A GIS-MCDA Based Evaluation of the Quality of Life Variations in Anuradhapura Municipal Council: A Policy Implication Road Map for Human Well-being

Quality of Life (QoL) is a multidimensional concept that measures a person’s well-being and is a phenomenon that includes both positive and negative aspects of life. Though various attempts have been taken to measure and map the spatial variations of QoL at the international context, there is a significant lack of such studies in Sri Lanka. Thus, this study attempted to quantify and map the spatial variations of the QoL in Anuradhapura Municipal Council (MC).The Geographical Information Systems (GIS) integrated Multi-criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) framework, aided by Analytical Hierarchical Process (AHP) was used for the study. Twelve criteria maps were derived using the Urban Development Authority (UDA) shapefile data layers, field survey data with attribute ranks, and criteria weights from the experts’ opinion survey. These thematic layers were integrated using the Weighted Linear Combination (WLC) method in the GIS environment to map the variations of QoL in the study area. The AHP approach was used to calculate the weights of those criteria, and the operations were carried out using the weighted overlay tool in ArcMap 10.8. The derived QoL index consisted of four different classes: high, moderate, low, and least QoL. The results identified that 10.6% of the areas were in the highest QoL category while 39.7%, % and 10.4% areas were in the low and least category respectively. The center and northern part of the area were identified as having a high QoL, and it was confirmed that all the essential socio-economic resources are concentrated in that region. The gradient analysis revealed that only the first 1.5 km from the city center have the highest QoL zone, which covers 20% of land area. The outcomes of this research help decision-makers to allocate the said resources across the region to improve the human well-being and balance regional development. In the future, findings of this research may be used as an initial road map for regional planning in the Anuradhapura area.