Analyzing land use diversity around Addis Ababa Light Rail Transit stations: Integrating AHP and GIS

Land use diversity is the main prerequisite for sustainable urban development models such as Transit Oriented Development (TOD). Understanding the existing land use composition is essential when planning to implement TOD. This study assesses the level of land use diversity within an 800 m radius of four stations along the Addis Ababa Light Rail Transit (LRT), located in the central Business District (CBD). The methodology integrates the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) with the Geographical Information System (GIS) using the Weighted Overlay Analysis tool. This method assigns relative weights to key land-use diversity indicators using the AHP method. The weighted layers are overlaid in GIS to generate composite land use diversity represented by three different colors (green, yellow, and red representing high, moderate, and low diversity, respectively) on a spatial map. The results of the analysis revealed that 68.18% of the study area exhibits a moderate level of land use diversity, followed by 18.91% high and 12.91% low levels. Spatial analysis also revealed the ratio of diversity variance among the four stations, indicating Autobus Tera station has the highest level of diversity among the others. The results offer a clear visual representation of diversity levels and provide valuable input for planners and decision-makers seeking to promote more diversified land use to enhance an integrated, transitsupportive urban form. This research demonstrates the effectiveness of integrating AHP-GIS as a decision-support tool for assessing land use diversity and guiding strategic interventions to improve.