Abstract

Rapid urbanization has increased demand for safe and reliable energy infrastructure, with Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) emerging as an important clean cooking fuel. In Nairobi, Kenya, the siting of LPG refill stations is critical to minimizing safety risks and supporting sustainable urban development. This study applied a GIS-based Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) framework to evaluate LPG station suitability by integrating land use, elevation, slope, geology, soil texture, and regulatory constraints. Two approaches were compared: a Boolean-only overlay model and a hybrid weighted overlay–Boolean model incorporating Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP)-derived weights. The Boolean model produced an overly restrictive outcome, identifying no feasible locations under the combined exclusion criteria. In contrast, the hybrid model excluded 91.7% of the study area and identified 2779 potential candidate locations distributed across suitability classes. AHP results indicated that land-use compatibility and LPG proximity were the most influential criteria in determining suitability. Comparison with existing LPG stations revealed a spatial mismatch, with most facilities located in less suitable or unsuitable areas. The findings demonstrate that while Boolean approaches strictly enforce all constraints, hybrid GIS–MCDA models provide a more flexible and spatially differentiated basis for LPG infrastructure planning in rapidly growing urban environments.

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