Population distribution, economic functions, as well as the status and role of cities in the urban system change and evolve through their interaction with other cities over time. This change in the organization of the urban system is not a static one,   but rather it is a context-dependent issue. Alborz province has experienced highly rapid changes in the urban system that have led to the emergence of severe imbalances in the urban system, increasing population and functional concentration in its metropolitan area compared to other cities and the marginalization of other cities of the province in the urban system. The typology of urban system in Alborz province that aims at describing the spatial pattern in which the cities of this urban system are organized and proposing the possible scenarios for the future spatial pattern of this urban system are the subjects of this article. This issue has been pursued through the analysis of the morphological and functional spatial pattern of cities, the analysis of the grounds affecting the formation of the urban system, and for the examination of the possible futures for the urban system. This research had mainly a descriptive nature, relied on quantitative methods and spatial analyses, and emphasized both morphological and functional aspects. According to the findings, the main east-west corridor of the province is the most important factors in the spatial pattern of this province’s urban system. The urban system of the province might develop in future through three possible spatial scenarios. These scenarios include the corridor, polycentric, and monocentric development patterns. It seems that in the urban system of Alborz province despite the spatial concentration of the population and the majority of the provincial functions in Karaj metropolis, there are potentials for the realization of a more balanced development. The potential and tendency to the corridor development model around the east-west axis, which agrees with the natural, infrastructural, and economic structure of the region, is one of these tendencies that can create a demographic and functional balance in the urban system of the province and lead its cities to take various economic roles.

The dependence of the farmers and agricultural life on water resources and the existing crises has a direct relationship with various challenges of this macro-social structure. In the global water crisis, the cultivation type is simultaneously the major culprit and victim. The purpose of the present study is to examine the role of hydrological and population-related factors in preventing the aridification of an area as one of the most devastating environmental disasters. By its selection of the appropriate crop for any area (which prevents water wasting), water resources management can prevent the dependence of that area on the agricultural crops of other areas and help decrease unemployment rate. In order to manage the effect of water demand on the balance of water resources flowing in the Kuhdasht County, the topographic data was combined with other data through the geographical information system and using enhanced AHPFUZZY method. The purpose was to weight the hydrological and population-related data (including the sub-criteria of river, well, spring, residence, people, men, and women) and determine the location priorities based on the field data, satellite images, and the data existing in the Lorestan province related to the amount of water needed by various products. The intention was to create jobs while protecting natural resources. In addition to the prevention of underground water levels and the destruction of wells, springs, and aqueducts, the results of this study specify the conditions for scientific and principled cultivation, reduction of poverty, and creation of jobs through planned management in the research area based on the consideration of crop type, cultivation method, and cultivation time. According to the obtained results along with the consideration of the fact that agricultural activities are heavily practiced in the area (where dryland farming is performed in mid-level grasslands), the management of the area under study was classified into five levels, namely very weak, weak, average, good, and very good. This analysis can help the land managers to change the existing conditions toward a rule-based management of water resources.

Oil pollution in the pipelines transporting petroleum products is an inevitable consequence of population growth and industrialization of communities. In addition to negative environmental effects such as groundwater and soil contamination, it causes changes in the geotechnical properties of local soil. Changes in soil engineering properties can lead to soil rupture and poor performance of transmission lines. Therefore, this study intended to assess the effects of the oil pipeline in the north of Iran on the environment using environmental geotechnic parameters during operation. By analyzing the Iranian matrix, it was found that there were 5 negative effects and consequences in the row and column. The consequences in the column were related to the diversion of the river, creating dams, and spinning, while in the row, these were related to landslides and soil contamination. The results of laboratory studies to investigate the effect of soil contamination on geotechnical parameters showed that the uniaxial strength of samples is decreased by 22%. In addition, the analysis of soil rupture by PLAXIS software showed that by changing the angle of the reinforcements from 20 to 23 degrees, the slope reliability of the soil decreases to less than the minimum reliability in the regulations. Finally, it was suggested that in order to reduce the negative effects and consequences of the projects, the pipelines should not be crossed through forested and sloping areas as much as possible.

Environmental hazards, which encompass a wide range of natural hazards and human hazards, are among the barriers to development in different areas. Landslide is one of the hazards affecting different natural and anthropogenic factors and is one of the barriers to socio-economic and constructive development in each region. In this study, considering the different criteria, the potential of landslide occurrence in Tabriz city has been evaluated using FBWM model. The criteria used in this study are slope, curvature, elevation, fault, geology, vegetation, river and creek, roads, aspect, and land use. FBWM model is used to weight the criteria. This model is one of the newest multi-criteria decision-making models that weigh the criteria by comparing the criteria with each other and generating a nonlinear optimization problem. Finally, after weighting the criteria and creating standard maps, the standard maps and weightings were merged together and overlaid to produce the final map of landslide susceptible areas in Tabriz City. Based on the results, the north and northeast areas of Tabriz have high potential for landslides; these areas correspond to Valiasr town, Baghmishah, Einali Mountains, Pasdaran highway and the surrounding areas. On the other hand, the southern regions of Tabriz have a low potential for landslides. According to the results, 2.5% of Tabriz territory is located in very low potential areas for landslide occurrence, 15.16% is located in low potential areas, 36.04% is located in moderate potential areas, 40.97% is located in high potential areas, and 5.33% is located in very high potential areas for landslide occurrence. The results of this study have implications for organizations and organs such as Tabriz Municipality, Ministry of Roads and Urban Development, the Geological Survey and Mineral Explorations of Iran (GSI), and other organizations related to environmental risks.

Understanding how to distribute economic, social, cultural and other opportunities as first step in spatial development planning can improve service delivery and increase equilibrium between regions. This research aimed at study and analysis of 31 provinces of Iran based on social indicatros enjoyment. Therefore, the present study is applied in terms of purpose and descriptive-analytical in terms of nature and method of research. Required data collected through the statistical yearbook of 1395 (2016) in the form of 52 important social indicators including social, cultural, welfare, educational and health components. Shannon entropy, coefficient of variation (C.V), WASPAS used to Wheightining of criterias, analysis of indicators dispersion and determining the level of development of provinces respectively in the context of MATLAB. The result shows that there is a lack of social development balance between Iran provinces. Tehran, Isfahan, Khorasan Razavi and Fars are four provinces that placed at higher level of social development and Alborz, Zanjan, Chaharmahal Bakhtiari, Semnan, South Khorasan, North Khorasan, Ilam and Kohgiluyeh and Boyer Ahmad are placed at the most deprived areas of the country in terms of social indicators. Overall, the results show that social development status in Iran's provinces is not synonymous with social and spatial justice and requires proper and effective attention and management.

The assessment of the ecological potential of the environment is to determine or predict the potential power and natural land use type. Environmental assessment is therefore a tool for strategic land use planning. The aim of this study was to evaluate the ecological potential of urban, rural and industrial land use in Kangavar city with an area of ​​883.9 km2 using Makhdoom ecological model. In the process of research, the required data were collected, produced and produced. After creating and combining the maps in the GIS software in a multi-hybrid way, the maps of environmental units were constructed and the ecological potential of the area was evaluated using the features of each environmental unit. To do this, the indices and variables that could be involved in each of these models were examined. To classify the ecological potential of the area for urban, rural and industrial uses and to map the power of different classes, 18 parameters were used as criteria for weighting and power determination. The results of Kangavar city's ecological assessment indicate that a 100.26 square kilometer area (11.34%) of Kangavar city is suitable for urban, rural and industrial use for 1st class. Also in the city, 483.1 square kilometers (54.64%) is quite suitable for 2nd floor. By comparing the existing and optimal land use map, it was determined that the area of ​​urban land use development in inappropriate zones is 2.5 square kilometers.

Evaluation of land capability is a way of knowledge of nature and preventing its destruction. The Logic scoring of preference method is one of the new approaches in land evaluation. This method consists of three main components: the attributes tree, the preliminary criteria and the aggregation structure. Criteria and sub-criteria of the conservation model, criteria weightings and standardization functions were determined by the resources reviewing, environmental attributes of the area and consulting with local experts. Then, the decision tree is formed, after that, the sub-criteria, criteria and attributes were weighted. Their replacement capability was determined. Replaceabilityorsimultaneitymeans identifying importance of criteria and sub-criteria in decision making. So, more or less effect of criteria was determined on the final decision by the ranges of positive and negative numbers. Aggregation of criteria and sub-criteria were done by Weighted Average Power Method. Conservation maps were prepared with two scenarios without_with the replaceability criteria. Scenario result of without replaceability shows the region's conservation value better than the replaceability scenario. The research results showed that rivers and aquatic ecosystems, scarce native plants and Mountains with high slope and shallow soil are sensitive to degradation. The proposed GIS-based LSP method is an enhanced MCE approach that represents an excellent tool for discussion and deliberation among stakeholders, decision makers, land-use planners and other experts.

The emergence of knowledge-based city-regions as the paradigm of the knowledge-based economy is one of the effective paradigms for the sustainable development of future cities. These regions aim to synthesis the functional, physical, and institutional components of knowledge clusters with urban activities to maximize beneficiary of the unique characteristics of each region. In regional development, the prerequisite for achieving goals in these regions is spatial-physical planning and how they spatially organized their activities and functions in the territorial area. The main question of this study is "to achieve sustainable development, what are the spatial-physical considerations in Iran special regions in general and Yazd in particular?" It identifies the most important actions (physical spatial, transport, housing and environment) of science and technology regions plans on global scale by the method of secondary analysis and based on the content analysis. comparison the results in Yazd Special region with others in Iran indicates the high emphasis on economic aspects, relative attention to environmental issues, and minimal attention to quality of spatial organization and the relationship between main functional focuses and the cities/regions, transport and housing. Considering the unique characteristics of each region, reviewing their function and defining their legal position in the hierarchy of planning system in Iran, explaining the goals and priorities of development in a comprehensive plan to stabilize these regions in the urban sustainable development is indispensable.

Compared to other cities, metropolises are exposed to the more vulnerabilities derived from environmental disasters because of their population, and the vulnerability of most of them is even increasing. The assessment of vulnerability, especially in specific intervals, generates new foundations for better urban planning and management. Additionally, the concept of the term “vulnerability” has been emphasized in the context of studying the relationship between natural-human interconnected systems, and consequently, in urban ecology. On the other side, population movements in different districts of big cities always follow different models. Therefore, the main purpose of this research is to identify the spatial connection of population changes of the districts of Tehran metropolis with the changes in environmental vulnerability intensity in the last decade. The methodology of the research included the assessment of vulnerability in three layers, namely the damages stemming from natural disasters, urban structure, and environment in the last decade in Tehran. In addition, the vulnerability has been measured in accordance with the census statistics of population changes in 22 districts of Tehran in the recent decade. The results of the research modeling show that the southern area of the city has had the highest increase in vulnerability during the last decade, and so, it has had the highest reduction of the population, too. Nonetheless, the district 18, which is located in the west zone of the city, has faced an increase in population despite its increased vulnerability. Moreover, the northeastern area of the city has faced increased vulnerability as well as a sharp increase in population during the last decade. These changes can challenge this part of the city because of possible future crises. Finally, the reduction of vulnerability along with the increase in urban population has happened in the northwestern area. To keep this vulnerability low, the acceptable capacity of the population in this part of the city (especially district 22) should be taken into account.

Land use mapping and land use maps related to the prediction of spatial-temporal changes provide a major portion of the information required by urban planners and administrators to adopt correct measures and make principled decisions to achieve sustainable urban development. The purpose of this investigation was to examine land use and land cover changes in Yasuj city in the past and, consequently, to predict the spatial pattern of the land structure in the near future. In this study, the satellite object-based image analysis of the images taken by Landsat satellite in 1990, 2000, and 2018 was used to make a dynamic modeling of Yasuj lands use changes. Moreover, a combination of the Markov chain and automated cells were employed to predict land use changes. The results showed that during the period between 1991 and 2018, the area of pasturelands decreased by 7.18%, while the total area of residential areas increased by 2.02%. That is to say, the spread of Yasuj city has led to the increase in the residential and irrigated cultivation lands, while it has decreased pastures, forests, dryland cultivation areas, barren lands, and gardens. Furthermore, the development process of Yasuj city shows its tendency to physical-spatial expansion in all dimensions. Moreover, the land use map for the years 2030 and 2040 was predicted by the CA-Markov model. The results showed that during the period 2018-2040, pasturelands, dryland farming areas, and forests will decrease 1.08%, 1.03%, and 1.47%, respectively, residential areas will increase by 4.17%, and the waterbody will change a little. The results of the study show the high efficiency of the CA-Marcov model for monitoring the trend of changes, especially urban growth, for the coming years based on the pattern of changes in the past years.