Shaping the Future of Datça Peninsula: Exploring Suitable Settlement Areas and Land-Use Scenarios

This study examines land use/land cover (LULC) scenarios and identifies areas suitable for settlement on the Datça Peninsula. Datça is one of the four peninsulas in the Aegean Sea and is administratively part of the Muğla province of Türkiye. Forests prevail across the landscape, especially around the stretch shaped by the Datça–Marmaris highway, while agriculture is concentrated on the Datça Plain, Cumali, and Yaka. This study aims to determine land use scenarios and identify suitable areas for future development and settlement. The GeoSOS-FLUS software package, developed based on Markov Chains and Artificial Neural Networks for land use simulations, was used. Aware of the limitations of simulations that do not consider land suitability, a suitability analysis was performed using the Best-Worst Method (BWM), one of the Multi-Criteria Decision Making approaches. Sixteen criteria within four groups—topography, socioeconomics, location, and environment—were evaluated. The suitability analysis results were compared with simulated land use scenarios, and the most suitable areas for future settlements in the Datça Peninsula were identified. This integrated approach provides important information for the sustainable development of the region and the shaping of land use planning.