REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT SUITABILITY MODEL

Multiple Objective Land Allocation (MOLA)
The Final Modeling Step

Using the "Idrisi for Windows Multiple Objective Land Allocation (MOLA) model", a specific amount of land was extracted from each of the standard development scenarios. For each of the three categories, the software determines which areas have the highest scores for each of the three "objectives" and returns those as results. To produce the MOLA results it was assumed, based on household growth projections, that an additional 29,371 residences would be built by the year 2020. The Standard Scenario assumed an average housing lot size of 2 acres, while the compact scenario assumed an average housing lot size of 2/3 acres.