A fuzzy-based methodological proposal for analysing green areas in urban neighborhoods

The reduction of the green areas due to the growth of the built-up areas has affected the environmental quality in cities. Nevertheless, some uncertainties remain about the adequate amount of such areas in the urban landscape. This study aims at introducing a methodology to support analysis of green areas in urban neighborhoods. The methodological proposal was based on a fuzzy expert system (FES), a soft computing approach capable of dealing with uncertainties in complex multiple-criteria decision-making. As empirical research, some case studies to introduce and validate the proposed methodology were performed. An agglomerative hierarchical clustering, followed by a Kruskal-Wallis test and multiple pairwise comparisons using the Conover-Iman procedure (significance 0.05), demonstrated that the FES was able to provide outcomes consistent with hypothetical situations, simulated as ideal and critical conditions of green areas. In conclusion, our findings indicate that the methodological proposal based on FES is a promising tool for complex case-by-case analysis in urban neighborhoods.