One of the main challenges in the energy transmission arena (especially the natural gas transmission) in Iran is the optimal demarcation of operational boundaries in order to cover the whole land. In other words, over time and due to the changes in the consumption level and the facilities installed in the related areas, the boundaries defined as the operational areas have lost their optimal response potential, and there have appeared challenges such as more difficult access, increased volume and importance of transmission, etc. Therefore, it is necessary to define and demarcate new boundaries based on these changes. As a result, this article addressed the optimal model for the demarcation of natural gas transmission operational areas using spatial allocation method. Spatial allocation method is an instrument for maximum optimization and high access in various algorithms. The spatial allocation methods that are usually used for positioning stations and work facilities are a great instrument for planning the public services. In this study, in line with using comparative studies and external experiences, instruments such as interview (for the determination of indices), statistical tests in GIS, weighing methods, etc., were used. According to the obtained results, the number of yards and areas should be fixed, but the boundaries of the operational natural gas transmission areas and yards should be mobilized maximally to match the defined scenario so that maximum optimization is achieved.

In recent decades, dust storms have intensified due to climate changes, including drought and human interventions. In addition to removing soil particles, dust brings storms bring about severe economic, social, and health problems. Due to its strategic conditions – including its status as an industrial and agricultural hub and the province hosting more than 29 million Iranian and international pilgrims, especially during the seasons and months with specific holidays – should be prioritized in the examination of dust storm frequency. The purpose of this study was to examine and track the frequency of dust storms and analyze the effect of climactic changes on them through the investigation of drought trend as well as the trend of changes in the land surface coverage percentage during the statistical analysis period. The results of counting the dust codes showed that dust storms with local origin had the highest frequency. According to the monthly analysis, Sarakhs and Mashhad stations had the most dust phenomena, with the most dusty days in the study area during summer and spring seasons, especially June and July months. The results of regression analysis of drought index and the monthly local dusty days indicated the existence of a significant, positive relationship between dust increase and drought intensity in Mashhad and Sarakhs stations during the statistical period of 27 years at 99 percent confidence interval. Finally, in the light of the results obtained from the examination of the land surface changes, it is recommended that land use plans be used along with short-term methods of soil stabilization in order to reduce the economic damages and preserve people’s health against dust during busy months and seasons so as to achieve the goals of long-term methods.

The intelligent managers of this era of constant changes and instability try to know opportunities, challenges, and variables effective on the system under their management so as to increase the possibility of their success. The managers of Yazd province – as one of the developed provinces of Iran – always try to step in the direction of sustainable growth and development by means of strategic planning, knowledge about the capacities of this province, and the management of the possible future challenges. The study at hand was carried out to attain this objective and to get a clearer image of the future of this province in order to identify the variables that are affective on the future of Yazd province. Moreover, conducting structural analysis through MICMAC method, it was tried to investigate the mutual effects of these variables on each other and identify the key drivers of what might form the future of this province. The important variables effective on the system were identified using library research, virtual space monitoring, surveying citizens, and future-related workshops. Variables were prioritized using importance and lack of certainty criteria. Then, the most important ones were fed into the direct effects matrix, and after completion with Delphi method, they were fed into MICMAC software. The outcome of the software was compared with the results of Dimtel method, and finally, the variables of the performance of organizations, balanced development, performance of land use plan, various types of tourism, and attention to water and environment were identified as the most effective variables in the formation of the future of the province.

Today, ecotourism is deemed a key industry and is granted a special position in the economic development of different countries. This industry has always faced risks in making decisions about selecting places with high ecotourism potential. Therefore, the purpose of this study was the assessment of ecotourism development capability in rural areas, with an emphasis on the environmental risk-taking in decision-making. In this study, 12 spatial criteria were used. Ordered weighted average (OWL), analytic network process (ANP), TOPSIS, and sensitivity analysis were used to assess the concept of decision-making risk, calculate the weight and importance of the criteria, rate the appropriate villages, and assess the modeling precision, respectively. The results showed that among the used criteria, the distance from the built lands and the distance from faults have the highest and lowest weight, respectively. With the increase and decrease in the risk-taking degree, the high potential class space increases and decreases, respectively, such that in the risk-taking degree of 0 or less, less than one percent and in the risk-taking degree of 1, thirty-five percent of all lands of the area fall in the “very high potential” class. The examination of the appropriate villages in the 0.5 risk-taking degree for ecotourism development showed that among all Mazandaran province villages, only 55 villages are in the “very high potential” class. Among these, Aali Kola with the relative distance of 0.8505 is the most capable village for ecotourism development. Finally, the results of sensitivity analysis revealed the adequate stability of the model results in various scenarios, i.e., the high reliability of the model results.

In the current era, justice and advancement are deemed as the two wings of sustainable development, with each being worthless without the other. As one of the main service systems in cities, public transportation has an important role in the realization of justice. As a result, the purpose of this article was to analyze and rank the 15 districts of Isfahan metropolis based on justice in accessing public transportation. In order to attain this goal, the required data was collected using document analysis and field study (through observation and questionnaire). The Best-Worst (BWM) and COCOSO methods were used to analyze the data. The results indicated that Districts 1 and 3 had the most and Districts 9, 11, and 14 the least public transportation facilities. Moreover, the need to public transportation – in terms of the number of users – was highest in Districts 8 and 10 and lowest in Districts 2, 9, and 11. The combination of these two factors also showed that Districts 1, 2, 3, and 15 had bigger facility to user ratios, while Districts 8, 10, 11, and 14 had smaller facility to user ratios. In the other districts, the facility to user ratio was mainly moderate. Therefore, it is necessary to pay more attention to this gap between facilities and users’ needs when planning for public transportation in future.

The prediction of climactic changes is of great importance due to their destructive effects on aquatic, environmental, economic, and social resources. Accordingly, the purpose of this study was to predict the climactic changes of Kermanshah city using micro-scale general atmospheric circulation models accessible in LARS-WG6 (GFDL-CM3, MPI-ESM-MR, MIROC5) model in scenarios RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 for the 2020 to 2100 period based on the benchmark period of 1980-2010. In order to evaluate the data forecasted in LARS-WG model, the error rate of the observed and predicted data was addressed using R2, RMSE, MSE, and MAD criteria. The results showed that LARS-WG model had the needed capability to predict climactic data in future. In the secondary models, the MPI-ESM-MR model in scenario RCP4.5 showed a higher reliability rate compared to other secondary models evaluated in the study. Moreover, all models indicated increases in the average minimum and maximum temperature and forecasted changes in rainfall pattern in future periods in the studied area. Then, the SPI and De Martonne indices were calculated for all models. According to SPI index, all evaluated climactic models demonstrated that by the year 2100, the years with normal index would decrease while the years with dry conditions would increase. Moreover, based on De Martonne index, the GFDL model in RCP8.5 scenario estimated the climactic changes level more than other models, and predicted that dry and semi-dry years will be more than wet years. Contrarily, the MIRO model in RCP45 scenario acted more optimistically and predicted less climactic changes.

One of the principles of sustainable urban development is equal access of all citizens to the required services. Basically this matter comes true when different urban lands and resources, equally allocate to the spatial and social units of the city.Sincecommercial and service land uses are used by city dwellers daily, their locating and spatial distribution in cities is very important. Proper distribution of chain stores plays a significant role in reducing transpotation costs, quick supply of goods and services, suitable access to parking and other urban supplementary services. A chain store consists of several co-owned and centralized retail stores. The purpose of this study is improvement on spatial distribution of chain stores in Tabriz. To this end, first, the indicators of chain stores locating identified through available resources and documents and then through quantitative and spatial analysis methods using GIS capabilities, distribution of chain stores in urban areas of Tabriz was studied. Six criteria including population, type of communication, centrality, compatible uses, local equilibrium and radius of access have been used for a comprehensive analysis. After preparing the layers related to the above parameters using analytical tools in Arc Map software, they were integrated and the final layer was extracted. The results show that the distribution pattern of chain stores in Tabriz is random and it doesn't have a specific pattern. Also, the location criteria for the current stores have not been met in a desirable manner.

Ecological condition and natural potentials play an important role in sustainable development and the spatial patterns of rural settlements. Therefore, in order to reduce the adverse effects of environmental conditions and plan for the improvement of the residential status, it is important to know the sustainability of the villages. On the other hand, it can minimize the environmental hazards. This study is an applied in terms of the purpose and it is a descriptive-analytical study in terms of nature and method. Documentation and field observation were used to collect the data. To do this, the data were collected from books, documents, organizations and baseline maps from different organizations (GIS). To measure the environmental feasibility of the villages, measurements like altitude, slope, slope direction, fault distance, access to water resources (river), soil type and climate were used. The AHP hierarchical analysis model was used to obtain the relative weight of each variable and the Fuzzy Overall logic was used to integrate the layers.The results of the study show that 121 villages (68%) are in a stable and favorable environment in terms of environmental potentials and they have 62364 population (73.6); 49 villages (27.5%) with 20516 inhabitants (24.2%)have moderate sustainability; 8 villages (4.5%) are in poor and unstable condition and 1850 people (2.2%) live in unstable villages.Also, in terms of sustainability, the villages located in the center and west of Maragheh are in a better position than that of the east and southeast villages. There was a significant correlation between elevation, slope, distance from river and climate with the distribution of rural areas.

Spatial imbalances and spatial inequalities exist at different levels, and the realization of spatial and social justice at these levels depends on eliminating these imbalances through spatial planning. Service organizations to clients and, most importantly, the Welfare Organization, may have a lot of data and figures from their clients, but in many cases, existing data does not have a spatial dimension, and they are purely descriptive. The main objective of this research is to analyses spatially clients covered by welfare in the scale of Mashhad, in both regional and neighborhood level. The statistics required for this study are collected from the Department of Welfare of Khorasan Razavi and Mashhad. The methods used for spatial analysis are the standard deviation elliptic index, regional and neighborhood demographic density, kernel density, basic graphic statistical methods including the nearest neighbor's index, spatial autocorrelation measurement models such as general Moran I and LISA. The results of this research, presented in various maps and diagrams, show that the welfare beneficiaries in the city of Mashhad have not been distributed equally and different regions and neighborhoods have a significant difference, with the highest number of clients in regions 2, 3 and 4, the city of Mashhad where tjeay are located in the north and northeastern parts of the city. Also, at the neighborhood level, Shahid Ghorbani, Northern Tabarsi, Derevey and Bahman neighborhoods include the most welfare-clients population. In a general analysis based on the kernel density analysis, it can be stated that four condensed nuclei and a subunit formed in the city of Mashhad. Also, the results of Moran indicator and others indicate that the spatial distribution pattern of welfare clients in Mashhad is quite clustered and in particular parts of Mashhad, which mainly coincide with the informal settlements of the city and the eastern and northern parts of the city are distributed in cluster form.

The ecologic capability evaluation determines which human activities can be performed on which area of land and conversely, which activities are impossible, economically unviable, or detrimental to environmental sustainability. This study set out to evaluate the land ecologic capability in Golestan province of Iran to develop agriculture (cultivating wheat) through land use planning and to investigate the factors effective on the agriculture ecologic capability. The study was exploratory in terms of method and applied library research method for data collection purposes. The identified factors include climate, precipitation, temperature, evaporation, topography (altitude), slope, slope direction, land use, water resources, flood zones, land types, erosion, and soil. Then, the optimal location of land for wheat cultivation was done in four stages using ARC GIS software and its tests in order to zone the lands appropriate for what cultivation. To this end, the raw data of the intended layers was extracted and examined, and the areas appropriate for cultivation were determined and classified. The appropriate values were assigned to the aforementioned layers so as to generate the final layer map to zone the lands appropriate for wheat cultivation. Finally, via overlaying the wheat-cultivated lands on the intended layers, the ecologic capability map of the area was made. These were then classified into three categories, namely lands with appropriate and high capability (about 13%), lands with medium capability (over 80%), and lands with low or no capability (about 5%). The intermediate territory of the province has the most fertile lands with semi-humid, temperate Mediterranean climate (Alborz highland plains). As a result, the best cultivation areas of this province are located in its intermediary and southern parts that have deep, high quality agricultural soil and adequate rainfall.