Analytical Hierarchy Process Application in Urban Sustainability Indicators Prioritization

Urban population is increasing rapidly for many reasons, fast increase in the country’s total population, more job opportunities, better living standards, and availability of reliable utility services in the cities. This trend is predicted to continue for decades to come, therefore, managing urban cities on a sustainable way is a challenge that receives increasing attention from policy-makers and researchers. Many developed countries have established some sets of sustainability indicators for the urban areas. This paper presents review on the sustainability indicators published in international journals and have prepared a list of indicators that are suitable to the Malaysian urban environment. We have produced this list of sustainability indicators based on sorting criteria including accessibility, variability in spatial and temporal directions, and measurability We used analytical hierarchy process to rank and prioritize urban sustainability indicators for Malaysia. The results, data analysis and prioritization of a set of urban sustainability indicators are presented in this paper. The survey included a group of 15 postgraduate students given questionnaires consisting of four sections; Economic Development, Social Stability, Environmental Conservation and Institutional Strength.