Estimation of urban land price within holly cities by using integrated GIS-regression models: case study Al-Kufa city- Iraq

Abstract

        Urban land price is the primary indicator of land development in urban areas. Land prices in holly cities have rapidly increased due to tourism and religious activities. Public agencies are usually facing challenges in managing land prices in religious areas. Therefore, they require developed models or tools to understand land prices within religious cities. Predicting land prices can efficiently retain future management and develop urban lands within religious cities. This study proposed a new methodology to predict urban land prices within holy cities. The methodology is based on two models, Linear Regression (LR) and Support Vector Regression (SVR), and nine variables (land price, land area, distance to a river, distance to main roads, distance to heritage locations, distance to historical mosques, distance to commercial locations, distance to educational locations, and distance to hospital and clinics. Our findings showed that the SVR model had outperformed the LR model, where SVR achieved an accuracy of 82.9%.In contrast, LR has achieved 75.40%. Therefore, the presented models can assess land prices in holly cities like Al-Kufa. Furthermore, this tool can retain land pricing, land management, and urban planning in Iraq.