Browsing by Author "Mahanama, PKS"

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item: Conference-Full-text
4onse – 4 times open and non-conventional technology for sensing the environment: an integrated low-cost environmental monitoring system (ems) for developing countries
(Information Technology Research Unit, Faculty of Information Technology, University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka, 2017-12) Ratnayake, GR; Mahanama, PKS; Warusavitharana, EJ; Weerasinghe, SN; Warnakulasooriya, KMHK; Sudantha, BH; Jayasuriya, YP; Sudantha, BH
4 times Open & Non-conventional technologies for Sensing the Environment (4ONSE) is an ongoing joint research project between University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka and University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Southern Switzerland. This project was initiated in a time where the necessity of a low-cost, non-conventional, and precise hydrometeorological monitoring system has been of great demand due to the increased number of weather-related environmental hazards and disasters in Sri Lanka. This work comprises an integrated approach to setting-up an experimental nonconventional Environment Monitoring System (EMS) based on open hardware, open software, open standards and open data which could measure the rainfall, wind speed, wind direction, relative humidity, air temperature, barometric pressure, soil moisture, light intensity, and the water level. With comparison to other available weather stations, this research argues the cost effectiveness of the 4ONSE system, in terms of its technology, hardware and software. Such a fully accessible, royalty-free and low cost system could provide developing countries with accessible technology for the so called ‘Internet of Things’ economy. Even though the use of technologically sound and low system is necessary to monitor the environmental data, less is known about use, validity, accuracy and cost effectiveness of such systems. This research explores the accuracy of 4ONSE’s measurements against those of a reference station and further explores and proves its effectiveness and suitability in terms of environmental monitoring in the context of developing countries.
item: Conference-Full-text
4onse as a complementary to conventional weather observation network
(2019-12) Sudantha, BH; Warusavitharana, EJ; Ratnayake, GR; Mahanama, PKS; Warusavitharana, RJ; Tasheema, RP; Cannata, M; Strigaro, D; Sudantha, BH
Over the centuries, sensing the weather has been important to mankind for decision making. Weather observations are important to better understand the climate variability and its consequences which ranges over different temporal and spatial scales such as localized rainfall and thunderstorms to large scale storms and droughts. Analysis of climate induced phenomenon is data intensive and the data collected from very sparse network of professional weather stations have become incapable to forecast magnitude of the climate induced events. In this research, we present a 4ONSE network as a complementary to professional, state-owned weather station network. This open network was built on 4 open pillars – open hardware, open software, open standards and open data. Credibility of the network was assessed by analyzing the reliability and accuracy of data, cost incurred in building the station and conformity of measured parameters with WMO standards. Even though the 4ONSE station is not a high tech, professional weather station, these mini stations can be used to filling the gaps left by professional weather stations. Thus, they can be used to improve the coverage of the existing weather network of the country and to obtain the observations at near real time for producing accurate weather and disaster forecasts.
item: Thesis-Abstract
An Evaluation of land development regulations of urban development authority with respect to urban areas
Ekanayake, EMSB; Mahanama, PKS
Through the land use policies and practices, it is expected to achieve national, regional and local economies, productivity, health and efficiency. Other objectives of those policies, such as improving physical environment, strengthening urban economy, conserving ecological equilibrium and fostering social values. In other wards that should be achieved planned and sustainable urban development. It is, therefore, necessary to formulate rational and long-term land use planning policies. In the process of urbanization that makes the high pressure on urban lands and demanding lands for various activities. That is basically under four categories of social, economic, physical and environmental aspects. Through the process of urbanization, regulations are challenging when meets the needs of the people As a policy, land development regulations have been formulated by UDA for the urban development areas and those are practiced by the respective local authority. But when examine the applicability of these regulations in ground level; it is found that the most of regulations are not applicable to most of areas. Especially in the case of hilly urban areas, this situation can be observed. Therefore, this study was attempted to check the applicability of existing land development regulations which gazette by UDA in 1986.accordingly, this will only check the degree of compliance of the development to the existing land development regulations in the urban development areas which declared by UDA. Accordingly to the results of the study, it was revealed that land subdivisions which evaluated; 73% are only compliance to the existing land development regulations and 90% are comply to the building regulations by the existing buildings in the flat land area. But this situation is totally different in hilly urban area in the case of regulation applicability. According to the analysis of the hilly land area, it is revealed that 60% is only compliance with the existing land subdivision regulations. In other wards 40% of existing land subdivision regulations is in the inapplicability situation. When examine the condition of building regulations, it was found that only 35% is only in applicable situation. It meansthat the 65% of the building regulations are not comply with building developments in the hilly land areas. In addition to above analysis, it was conducted the professional perception survey. The objective of this survey was to identify the professional experience in applicability of land development regulations. According to the survey, it was revealed the 70% professionals are not satisfied with existing regulations. According to above survey, most of land development regulations are in inapplicable condition specially areas of hilly land. Accordingly, this study attempted to check the applicability of existing land development regulations which practiced in urban areas. In the mean time it was identified the inapplicable regulations. Therefore it is needed to reconsider this regulations and it should be re Gazettes them to achieve plan and sustainable urban development.
item: Thesis-Abstract
Analysis of spatial structure of urban green space distribution in Colombo municipal council area
(2015-09-17) Chamila, HL; Mahanama, PKS
Spatial structure of urban green space has an important effect for the urban planning as well as city dwellers. Green spaces have always been urban ecological resources. It is the most desirable thing in cities as the natural elements apart from the tension of city life. In recent years, development of the concepts of ‘green cities’, ‘sustainable cities’, ‘eco-cities’ pay more attention for the urban green spaces. Many green spaces disappeared due to the development of a city. In a city green spaces provide citizens with contact to the biodiversity and natural environment it became a factor of the physical and mental well-being of the people. It makes more opportunity to enjoy and rest at the green space for the people. However, the green spaces of the cities have been destroyed and changed into human activities. The objective of this research is to find the relationship between urban spatial structure and green space distribution. Urban Green Space Index with Road Density Index, Building Density Index and Population Density Index is used to find the relationship between the urban green spaces and the urban spatial structure of the area. The study is based on Colombo Municipal Council Area. The green space data derived from satellite imagery data with NDVI extracted vegetation data and Google images in 2013. Demographic data from the 2012 census, in Census and Statistics Department are compiled for further processing with the Geographic Information Systems in ArcInfo. An in-depth interview and field observation was conducted in CMC area to identify the real situation in ground. This study finds the followings, using four indices to find the relationship between urban green space and urban spatial structure. There is a significant moderate negative relationship among the urban green space and built form. There is no strong correlation among the urban green space and road network. There is a significant moderate negative relationship among the urban green space and population. Finally urban green space is the important element of the urban spatial structure.
item: SRC-Report
Analysis of urban morphology through spectral mixture analysis (SMA) technique in remote sensing
(2013-11-06) Mahanama, PKS
Urban morphology is the phvsical appearance ofsocial reality. Aualvzing of urban morphology is necessarvfor predicting the urban changes such as climatic change and for understanding the urban processes such as urban sprawl 01110 agricultural lands & wild habitats, and the expansion of residential land use at the urban [ringe Earlier, aerial or field sutvevs lI'ere commonly used/or producing land use //laps in order to understand the spatial structure of the cities. However. these manual methods are more labor intensive. costlv and difficult to defect morphological part ems over a long period of till/e. Thus this research attempted to find out the feasibility of using nell' technologiesfor urban morphological aualvsis. The technique adopted in this research 1ms Spectral Mixture Analysis (SA1A), which is one 0/ the techniques in Remote Sensing technology. Two IKONOS sate/lite images captured in ]005 covering Colombo district lI'ere used in this research. The commercial image processing software. ENVI4.1 was used for data analysis & visualization. This work evaluates the morphological characteristics 0/ Dehiwala-Mount Lavinia Municipality. using end-members that 1I'ere extracted through Pixel Purity Index (PPI) , Scatter Plots & n-Dimensional visualizer. The abundance maps 1I'ere generated for impervious surfaces, green vegetation, bare soil & shade. Classification results [rom applying the SMA 11'ere assessed by comparison with ground reference data. The study identified tliat SMA technique classified the image with a high accuracv gil'lllg 1I'ind011's to identify major land use types and urban morphology with a considerable accuracy,
item: SRC-Report
Analysis of urban morphology through spectral mixture analysis technique in remote sensing
Mahanama, PKS
The urbanization process effects both structure and function of the cities. Therefore, the analysis of morphological patterns of a particular urban area have evolved as a result of varying factors of demographics, level of economic development, political structure, environmental effects, etc. Hence, analyzing of urban morphology is necessary for predicting the urban changes such as impact of climatic changes in urban context and understanding the urban processes such as urban sprawl onto agricultural lands and wild habitats, and the expansion of residential landuse at the urban fringe. To understand and predict the urban processes, it is needed to monitor and characterize the spatial patterns of the urban area by observing them at different states in time.
item: SRC-Report
Analysis of Urban Morphology through Spectral Mixture Analysis Techniques in Remote Sensing ,
(2016-08-15) Mahanama, PKS
Urban morphology is the phvsical appearance ofsocial reality. Aualvzing of urban morphology is necessarvfor predicting the urban changes such as climatic change and for understanding the urban processes such as urban sprawl 01110 agricultural lands & wild habitats, and the expansion of residential land use at the urban [ringe Earlier, aerial or field sutvevs lI'ere commonly used/or producing land use //laps in order to understand the spatial structure of the cities. However. these manual methods are more labor intensive. costlv and difficult to defect morphological part ems over a long period of till/e. Thus this research attempted to find out the feasibility of using nell' technologiesfor urban morphological aualvsis. The technique adopted in this research 1ms Spectral Mixture Analysis (SA1A), which is one 0/ the techniques in Remote Sensing technology. Two IKONOS sate/lite images captured in ]005 covering Colombo district lI'ere used in this research. The commercial image processing software. ENVI4.1 was used for data analysis & visualization. This work evaluates the morphological characteristics 0/ Dehiwala-Mount Lavinia Municipality. using end-members that 1I'ere extracted through Pixel Purity Index (PPI) , Scatter Plots & n-Dimensional visualizer. The abundance maps 1I'ere generated for impervious surfaces, green vegetation, bare soil & shade. Classification results [rom applying the SMA 11'ere assessed by comparison with ground reference data. The study identified tliat SMA technique classified the image with a high accuracv gil'lllg 1I'ind011's to identify major land use types and urban morphology with a considerable accuracy,
item: Thesis-Abstract
Analyze factors of specialized land uses in urban areas : with special reference to the sanitary ware area in Nawala-Nugegoda
(2015-09-17) Ekanayaka Banda, UG; Mahanama, PKS
The city of Colombo and its suburban areas have experienced a rapid change in development during the past four decades with increasing growth and expansion of important economics activities. The government decisions to shift industries and office complexes to the immediate suburban areas of Colombo as well as the locational advantages and strong push factors in some of the suburban areas of Colombo, contributed to significant growth changes in these areas which include, Paliyagoda, Kiribathgoda, Nugegoda, Maharagama, Kaduwela, Piliynadala, Dehiwal Mount Lavenia and Moratuwa. In addition to the above mentioned sub urban areas, some significant ribbon development pattern is experienced along the arterial thoroughfares connecting to Colombo city and the other provinces in Sri Lanka. This type of development is evident on Colombo Kandy Road, Colombo Negombo Road, Colombo Ratnapura Road and Colombo Galle Road. It is evident, that the central area of the city has easy accessibility from immediate surroundings as well as more distant places. Therefore, the central business area tends to attract more business establishments and customers and achieved a greater potential to intensify its growth. With regard to this phenomenon, the Central Business Zone commands a higher real estate value and is occupied by a more intensive land uses. However, due to the expansion of port related import & export business activities and the increased demand for services and logistic sector activities the shifting of administrative and industrial establishments from the CBD of Colombo was inevitable. The above mentioned development scenarios in the city of Colombo has contributed to grow and expand the suburban centers of Colombo attracting new business and some of these suburban centers developed as specialized business zones. The Nawala Nugegoda sanitary ware zone has been developed as one such specialized zone, and the underline factors of which are analyzed under this study. It was revealed that, the residential boom in Kotte, Kaduwela, Maharagama, Dehiwala and Nugegoda areas had crated and increasing demand for building materials and sanitary ware items since the past four decades. This situation was capitalized by three leading companies who engage in sanitary ware business in Nawala Nugegoda area. With the continues demand for sanitary ware items from the surrounding area of Colombo metropolitan region as well as easy accessibility to Nawala Nugegoda area contributed in proliferation of small scale sanitary ware suppliers in the Nawala area. This land use specialization, especially along the Nawala Nugegoda road and Nawala Narahenpita road has generated significant positive impacts on the lives of the people as well as some negative impacts such as traffic congestion, in appropriate conversion of residential buildings to non residential uses were emerged in this area. However, it is significant to record that the land use specialization has generated more economic benefits to the city and provide convenience business environment for the customers. In this context, specialized land uses as an urban growth modal would bring more positive benefits to the economy.
item: Article-Full-text
Application of ArcGIS Model Builder and Python Scripting for urban Flood Modeling
(Faculty of Architecture University of Moratuwa, 2014-12) Bandara, DMPD; Mahanama, PKS; Warusavitharana, EJ
Accurate projection of flood extents in urban catchments has become a challenging task. Accurate data on inundation is useful for identifying flood risk areas and developing flood management strategies to mitigate the negative consequences. Owing to high costs of sophisticated flood simulation modeling software, currently, the required flood data for different studies and projects in Sri Lanka is collected through gauging stations, GPS devices and participatory based mapping approaches. However, these methods are highly time consuming and limited in accuracy. Hence, this paper presents an integrated model that simulates flood prone areas, flood levels and flood water accumulation time in urban areas using ArcGIS model builder and Python scripting. The model was calibrated and validated considering part of the urbanized area beside Kelani River. The results indicated that there is a high level of consistency between the observed and simulated results. Accordingly, the model presented in this paper can be used to simulate the flood inundation information in urban areas in a relatively fast, inexpensive and accurate manner
item: Conference-Abstract
Application of ArcGIS model builder and Python Scripting for urban flood modeling
Bandara, DMPD; Mahanama, PKS; Warusavitharana, EJ
Accurate projection of flood extents in urban catchments has become a challenging task. Accurate data on inundation is useful for identifying flood risk areas and developing flood management strategies to mitigate the negative consequences. Owing to high costs of sophisticated flood simulation modeling software, currently, the required flood data for different studies and projects in Sri Lanka is collected through gauging stations, GPS devices and participatory based mapping approaches. However, these methods are highly time consuming and limited in accuracy. Hence, this paper presents an integrated model that simulates flood prone areas, flood levels and flood water accumulation time in urban areas using ArcGIS model builder and Python scripting. The model was calibrated and validated considering part of the urbanized area beside Kelani River. The results indicated that there is a high level of consistency between the observed and simulated results. Accordingly, the model presented in this paper can be used to simulate the flood inundation information in urban areas in a relatively fast, inexpensive and accurate manner.
item: Conference-Full-text
Building an open-source environmental monitoring system - a review of state-of-the-art and directions for future research
(Information Technology Research Unit, Faculty of Information Technology, University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka, 2018) Sudantha, BH; Warusavitharana, EJ; Ratnayake, GR; Mahanama, PKS; Cannata, M; Strigaro, D; Wijesiriwardana, CP
The massive development take place in the field of IoT (Internet of Things) has enabled generation of large set of real time environmental data from low cost sensor networks. This has enabled developing nations to monitor their environments with more economical options. The environmental monitoring network of Sri Lanka is mainly handled by the government bodies such as Meteorological Department, Irrigation Department and Central Environmental Authority. Most of the systems are manually operated and sparsely distributed. The automated systems are restricted to certain main cities of the country. Thus, the data provided by the existing network not capable enough to generate reliable climate or disaster specific forecasts. The available data is mostly retained as hard copies and they are not freely and publicly available. Hence, every time, the researchers and decision makers need to purchase data and required to undergo redundant data collection procedures. In this context, the 4ONSE research project on developing an experimental, open-source, low cost and non-conventional Environmental Monitoring System (EMS) can be considered as the 1st initiative in Sri Lanka which creates a new revolution in the country for environmental data viewing and sharing without any charge. 4ONSE is the acronym for 4 times Open and Non-Conventional technology for Sensing the Environment, which is a joint research between University of Moratuwa and University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Southern Switzerland (SUPSI). Deduru Oya river basin area is the selected study area to deploy the 4ONSE systems. The Deduru Oya is 115km long and covers 2687km2 of catchment area. It carries flash floods during rainy seasons and very low flow during the dry seasons. Hence, the selected case study area is ideal for developing any forecasting application based on the real time environmental data. The project team has already deployed 27 systems in the basin. Temperature, rainfall, atmospheric pressure, solar radiation, relative humidity, soil moisture, wind speed and direction are the parameters measured by the system. In this research we attempt to present the state of the art of open source based environmental monitoring, architecture of the 4ONSE system, motivations behind deployment of the 4ONSE system and finally the lessons for the future research and development.
item: Thesis-Full-text
Climate-sensitive urban public space : a sustainable approach to urban heat island mitigation in Colombo, Sri Lanka
(2016-09-15) Perera, NGR; Mahanama, PKS
Manipulating the urban fabric is fundamental to mitigate and adapt to the warming trend in the growing high-density tropical cities. However, excessive data needs, weak analytical methods and the un-coordinated planning regimes pose barriers to achieving this aim. The main aim of the research is to bridge the gap in urban design-climate links, being translated into guidelines for real-world applicability in a background climate affected by global warming. The study is limited to the warm humid tropical climate of Colombo, Sri Lanka, as the experimental context for the research. The main research questions are related to; the microclimatic background condition under current and future warming scenario; sensitivity of the key urban morphology variables that will define and drive the decision making process; and the planning and policy implications that link climate and urban design. The study employs the Local Climate Zone (LCZ) system as a method of contextual analysis, together with LCZ-based morphology simulations (ENVI-met), utilising Mean Radiant Temperature (MRT) as the key dependent variable. Statistical analyses (SPSS) of the results test the applicability and sensitivity of urban morphological variables to help mitigate / adapt to local and global warming. The findings indicate that the Sky View Factor is the most influential urban indicator of local climate. In general, night-time shows better correlation with MRT. The nature of the Pervious Surface Cover has little or no effect on reducing MRT. And, the correlation of variables with MRT is stronger in a climatic background affected by global warming. The work contributes a ‘conceptual framework’ for the deeper understanding of the effect of building morphology on local level warming in the tropics. Policies that give effect to these findings are presented in a manner that requires minimal data input. Protocols for mapping of LCZs and relative warming effects, and sensitivity analysis of key design parameters for the mitigation of UHI in the tropics are presented. The socio-economic and planning practice implications of a LCZ-based planning approach are explored.
item: Conference-Full-text
Community participation for climate change adaptation : participatory approach for planning and design of coastal green belts In Batticaloa
(2015-05-07) Senanayake, DL; Mahanama, PKS; Barthelot, KS
Coastal green belts are considered as an appropriate solution to mitigate the adverse impacts of natural coastal hazards on human lives and properties in the context of climate change. Yet, Coastal green belt practices are criticized at many occasions due to the ignorance of local community at the planning and designing stages. In this context, the need of participatory approach to plan and design the coastal green belts is important. This research paper explains such methodology that was tested in five sites of Batticaloa to design and plan a coastal green belt by adapting participatory approach. The study concluded that adopting the participatory approach facilitates the development of best design solutions and expedites planning of the greenbelt with the consensus of all stakeholders of the site to adapt climate change.
item: Conference-Abstract
Community participation for climate change adaptation: participatory approach for planning and design of coastal green belts In Batticaloa.
(2014-08-04) Senanayake, DL; Mahanama, PKS; Barthelot, KS
Coastal green belts are considered as an appropriate solution to mitigate the adverse impacts of natural coastal hazards on human lives and properties in the context of climate change. Yet, Coastal green belt practices are criticized at many occasions due to the ignorance of local community at the planning and designing stages. In this context, the need of participatory approach to plan and design the coastal green belts is important. This research paper explains such methodology that was tested in five sites of Batticaloa to design and plan a coastal green belt by adapting participatory approach. The study concluded that adopting the participatory approach facilitates the development of best design solutions and expedites planning of the greenbelt with the consensus of all stakeholders of the site to adapt climate change.
item: Thesis-Abstract
Dynamics of urban growth pattern and urban hierarchy, a case study for North Central Province of Sri Lanka
(2015-02-08) Dissanayake, DBSK; Mahanama, PKS
The present population of Sri Lanka in the year 2007 is 19.88 millions. The urban population is 21.5% of total population. According to the proposed urban development policies of the country, the urban population will be 60% of total population in the year 2030. When the urban population increases, the existing urban areas will be grown accordingly. The urban growth will happen due to many reasons, because of population increase, increase in production levels of town areas and increase in service levels etc. The urban growth pattern of a region will be in different ways. Sometimes it will be the sprawl of existing town, sometimes it emerge new towns and will develop a small town into a large urban area or the large urban area will be neglected due to many reasons with the emerge of new town. According to the national physical planning policies of the country, it has proposed five major urban metropolises The North Central Metropolis is a major concern in the proposed physical plan' when we considering the available resources, climatic condition and natural hazards of NCP; it has high capacity for future developments of the Country. Then it is very important to assess the future development trends and to propose suitable plans for the province in the urban planning point of view. Then this research will be study on the existing urban growth pattern of NCP and will discuss the dynamics of urban growth pattern and will try to identify an appropriate future urban hierarchy for the province.
item: Thesis-Abstract
An Evaluation of development plan making process and implementation practice in the Urban development authority
(2015-02-08) Somarathne, HW; Mahanama, PKS
After declaration under the section 03 of the UDA Law No 41 of 1978 as urban development area, it is responsible for the preparation of urban development plan to the designated area to achieve economic, social and physical development. Considering the past thirty four years from the establishment of the UDA, 218 urban development areas have been declared and only 42 development plans have been gazette up to October 2012. Some Development plans have taken more than twenty years for the preparation. There is an immense duration gap between the data collection and the finalization of the plan. In this attempt government spends millions of rupees for the preparation of urban development plan. However it is experienced that those development plans have been taken many years for the preparation after the declaration. Furthermore, these development plans are used many resources and have not come up implementation and enforcement due to various reasons. The causes for this situation have been discovered by the study as the effect of adequacy of contextual factors and less guidance for implementation such as less understanding on data collection and use, lack of proper time management staff involvement in the planning process, lack of political acceptability and support for plan making and implementation, less coordination among the private and the government agencies who involved plan preparation. This situation leads to application of non realistic urban development plan making and implementation process. Establishment of a planning finance and monitoring division and introduce a time specified planning process with an efficient planning staff appointed for the preparation of development plan would be supported to reduce the failures in making and implementation of urban development plans. Key words: Development Plan making process, Plan evaluation criteria, implementation success, Qualitative analysis, adequacy of context, guidance for implementation
item: Thesis-Abstract
Gis model for safe residential location case study of Rathnapura municipal council
(2014-07-15) Munasinghe, DS; Mahanama, PKS
Urbanization is a continuous process and it is important to identify suitable safe residential areas for future developments. Selecting the location for residential sites is a complex process involving not only technical expertise, but also social, physical, economical and environmental issues that may result in conflicting factors. The said complexities necessitate the use of some advance decision support tools as Geographical Information System (GIS) combining with the use of Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) as a weighting technique. The purpose of this study is to develop an approach of GIS based suitability analysis to identify appropriate sites for residential developments. This research utilize five major steps for suitability analysis, which include the selection, scorings, weighting criteria using AHP, creation of a suitability map and GIS based model. This map is representing the selected area and the model is applicable for any area. Further the research has extended to evaluate the accuracy of the outcome. For the suitability analysis criteria selection is very important. Based on the available literature existing data several criteria have identified. Out of which five criteria were selected as highly relevant for the study area. For example land slide and flooding which are only relevant for this special study area. The selected five criteria are the characteristic of the land, social infrastructure facilities, physical infrastructure facilities and economic and environmental activities. These five major criteria are again subdivided as sub criteria. Combining the expert opinions conducted by questionnaire survey with AHP weighting method the weight of major and sub criteria have identified. GIS based spatial analysis is then performed base an above criteria and weight selection to accomplish objective of the study. Further the result is then evaluated by a compiling the existing field reality and the Urban Development Authority zoning map for Rathnapura Municipality. The integration of the said tools (GIS and AHP) has been found to be effective in selecting the residential sites within the Rathnapura Municipal council. Moreover the proposed method has highly possibility for the adoption in other areas as well. This methodology could benefit urban planners, architects and decision makers for future planning. Finally this paper highlights the benefit of utilizing advance decision supportive tools in city planning in proper systematic way.
item: Article-Full-text
Identification of evaluating criteria for sustainable visitor management of national parks in Sri Lanka
(2014-04-09) Nillegoda, L; Mahanama, PKS; Ranasinghe, TKGP
With the booming 0/ Tourism industry.eco-tourism has beenpopularized and improved in the world. The places which are practicing ceo-tourism attract increasing number 0/ visitors d'!)' by d'!)' by exceeding their carrying capacity. Therefore, the environment 0/ most 0/ national parks in Sri Lanka adverselY affected due to over visitation by local and foreign visitors. Adaptation 0/ mechanism on sustainable visitor management for the national parks in other countries has been addressed this problem. Yet, there is noproper w'!)' to manage visitors for 1 ational parks in Sri Lanka and most are highlY over visited. Sustainable visitor management is dependent on related set 0/ criteria lvhich are varyingfrom country to country. In the Sri Lankan context, suitable criteriafor sustainable visitor management are notyet identified. This sturIJ is supposed tofifl this gap by identifjing suitable criteriafor sustainable visitor management in national parks in Sri Lanka. Sixty nine criteria were identified through literature reviewunder category0/fifteen factors andfour attributes such aspbysica4 environment, tourism demand management and operational capacity management. Sixty two criteria were prioritized based on how frequentlY tbey are used in various literatures and thry were ranked. Multivariate technique was applied to prioritize the above sixty two criteria based on compatibility and usability between each criterion and relevant indicator. The sixty two criteria were short listed up to twenty four criteria consideringcriteria value more than 1516. These twentyfour were applied to evaluate the current visitor management of Yala National Park as it is the highest over visited national park in Sri Lanka. Evaluation was done considering the perception 0/ the expertise in tourism industry 0/ Sri Lanka. Results indicate that Yala national park has moderate level 0/ sustainable visitor management. And also there are more criteria have to be taken in to account in order to reduce over visitation of Yala nationalpark while managing its environment in a sustainable manner.
item: Article-Full-text
Identification of Evaluating Criteria for Sustainable Visitor Management of National Parks in Sri Lanka
(Faculty of Architecture University of Moratuwa, 2013-12) Nillegoda, L; Mahanama, PKS; Ranasinghe, TKGP
With the booming of Tourism industry,eco-tourism has been popularized and improved in the world. The places which are practicing eco-tourism attract increasing number of visitors day by day by exceeding their carrying capacity. Therefore, the environment of most of national parks in Sri Lanka adversely affected due to over visitation by local and foreign visitors. Adaptation of mechanism on sustainable visitor management for the national parks in other countries has been addressed this problem. Yet, there is no proper way to manage visitors for National parks in Sri Lanka and most are highly over visited. Sustainable visitor management is dependent on related set of criteria which are varying from country to country. In the Sri Lankan context, suitable criteria for sustainable visitor management are not yet identified. This study is supposed to fill this gap by identifying suitable criteria for sustainable visitor management in national parks in Sri Lanka. Sixty nine criteria were identified through literature review under category of fifteen factors and four attributes such as physical\ environment, tourism demand management and operational capacity management. Sixty two criteria were prioritized based on how frequently thy are used in various literatures and thy were ranked. Multivariate technique was applied to prioritize the above sixty two criteria based on compatibility and usability between each criterion and relevant indicator. The sixty two criteria were short listed up to twenty four criteria considering criteria value more than 1516. These twenty four were applied to evaluate the current visitor management of Yala National Park as it Is the highest over visited national park in Sri Lanka. Evaluation was done considering the perception of the expertise in tourism industry of Sri Lanka. Results indicate that Yala national park has moderate level of sustainable visitor management. And also there an mon criteria have to be taken in to account in order to reduce over visitation of Yala national park while managing its environment in a sustainable manner.
item: Article-Full-text
Imageability and legibility: cognitive analysis and visibility assessment in galle heritage city
(Vilnius Gediminas Technical University and Taylor & Francis., 2022) Abeynayake, T; Meetiyagoda, L; Kankanamge, N; Mahanama, PKS
The concepts of imageability and legibility are important aspects of urban design. Many scholars use the terms “imageability” and “legibility” interchangeably, usually examining one concept and applying the implications to the other. This research explores the relationship between these two concepts by answering the research questions: 1. how do people perceive the saliency of landmarks (imageability) and 2. how does the spatial configuration facilitate the visibility level of landmarks (legibility)? The Galle Heritage City in Sri Lanka is considered as the case study. The first part of the empirical study is to assess the level of imageability of urban space users by completing 100 cognitive maps and producing a composite cognitive map that indicates the structural landmarks’ salience or the level of imageability. The second part is the level of legibility of the landmarks by employing the visibility assessment process and the third part compares the two results with a concurrence matrix. The findings highlight that there is a positive relationship between people’s perception (imageability) and level of visibility (legibility). Further, imageability mostly depends on semantic properties than legibility, but legibility predominantly depends on structural properties and visual properties are almost equally important to both concepts.