Effectiveness of School Site Decisions on Land Use Policy in the Planning Process

Abstract

The school site is a key element of the educational process, as children spend a large amount of their time there. Schools that are well-located, designed within a systematic plan, safe, and operated in an efficient manner contribute to the development of society. Since land is a scarce resource, optimal land use is a spatial necessity. In developed societies, these usage preferences are planned and presented to decision-makers according to criteria, such as distance, slope, population, land use, etc., that are related to industry and agriculture. Suitable investment areas are often not mapped in development plans. This deficiency arising from planning also appears in the determination of school site locations. In this research, a real case study was conducted to solve the problem presented. The most used school sites’ criteria were determined from the literature and those criteria were weighted with the analytical hierarchy process method. A cost–surface map of the study region was produced and associated with the implementary development plan. It was obtained from the cost surface map that suitable school sites are planned for urban, commercial, or different purposes. Additionally, possible locations for the school site in the region were determined and mapped for a future planning purpose, and the sizes of existing school campus sites in the region were analyzed. When existing campus areas were evaluated according to the number of school students, we found that only 40% of the schools were suitable. As one of the major findings, 210 possible school sites with a size of at least 2 ha were determined and mapped in Giresun, Turkey. For these reasons, clearly identifying the investment areas and transferring them to the plans is essential for sustainability.