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.

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.

Equitable distribution of services at the regional scale and achieving a balanced spatial structure in the region are among the most important goals of sustainable regional planning, especially in developing countries such as Iran. In this regard, one of the most important strategies and policies in regional spatial planning is the decentralization of development. The purpose of this study is to identify the most important urban areas of Fars province in order to determine the priorities of development and decentralization of the unipolar development of the province. To this end, the regional network modelling based on graph theory and the concepts of social network analysis are used to conduct the spatial analysis of Fars province. The data used in this study includes  the Fars province road network extracted from the OSM open source system, as well as the spatial information of the urban and rural areas of Fars province extracted from the website of the Statistics Center of Iran. Regarding research methods, Pandas Library and NetworkX Library were used in the Python programming platform to form the network graph and analyze the centrality indicators, while ARC GIS software was for final processing and visualization of data and information. According to thenetwork centrality indices and the location of the province cities, notwithstanding Shiraz as the main hub of development in the province, Zarghan, Sadra, Kavar, Lepui, Khane Zenian and Noorabad are the main development priorities. In addition, the Shiraz-Marvdasht and Shiraz-Khaneh Zenian roads were determined to be the most important transportation paths and communication corridors. The results and findings of this study showed that network-based modeling and the use of graph-based analytics (in particular, social network analysis techniques) can be useful and effective as new analytical methods in regional studies and planning.

Nowadays, the vulnerability of urban settlements is one of the urban security risk factors. Meanwhile, shelter is one of the most important components of increasing the safety factor in cities in the face of hazards. In the present study, which was conducted using a "descriptive-analytical" method, an attempt was made to find the most appropriate place for the construction of an urban shelter in District One of Ahvaz metropolis. Theoretical data of the research was collected via library research, and after extracting the indicators, the spatial analysis of each index was obtained using GIS modeling. The analysis shows that the best places to build an urban shelter according to specific fuzzy patterns are located in the proximity of the Museum of Contemporary Art, adjacent to the Laleha Cultural and Educational Center, along the Khuzestan Agricultural Jihad Organization, Pars Hospital and Shahid Rajaei Hospital, near Hazrat Khadijeh High School, Hajar Technical Schools, etc.

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.

Using a spatial information system to manage real estate data has two advantages: one is the storage of valuable data using a real-world spatial index, and the other is the ability to analyze and visualize this data in a new way by collecting numerous information sources. In this research, using the Survey Analyst extension and the Cadastral Editor tool of ARC GIS software, a property registration map (cadastre) of an area of Kerman city has been prepared as an example. First, the required maps were collected, and then the geo-database of the study parcels of the studied area and their topology were designed. In the next step, the Cadastral Fabric Dataset Layer was created, which is the starting point for working with data related to parcels. By transferring parcels to Cadastral fabric, they can be edited or even drawn as a new parcel. In addition, by entering the descriptive information of each parcel, such as owner’s name, type of use, cadastral ID, number of floors, etc., the specifications of each plot of land (parcel) can be accessed. Then, the Automatic Parcels Division tool was implemented as a tool in GIS for automatic division of land plots. This tool has the ability to automatically separate parcels based on shape, size, and direction. This tool can perform divisions visually and statistically very similar to real-world divisions.

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.

One of the pillars of spatial planning is determining the role and function of regions based on their competitive advantages. By developing innovative infrastructure that supports production, regional competitiveness improves regional efficiency and forms a network of complementary and reciprocal relations between regions, which ultimately leads to the capital attraction, value creation, and integrated regional development. In this regard, the present study aims at identifying the creative regions of Iran and determining the competitive advantages of those regions. This study is explanatory applied in terms of purpose and descriptive-analytical in terms of methodology. Derived from the document analysis of secondary sources, quantitative data was used to analyze both creativity and competitiveness. The data used to identify creative regions included the number of scientific and research centers and companies, consulting engineers, the industries with high and medium technology, employees in the manufacturing sectors, and the university students of the provinces of Iran. Moreover, the number of employees in major activity groups was used to determine competitiveness. Factor analysis and cluster analysis were performed to identify creative regions, while correspondence analysis was performed to determine competitive advantages in SPSS software. The results show that the provinces of Tehran, East Azerbaijan, Isfahan, Khuzestan, Fars, Kerman, and Mazandaran have the knowledge infrastructure capacity required for creative regions. Isfahan’s share of construction is 11.1 percent, while Tehran’s share of information is 41.2 percent. The interpretation of angles smaller than 0.2 between correspondence analysis vectors reveals that Tehran and Isfahan provinces have competitive advantage in information and communication and manufacturing, respectively. It was also found that most regions of the Iran do not have a specialized role and the competitive advantages of the provinces are not supported by the knowledge infrastructure of the regions.

Distribution of production activities and establishment of industrial units in different regions depend on the decision of firms regarding their location, but there are many important factors that affect the decision-making process. This research main goal is to understand the relationship between industry specialization, diversity of industries, competition between industries, and the concentration of industries over time. The research method is quantitative and follows the method employed by Glaeser et al. (1992). The effect of specialization, relative diversity of industries and competition between industries on industrial concentration have been investigated using geographically weighted regression method. The result of this assessment shows that during the study period with the increasing specialization of industries in the county, in most industrial sectors, increasing industry concentration has occurred. But between the relative diversity of industries and industrial competitiveness and the geographic concentration of industries no significant relationship in the counties was observed.