Integrated Assessment of Environmental Sustainability and Urban Green Space Suitability using PCA-AHP with Zonal Prioritization: A Remote Sensing and GIS approach

Rapid urbanization in Dhaka, Bangladesh, has degraded environmental sustainability (ES) and reduced urban green space (UGS). This study aims to provide a novel geospatial framework by integrating the principal component analysis (PCA) to assess ES and analytical hierarchy process (AHP) to identify suitable zones for UGS development with zonal prioritization analysis (ZPA). Five major remote sensing indices: land surface temperature (LST), normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), water index (NDWI), built-up index (NDBI), and bareness index (NDBaI) and eleven factors: land use land cover change (LULC), population density, precipitation, elevation, distance from rivers, NO 2 , slope, distance from roads and soil type along with LST and NDVI were analyzed to evaluate ES and UGS suitability, respectively. PCA revealed NDVI (32.19 %) as the most influential factors and covered 84.59 % of the total variance. Moreover, the ES assessment classified 39.13 %, 32.58 %, and 25.32 % of the study area as moderately, highly and lowly sustainable, respectively. The AHP results identified LST (22.58 %) as the most crucial parameters for UGS suitability detection, with a consistency ratio of 0.0624 (<0.1). UGS suitability analysis classified 57.47 % and 40.13 % areas as moderately suitable and suitable, respectively. Furthermore, ZPA identified that 85.48 % of the land within environmentally unsustainable zones presented moderate potential for UGS development. The findings of this research may provide essential guidance for policymakers and urban planners by identifying priority zones where targeted UGS expansion can reduce heat stress, support environmental restoration, and promote evidence-based green infrastructure planning aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). • The study assessed environmental sustainability and urban green space suitability. • PCA and AHP with zonal prioritization were applied using remote sensing and GIS data. • Dhaka District shows 28.29 % land under low or very low environmental sustainability. • Zonal prioritization found 85.48 % of unsustainable areas with moderate greening. • The framework provides a decision-support tool for sustainable urban planning.