Encouraging urban planning and development practice to contribute to sustainable development. A methodology and a use case

One of the most complex challenges the tourism industry faces is keeping up to date with information technology developments caused by the globalisation of information and advances in technology. The development of robust decision support systems for tourism land use planning is a way to address this challenge. This paper demonstrates how a spatial decision support system (SDSS), called the Land Use Decision sUpport System (LUDUS), can contribute in allocating complex forms of tourism. The system combines an artificial intelligence technique, called ontologies, with Geographic Information Systems and object-oriented programming to support decision-making in spatial planning. The system consists of two subsystems: the Insert Data Subsystem and the Graphic Imaging and Decision Support Subsystem. The core of the system is an ontology that is aligned to a standard of the Open Geospatial Consortium, called Geosparql. The case study of this paper is the Mastichochoria area of Chios Island, Greece. Therefore, the structure of the ontology was modelled according to the provisions of Greek legislation. The results produced confirmed the correct coding and application of the system’s criteria. The validity, accuracy and reliability of the results were also confirmed. The adopted approach facilitates the identification of alternative options for allocating, among other land use types, complex forms of tourism development in suburban areas, by examining the provisions of the legal framework as well as their geology and terrain.