Identifying tourism attractions is a basic requirement in the local and national community toward balanced and harmonious development of land potential. This study aimed to evaluate the tourism attractions of Gharahsoo watershed in Golestan province, northeast of Iran, based on the impact and effectiveness of environmental criteria. After determination of criteria and preparation of layers, criteria analysis was done based on the impacts and effectiveness of the criteria using DEMATEL method. Entropy Shannon method was used for weighting criteria. Finally, the spatial analysis was done by employing the TOPSIS method. The results showed that landform and plant density, in terms of the impact, and access to facilities, in terms of the effectiveness, have priority over the other criteria. Also, the criteria weighting results showed that the criteria access to facilities, landform and plant density with the value 0.229, 0.147 and 0.123 are a priority to the other criteria, respectively. Finally, the results showed that, in terms of tourism attractions, the areas of the southern of Gharahsoo watershed are in suitable conditions and the rest of the area, especially the northern parts, has unsuitable conditions.

Much quantitative research (and some qualitative cases) has been done on the role of small- and medium-sized cities in regional development. The present article is also in this line, but with a slight change in the structure of the breakdown in the approach to the subject and the analysis of the problem, and the multi-faceted analysis of the data using the Fuzzy Inference System. The purpose of this research, with regard to the title, is developmental-applicable and has a descriptive-analytical approach. The FIS application and increasing approach has four stages (in general): its Database and Fuzzification; the rules base; the engine; and the Defuzzification. In the glimpse (Knowledge Base), regional development indicators (10 indicators) and variables (more than 70 variables) in four pillars of regional development (economic, physical, infrastructure and human development) for the small- and middle-sized cities of Kurdistan province (9 cities of the city centers Except for Saravabad) were selected and mapped in 2006 and 2016, and then a detailed analysis of the process was performed on the data. The final result of this paper is that although fluctuations in the development of the inland region of the province have been observed, regional development changes (relying on economic indicators) have been consistent with changes in the urban hierarchy (demographic projections). Thus, with the decline of concentration and concentration in Sanandaj, we see an increase in the role of small- and middle-sized towns in the urban-regional development of the province.

Residential and employment attractions urge the population to reside in regions with appropriate potentials for development. The metropolitan regions of Iran have been attractive centers for the population; this attractiveness resulted in some changes in different spatial patterns. The present research examines the effect of spatial-physical, and demographic variables on metropolitan regions of Iran in order to achieve suitable planning for future spatial development of Iran. The objective of the study is to analyze correlation, centralization, and uniformity of distribution and composition of spatial patterns of development in the metropolitan regions. To do this, Shannon entropy, spatial Gini coefficient, spatial density index, and Kriging Estimator were employed. The results showed a trend that dictates on a decrease in concentration in metropolitan regions, which has manifested in different spatial patterns. In Tehran metropolitan region, the trend of development goes into polycentric with sprawl in the peri-urban and rural area. According to the development trend of population centers in Tehran, it can be said that at the same time of concentrated centralization, other settlements have played an effective role in the spatial structure of this metropolitan area, and strong road network has led to the formation of such pattern.  In Isfahan metropolitan region, the spatial structure has changed into concentration. This has happened with an unbalanced distribution to a radial pattern. While Mashhad metropolitan region has a monocentric linear pattern, Shiraz shows a monocentric and sprawl in the periphery. This can be attributed to the small growth of settlements compared to the metropolis.

By predicting land use changes, the extent of the expansion and destruction of resources can be determined, and future policies can be pushed in the right direction. The aim of this study is modeling the land use changes process in Mashhad by using Landsat satellite images related to 1989, 2008, and 2014. Initially, based on the hybrid method (unsupervised and supervised classification combination), land uses were classified into six classes. Then, by using the Markov chain, the transmission matrix between 1989 and 2008 was calculated and by applying it in the Markov-CA model, the land use map for 2014 was predicted. In the following, the predicted land use map for 2014 with the actual 2014 land use map was compared with the Crosstab table, and the total Kappa coefficient was 0.91. Accordingly, the accuracy of the predicted Markov-CA model was confirmed. Finally, this model was used to predict land use in 2030. Therefore, by entering the 2014 reference map as the base map, the 2030 land use map prediction map was extracted. The results showed that from 1998 to 2030 there will be an increasing trend in urban and arid lands and a decreasing trend in agricultural lands and gardens. The results indicate that the Markov-CA model can contribute to the design of a sustainable urban system.