The geomorphology is an important branch of natural Geography that its goal is promotion of human life, ultimately. The geomorphic processes have considerable impact on human life, and opposing, human activities and behaviors have its impacts on the geomorphologic units and geomorphologic processes, enhancing the above argument. The Gilan county, at its geographic position; embraced by two structural units; the Alborz-Talesh and Caspian sea, appears as a very good open space of morpho-dynamic formations and features. People of this region, on the track of new cultivation and industrial technologic products introduced, initiated a great changes in the Ecosystem, and due to low knowledge of Epigenic flow activities and sea level fluctuations of Caspian sea, they bother toweling and housing in the interior and exterior borders of the sea and rivers. This low knowledge of action and contractions of surrounding natural environment caused huge, bodily and financial damages to them in these hazardous yards.

Today, the expansion of urbanism has led to many problems for various countries in the world, especially developing countries. Iran is one of the developing countries that in recent years has faced numerous damages due to population increase, especially in urban areas. In recent years, countries in the world have tried to overcome the problems deriving from unsustainable urbanism via using sustainable urban development. Accordingly, the authors carried out this study to determine the similarities and differences among sustainability evaluation systems existing in developing and developed counties and explain the needs of developing countries, like Iran, to improve management of urban areas. Therefore, in the study at hand, the global urban sustainability indicators such as BREEAM Community، CASBEE-UD، GBI Township، LEED-ND، IGBC Green Townships، GRIHA-LD، Green Star, and IUSAF were examined and were compared with the intended system in Iran (IUSI). In this process, the similarities and differences of selected evaluation systems were compared with each other in terms of type and importance level of indicators. The obtained result showed that the urbanism challenges in various countries in the world are different based on the development level and environmental, social, economic, and geopolitical conditions. In addition, the most important indicators of urban development measurement in developed countries were identified as energy, resources and social welfare, smartening, and environment, while the prioritized indicators in the developing countries were determined to be planning and developing the society, managing infrastructure resources, transportation, local security and economy, employment, and – mostly importantly – access to healthy water. Moreover, the findings of this study indicate that via localization of the systems and indicators related to sustainability evaluation for every country, region, or province, a more precise evaluation can be attained. This can offer great assistance to future planning to advance the sustainable development goals.

Water provision service is one of the most valuable ecosystem services that is important as a key service for the healthfulness and management of water resources. In this study, using the Water Yield model of InVEST software, the water supply and demand in Ilam watershed was modeled. The data related to average annual precipitation, annual evaporation and transpiration, root limiting depth, water available for plants,  land use map, water consumption and estimation of water provision quantity, basin boundary, and subbasins of the watershed were the inputs of this model. The results of model application showed that in Ilam watershed, 45 million cubic meters of water provided annually, with the highest and lowest water provision volumes being in Arghavan (7 million cubic meters) and Chalimar (802 thousand cubic meters) subbasins, respectively. According to results, there are great differences in the water supply and demand in the subbasins of this watershed. Therefore, planner and policymakers should pay attention to this important issue in the layout of land uses and foresee sustainable use of rich forests in the high yield subbasins such as Arghavan subbasin. The results provided in this study, along with showing the importance of modeling surface water demand and its used in macro-policies of water allocation, can function as a guideline and help the managers and planners of Ilam city to adopt reasonable decisions in managing ecosystem and correctly using land in this area.

As the main source of energy, the sun is the origin of life and the root of every other known energy. The global radiation of sun is one of the fundamental structures of any climatic range. Thus, knowing the qualities and predicting these fundamental structures have a great effect on energy-based plannings. The use of satellite images and remote sensing models have been used as suitable and cheap means to estimate solar radiation. In this study, the 2020 year images of Landsat 8 satellite, OLI sensor, TIRS sensor, and SEBAL algorithm were used.   ENVI software was used to make geometric, atmospheric, and radiometric modifications of the satellite images and execute SEBAL model calculations, and ArcGIS was used to create database, conduct locative analyses, carry out cartographic operations, and implement the model. The obtained results showed that the average of highest short-wave incoming radiation has been 862 watts per square meter on August 9, 2020, and the lowest value has been 368 watts per square meter on October 28, 2020. Nonetheless, the highest absolute radiation value has been 901 kilometers on June 6, 2020, and the lowest value has been 19 kilometers on September 10, 2020.  The difference in the absolute radiation values received by earth in the area under study is due to the difference in the sun’s radiation angle and the number of sunny hours in different months of the year. Finally, it can be concluded that the solar radiation in the region in the year under study has the potential to execute solar photovoltaic plans.

Recognizing the function and pattern of urban network activity in regional areas to identify potentials and assets correctly leads to effectively guiding spatial planning for achieving creative competitiveness and spatial balance at the regional level. The current research attempts to analyze the spatial pattern of activity accumulation and distribution in the urban network of Khuzestan province using a practical and developmental approach, along with a descriptive-analytical method. Activity and employment statistics of 78 urban points in the province, based on data from the Iranian Statistics Center and the regional survey plan of Khuzestan province, have been cited.The results from spatial autocorrelation analysis and the z-score function, as well as the Repilli k function, show that activities related to the agricultural sector have a cluster distribution pattern in the urban network of the province. On the other hand, the activities of the industry and service sectors in the province follow a scattered pattern. Spatial analysis of the activities in the urban network of the province indicates that due to the proximity of cities to each other and the close employment statistics in each of the agricultural, industrial, and service sectors, the northern parts of the province and the southern part (specifically the ports of Imam and Bandar Mahshahr) show the most areas related to hot spots from an activity point of view. Meanwhile, the service function in the urban network of the province, despite having significant employees, exhibits the most cold spots and dispersion, especially in the central areas of the province.

Neglecting coastal erosion and its changes can lead to environmental hazards, which are among the main factors affecting human communities and facilities. Paleontological research demonstrates tens of meters of fluctuation in the water level of the Caspian Sea. The shores of the Caspian Sea have variable topography and land use, including lowlands (estuaries of rivers, gulfs, and progradation) and sandy uplands. In lowlands, there is a slight slope that causes flooding of lands when the sea level rises, as well as an increased piezometric level of coastal aquifers. This study investigates changes in the coastal line from Talesh to Anzali over a period of 45 years using spatiotemporal analysis in the form of coastal cells. For this purpose, ArcGIS software was used to extract the coastal lines of 1975, 1997, and 2020. Then, using DSAS software, the amount of changes in the coastline was determined. The research results showed that changes in the coastal line in the study area were entirely influenced by the fluctuations of the Caspian Sea level, with 77% of the coastal line experiencing more than 30 meters of retreat. Human activities have somewhat prevented the instability of the coastline due to changes in the water level of the Caspian Sea.

Strategic spatial planning is presented as an approach to deal with the chronic challenges facing the sustainable use of space, i.e. the physical-spatial division and the policy-planning division. However, there are major barriers to realizing this approach in Iran, which are affected by its governance and planning system approaches. In this regard, the current research has attempted to identify and explain the major barriers to the realization of strategic spatial planning in Iran with an exploratory approach and a combined interview and targeted Delphi method. The data was collected through a semi-structured interview in the form of a targeted Delphi method in two rounds of 25 experts, and the barriers and related concepts were confirmed, extracted and described using MAXQDA software and Kendall's coefficient of agreement. The results of 405 extracted codes indicated that there are 4 major barriers to the realization of strategic spatial planning in Iran, which are: geographical-spatial barrier (6 explanatory concepts and 26% of the extracted codes), rentier political economy barrier (7 explanatory concepts and 34% of extracted codes), institutional division barrier (7 explanatory concepts and 23% of extracted codes) and structural-spatial division barrier (7 explanatory concepts and 17% of extracted codes). The present study highlights the importance of recognizing and correctly confronting and taking constructive measures against the four mentioned barriers, which are the main sources of physical-spatial and political-planning divisions in the way of realizing strategic spatial planning in Iran.

Metropolitan regions as a new form of urbanization are expanding rapidly and under the influence of different factors, have different growth patterns. The main purpose of this article is to investigate the evolution of form in the metropolitan area of Tehran under the influence of urban land expansion during the years 1986 to 2016 using the urban land density function. The results of this study show that the trend of urban land expansion in recent years has shifted the shape of the region to a scattered and decentralized pattern. The results of the study of the expansion of urban land in the form of the region at the middle and micro level show that other cities around the metropolis of Tehran have become wider and more scattered over time. Findings show that over time, urban density in urban areas and rural areas and around the metropolis of Tehran has increased under the influence of urban expansion waves.  In the metropolitan area of Tehran, the increase in the boundary between the urban edge and the surrounding areas over a period of thirty years describes the vast urban expansion. In the metropolitan area of Tehran, in recent years, the slope, changes in barren lands, distance from built-up areas, changes in agricultural use, and distance from main roads have had the greatest impact on the expansion of urban land. The rapid growth and urban sprawl in a metropolitan area in metropolitan areas, above all, affect the peripheral areas and cause a disruption of the spatial order, the destruction of natural lands around, increasing marginalization and informal settlement and integration of areas. It becomes a village in the urban space.

Despite having abundant wealth, power, and resources and making great efforts to bring about regional balance, there is a deviation from spatial equality in Iran’s structure, which has led to the establishment of center-periphery structure as the dominant model in Iran. This structure has been created due to many factors, forces, and currents. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to present a theoretical model of spatial inequality in Iran using Lynham’s theorizing method. There were five steps in the application of this method. In the first method, i.e., conceptualization, the theoretical model was developed using meta-synthesis method and MAXQDA software. The obtained model entailed a host of concepts and components. These included  context-based  theory-driven discourse, centralization and making the periphery dependent, the reverse results of development plans, unequal power relations, inequality of benefits and wealth (economic inequality), inappropriate policymaking and management, weak local and regional management as opposed to central power, unbalanced distribution of population and activity in geographical spaces, and unbalanced distribution of natural resources. These concepts, grouped into ideological, economic-political, and contextual discourses, have created spatial inequality and center-periphery relationship in Iran.

As one of the most important and influential urban planning approaches, comprehensive plans can be considered from the different and relevant dimensions and aspects such as the planning system, the content of plans, preparation-approval process, and execution procedure. Hence, this research focuses on the reasons for the inefficiency of comprehensive plans, especially concerning the nature and the substance of this urban planning approach. To this end, in addition to reviewing relevant theories and views, objective instances of the mentioned reasons have been pursued. Therefore, Nowshahr’s Comprehensive Plan was assayed for the ex-post evaluation of plan implementation to assess its efficiency and feasibility in certain aspects, including social and physical dimensions. Following a linear and one-way procedure, inflexibility and lack of realism, single vision and mostly physical solutions, providing too many details based on static and solid frameworks, and the impossibility of accurate predictions are the substantial critical reasons for the inefficiency of urban planning based on comprehensive plans approach. These factors are the challenges that Nowshahr’s Comprehensive Plan also suffers from them identically. The unrealistic approach in determining the city limit, an incorrect policy of using open spaces and increasing density in contradiction with the ecological, touristic, and port nature of the city, failure to realize most of the proposed land uses, and consequently, a severe shortage of service spaces, are among the most apparent objective instances regarding the inefficiency of Nowshahr’s Comprehensive Plan according to the mentioned substantial reasons. Considering the reasons for inefficiency and analysis of the objective instances are an essential strategy that can differentiate the substance of urban plans, especially ones prepared based on the evolution in urban planning and substitution of new approaches, from the old and traditional cases and make them successful more than before.