Application of Multi-Criteria Decision-Making Model and Expert Choice Software for Coastal City Vulnerability Evaluation

Abstract

Climate change is regarded as a serious threat to both environment and humanity, and as a result, it has piqued worldwide attention in the twenty-first century. Natural hazards are expected to have major effects in the coastal cities of the globe. At the same time, about two-thirds of the world’s human population lives in the coastal margins. One of the fundamental issues for coastal city planners is the coastal cities’ environmental change. This paper presents the application of a model framework for the management and sustainable development of coastal cities under a changing climate in Kuala Terengganu Malaysia. The analytic hierarchy process (AHP) is performed in the Expert Choice software for coastal city hazard management. This approach enables decision-makers to evaluate and identify the relative priorities of vulnerability and hazard criteria and sub-criteria based on a set of preferences, criteria, and alternatives. This paper also presents a hierarchy erosion design applied in Kuala Terengganu to choose the important sustainable weights of criteria and sub-criteria as well as the zone as an alternative model.