As the most essential element of life, water has long been regarded as an indicator of development because it is inextricably linked to the sustainability of human societies, especially the socio-economic function of rural settlements. The main purpose of this study is to explain and root out the causes of groundwater resource draw-down in relation to the socio-economic structure of rural areas. The main issue is that as population growth and demand have increased (to meet the needs of rural communities), excessive exploitation and pressure on groundwater resources have been on the rise. The research data were collected through document analysis and field study. Next, the longitudinal statistics of 40 observational wells (1984-2014) were combined with quantitative observations and interviews with subject matter experts. These were then analyzed through descriptive-analytical methods using inferential statistics and GIS software. Research findings show that the implementation of land reform program, the increase of number of farmers, deep well drilling, the development of irrigated area, and the change of production method had a relationship with unnecessary exploitation and draw-dawn in groundwater level in the research area. The result of the study illustrates the fact that as the population has increased threefold in the living space of the plains, the farms have been fragmented, and numerous deep wells have been drilled, the groundwater level in the aquifer has drawdown to -22 m.

Ports in most parts of the world play a great role in creating integrity between the prosperous of the regions and balancing the supply chain (production, distribution, and consumption). This article is to analyze the spatial interaction between the southern ports of Iran and local-regional hinterlands and explain the role of ports in shaping the spatial structure. For this purpose, a network analysis of commodity flows method is used in 1996, 2006 and 2015. The findings indicate that southern Iran's ports are often the importer of consumer goods in the populated centers, located in regional hinterlands, and, at best, have exported energy sources and raw materials. While urban centers, located in local hinterlands, do not play an effective role in the production and delivery of goods to ports, they are often dependent on the regional center (Shiraz) to meet their consumption needs. It revealed that although the process of spatial inequality has been moving towards greater balance over the past two decades, the development of medium-sized ports and local nodes in the contiguous hinterlands and forelands has led to a balanced monocentric spatial structure in this region.

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.

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.

Land cover always has changed due to human activities and natural phenomena,. Intensive and variety of these changes in urban environments are more than others. The objective of this research was assessment of the temporal and spatial changes for two coastal cities (Chalus and Babolsar) and two non-coastal cities (Ghaemshahr and Amol) in Mazandaran province with the view to compactness, complexity and centrality of urban form using landscape metrics. The research methodology was a quantify method and the land use maps were produced in three classes (urban, cropland and water) by maximum likelihood classificationusing Landsat satellite images. For landscape change analysis 12 landscape metrics were used in the class and landscape level. The results show that the NP for cropland in four cities increased, which represent fragmentation, loss of continuity and interference in cropland. Additionally, increasing trend of number of patches was observed in two cities Ghaemshahr and Babolsar in landscape level that showed fragmented structure in these cities. Also, ENN-MN decreased only for Ghaemshahr that means high centralization was occurred in this city. Generally, the significant difference was not observed between coastal and non-coastal cities with the view to compactness and complexity.

Planners always face a set of spatial conflicts in allocation of land to a particular activity; this implies that a land may be used for two or more parallel applications. Currently in Town and Country Planning programs recognizing priorities in the land allocation process are modeled independently without considering the role of other land uses, and as potential land-use conflicts are an issue that has been ignored. The purpose of this study is to introduce and use the LUCIS model to identify land allocation priorities along with conflict modeling. To implement the model, with using the Python programming language an ArcGIS toolbox has been developed. Due to the developed system, defining inputs, weights and stakeholder priorities, land use modeling will be done automatically. Finally, priorities and also major conflicts in the study area have been identified. Results of this study show that, in addition to having the capabilities of other models in land suitability analysis, LUCIS can properly model existing conflicts. Therefore, it is recommended that a separate part under title "Identification of land suitability conflicts"  be specified in the descriptive setting of Town and Country Planning programs.

Plan quality evaluation has turned to a significant approach considered by the urban studies both in order to help the success in implementation of the plan and to make better plans. Thus, the current study evaluated the "Master Plan of Pooladshahr City" as case study and used a framework for evaluation of quality of urban development plans based on the synthesis of Interpretive Structural Modeling (ISM) and Analytic Network Process (APN) methods. In fact, after extracting indicators of theoretical studies, the network connections between indexes is built using ISM and its output becomes as an input in the evaluation process of ANP. The most shortcomings of this plan can be considered as lack of public participation in plan preparation process, lack of use of scientific methods and local values in visioning, and adapting it with all the elements of the plan besides lack of indicators for monitoring the success. Although the efforts of the plan producers for inclusion of such concepts as sustainable development, urban competitiveness, public participation, etc. in a reasonable methodology which cannot be seen in the conventional service description of planning has been significant,  it has not been much considered by the plan itself.

The diverse forces for location of coastal lands and the complexity of different and contradictory interests of these spaces asked new public management to cooperate with public sector and this was the beginnings of privatization of coastal lands. The review of experiences in different communities, shows the main discourses for creation of coastal exclusive spaces, including security, consumption and culture. This research aims to explore the categories of exclusive spaces in a case study and develop the current conceptual framework for the coastal exclusive spaces in pre-urban areas. With applying case study research strategy and the qualitative method approach, the documentary analysis method was used in which the coding technique analyzed the data, gathered from interviews, documents and local observation. It is found that security and culture does not make sense in the case study but for consumption, there is another category and that is the exclusive spaces created under the discourse of public good consumption with the support of governmental and state forces.

Spatial justice with scientific and humanitarian teachings, cause the weaknesses and strengths in different areas. Since most of the allocation and distribution of national and regional resources in the country through focused planning, The present study is an analysis of spatial justice of rural services in the Isfahan province. The research method is descriptive and analytic. The required data were collected through documents. This study, using the 8 Rural Services measures consists of 77 variables was performed. Data were analyzed using SPSS and Excel. Validity of measures confirms using factor analysis and then used as input to numerical taxonomy technic. The obtained results using the GIS software were designed as a map and charts. In this research counties were divided into three groups in terms of distribution of rural services. The results indicated that there is inequality in the distribution of services and showed that rural services are not distributed fairly in the counties of Isfahan province. In other words, in the sparsely populated areas, focused service centers and in more densely populated areas, the lack of service evident. And for rural service delivery in the Isfahan province not pay any attention to important factors such as population.

Regional differences and inequality in many countries is a major challenge in the way of achieving balanced development goals, particularly those countries such as Iran which sovereign a large geographical territory. Due to past poor national and focused planning, development and its basis in geographical regions of the country, has revealed significant differences in the development process. Analysis has been done using documentary and survey data collection methods and a combination of quantitative and qualitative analysis. Data were gathered through documents, questionnaires and Delphi techniques. Then in the second stage of Delphi, using the opinions of experts and officials in charge of the study area, cross-impact matrix was completed in order to evaluate the impact of factors on each other in regional imbalances of Gilan province. Then, with the use of analytical techniques and software MicMac, factors related to inequality of Gilan province were studied and by analyzing the effect of variables in the creation of regional imbalances, the key factor ,”spatial one-dimensional development“ was identified and finally appropriate strategies to equilibra in Gilan province were presented.