of war, encouraged the construction and development of various types of protective facilities. Over time, these facilities have adapted to the development of weapons, technological progress and economic opportunities of societies, reflecting their constant aspiration to improve security. Today, in the modern urban environment, the selection of shelter locations is an extremely complex and responsible task that requires the coordination of several professional areas, such as urban planning, logistics and crisis management, with the aim of effective planning and protection of the population. The decision-making process must encompass a wide range of quantitative and qualitative criteria, including infrastructure availability, distance from potential sources of danger, capacity of facilities and accessibility to users. In this paper, the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) was applied as a multi-criteria decision-making method for identifying the most favorable shelter locations in the territory of the city of Novi Sad. The results of the research indicate the importance of applying the AHP method in the planning of the protection and rescue system, whereby the resulting model can be used as a basis for decision-making in other urban areas with similar characteristics