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.

Dou to the special importance of land use in Iran and the passage of over one year from the enactment and communication of National Land Use Document in March 2020 and the concerns about the practical steps to implement the provisions of National Land Use Document by executive organizations, the main question of this study is that in the light of the roles of related actors, how will this document be implemented? The research methodology of this study was actor-oriented, and the project was carried out based on exploratory and expert-based methods. Data were collected from 23 experts of Iran’s land use domain using a questionnaire. The data was analyzed using MACTOR futurology software. The results showed that from among the initial 33 effective actors in the Document implementation, 13 actors were selected as the main actors by the expert panel. It was observed that so far, no strong will has existed in those main actors to implement the National Land Use Document, and they don’t seem to be motivated to so in near future. In other words, the Document content and the potential of supervisory organizations are not so mandatory to force the main actors responsible for the implementation of the Document to put it into practice. Therefore, it is predicted that in future, the implementation of the Document will face serious challenges from institutions and actors. It is necessary for the responsible institutions (Planning and Budget Organization as well as Supreme Council of Land Use) to seriously follow up, make effective communications, bring about strong institutional combabilities among actors, and ask all implementing organizations to work in order to pave the ground for the formation of national will to implement the National Land Use Document as soon as  possible.

Urbanism in the world has had a great role in the formation of the concept of urban area. A high ratio of urban population resides in metropolitan areas, and the advancement of transportation and HSR network has changed the concept and dimensions of urban areas. As most of the analyses of urban area development through HSR has been limited to economic studies, this study set out to pay attention to the geographical concept of area and the effects of HSR as a strong policymaking tool in use. In this article, the systematic literature review based on keywords was used to extract the related articles from the most authoritative scientific websites, and then based on the evaluation of abstract, methods, and results sections of the articles, 75 papers published between 1938 to 2022 were selected as the sample. Then, attention was paid to the background and process of the evolution of attitudes and conceptualizations of urban area from the beginning till now. The metropolitan area is discussed based on analytical and normative approach at urban, regional, national, and global levels. With the connection of metropolitan centers to high speed access networks, polycentric development occurs. High speed rail (HSR) has the potential to help evolve the urban network, bring about urban area integrity, and develop new centers. The conceptual explanation of the strategy of creating polycentric metropolitan areas through the expansion of HSR can help expand the connect metropolitan areas, enhance integrity, create specialized cities, creatively use space organization plans, and solve part of the developmental issues.

The integrated endogenous regional model as favorable locative-spatial consequences and brings about balanced regional development in various dimensions. Due to the applied nature of this study, its objective as to examine the locative-spatial consequences derived from the integrated endogenous regional development model. Then, the strategic question revolved around the effects and consequences of the aforementioned model. To answer this question, the comparative strategy based on quantitative methodology was used. The statistical population of the study was comprised of the scientific and administrative elites and experts in Lorestan Province of Iran (Selseleh city), from among whom 30 participants were selected systematically and based on sampling logic. Data analysis was done through inferential statistics based on the measurement model fitness indicators and structural modeling in SmartPLS software. The results showed that measurement model indicators of “endogenous integrated model” and “spatial evolution” confirmed the measurement model of the study. In the structural model of the study, the accuracy of the relationship between structural variables / latent variables of the study based on T value was assessed and confirmed. Moreover, based on R2 confident of determination and F2 effect size measure, the strength and effect of the relationship between “endogenous integrated model” and “spatial evolution” was confirmed. In addition, the general goodness of fit (GOF) showed that the model had a strong fitness and the data confirm the experimental model of the study.

Inevitably, inconsideration of the population evacuation of villages can have irreparable consequences for the human settlements. Analysis and identification of the qualities of this issue can greatly help planners and decisionmakers in the spatial planning domain to prevent full evacuation of population from rural settlements. The study at hand was an applied research project done using descriptive-analytical approach. The statistical population comprised of villages with less than 100 residents in Khorasan Razavi province from 1986 to 2016. Moran’s local spatial analysis was used to investigate the spatial dimensions, and arithmetic mean and skewed distribution were used to examine the direction and range of distribution. The results showed that in the 1986, 1996, 2006, and 2016 censuses, 92.2, 90.1, 94.8, and 79.9 percent of the villages evacuated in the previous decade have had lower than 100 residents. The results of Moran’s spatial autocorrelation analysis demonstrated that the distribution pattern of villages on the threshold of evacuation during these three decades is cluster-like. Moreover, the results of arithmetic mean and skewed distribution indicated that 68 percent of the villages that are on the threshold of population evacuation are within the oval domain, and except for the 1986-1996 period – when the distribution direction of villages on the threshold of evacuation has been northwest-southeast, the direct has been northeast-southwest from 1996 to 2016.