Urbanization is a continuous process and it results in attracting people to urban areas for
better living. As a result demand for residential land is prominent in the surroundings of cities
and urban sprawl is a common phenomenon that exists in most developed and developing
countries. Therefore cities face with the most challengeable task of providing land with better
infrastructure to fulfill this demand. In this case situation of developing countries is more
aggravated due to the lack of proper planning regulations and economic inefficiency. This is
a common phenomenon in the city of Colombo which is the commercial capital of Sri Lanka.
It is still developing and gradually residential demand pressure is being exerted on
surrounding urban areas. Planning regulations are not strong enough to avoid negative
consequences of urban sprawl. Therefore most of the residential areas are unable to meet
better living conditions. Therefore identification of suitable land for residential development
is the most important task in planning and it is observed that present zoning regulations
cannot fulfill this requirement. Selection of suitable land for residential purposes is a complex
process in multifunctional pattern of urban areas and a scientific approach has been used for
that.
Geographic Information System (GIS) is a powerful tool that can be used to analyze spatial
data and its sophisticated analysis functionalities with multi criteria evaluation provide a
better approach for suitability analysis. This paper aims to do a suitability analysis to identify
possible locations for residential development in the Colombo Urban Area. GIS with Multicriteria
Evaluation (MCE) is used to analyze data. The process of land suitability analysis
involved evaluation and grouping of specific areas of land in terms of their suitability for a
defined use. Integrated GIS and MCE process add some valuable insight to a strong analysis
platform for finding suitable residential locations. This research aims to demarcate suitable
areas for residential development using the above techniques. The scientific classification
used is in line with the zoning plan of the study area and it can be used as a guide map to the
zoning plan of the study area