Theses and Dissertations

Date of Award

8-2021

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Civil Engineering

First Advisor

Dr. Mohamed Abdel-Raheem

Second Advisor

Dr. Jong-Min Kim

Third Advisor

Dr. Ahmed Mahmoud

Abstract

As climate change continues to alter the temperature of the cities, various urban heat island mitigation strategies (UHIMSs) are now needed to be employed to mitigate the effects of increasing temperatures. However, to ensure their resilience and sustainability, the effectiveness of such strategies should be evaluated using a set of criteria. According to a review of the literature, there is a need for a comprehensive model and performance assessment tool that considers the various characteristics and features that are significant in assessing whether the chosen strategies are viable candidates for minimizing the effects of urban heat island (UHI). As a result, the primary purpose of this study is to develop a decision support system (DSS) to assist decision-makers in reducing the effects of the UHI by allowing them to choose the most viable mitigation method/technique based on resiliency and sustainability concerns. The DSS would function as a performance measure selecting tool in form of a quick-selection-guide-sheet of most effective method(s)/technique(s). Therefore, this study has identified, categorized, and organized affecting parameters in a comprehensive hierarchical framework based on sustainability and resilience. The system starts by creating a list of objectives (sustainability andresilience), criteria (economic, environmental, social, vulnerability, and resistance to change), attributes, and the most used mitigation methods for the UHI effect. The system's second component is the main engine (using the Weighted Scoring method (WSM)), which is responsible for determining the best mitigation strategies - the system's predefined goal. The WSM is being used in this study to develop matrices to do a pairwise comparison of criteria, assign a relative weight to each criterion, score each strategy against each criterion, and calculate the weighted scores based on gathered data from experts elicitation exercises. Decision-makers can analyze the UHIMSs after the matrix has been set up with weighted scores to find the best method that fits their needs (system objective). The third key component is the user-friendly interface, which combines the previous two components of the system and applies spreadsheets to present the best feasible mitigation strategy. The contribution this study seeks is to develop a DSS resembling a knowledge-sharing platform to support stakeholders like urban planners, architects, decision-makers, and policymakers in the extraction of UHIMSs, and in a wide scope, the expected benefit would be more sustainable more resilient design. In addition, this study serves as a foundation for the establishment of a dynamic computer-based decision support system (DSS) for selecting the most efficient UHIMSs.

Comments

Copyright 2021 Bahareh Bathaei. All Rights Reserved.

https://go.openathens.net/redirector/utrgv.edu?url=https://www.proquest.com/dissertations-theses/decision-support-system-select-most-effective/docview/2596076141/se-2?accountid=7119

Download

Share

COinS