Air pollution is one of the most important problems of industrial cities. The existence of large industrial factories, official and industrial facilities, National Iranian South Oil Company, National Iranian Drilling Company, etc., have turned Ahvaz to one of the main industrial centers and one of the most polluted cities of Iran. Coming into contact with airborne microorganisms is related to a host of negative effects on the human health. This study was carried out to find out the effect of oil industries on air pollution and its optimal locating through the environmental approach in Ahvaz metropolis. In this study, SCREEN3 software was used to find out and analyze the distribution of Sox, NOx, and CO pollutants. Based on expert opinion, the main criteria were determined as climatic, natural, environmental, and economic factors. After calculating weights through the AHP model and attaining the information layers, the GIS software capabilities to combine and overlap the maps were used. This led to a map depicting the optimal location of oil industries congruent with the environmental approach in Ahvaz metropolis. According to the obtained results, there should be no residence-based activity in at least 5000 meters distance from the oil industries, where air pollutants have a considerable density. That is to say, within this distance, the animate and inanimate creatures will be damaged the most. The most optimal areas for the establishment of oil industry facilities are located on the west, south, southwest, and parts of east and north of the area under study.

The main purpose of this study was modeling the suitability of recreational services in order to identify the high-priority areas for the development of recreational activities. To identify the spatial patterns of recreational services, the landscape attractiveness index, visit rate estimation, and access distribution were combined using a set of sub-indices. Moreover, the weight of each index was calculated using CRITIC weighting method and the importance of each index in the formation of recreational services spatial suitability was determined. The results showed that the presentation of highly recreational services is mainly done in the areas with forest ecosystems, protected areas, and aquatic ecosystems such as rivers and wetlands that have diverse landscapes. On the contrary, urban and human-built areas have the least potential for the provision of recreational services. Getis-Ord Gi* statistic was used to model the recreational suitability, identify recreational suitability clusters, and zoning. With its very low suitability, Zone 1 covers 19.9 percent of the area under study. This zone is mainly filled with agricultural lands (54.7%), grasslands (36.1%), and urban lands (6.8%). In contrast, with its very high recreational suitability, Zone 5 covers 16.5 percent of the area under study. The main uses of the lands in this zone are forest lands (55.5%) and aquatic layers including rivers and wetlands (17.2%).  Zone 3, which has an average suitability rate, covers more than half of the area under study. The approach presented in this study helps identify the development priorities in the light of the recreational potentials of the ecosystems existing in an area. Thus, it can be used to improve the spatial planning of recreation and tourism in order to preserve ecosystem services and sustainable use of them.

Hospitals are among the most important service centers, and the selection of the optimal site for them is a very important (yet complex) undertaking, as it can bring about optimal spatial distribution of hospitals and can make them optimally accessible for citizens. In the present study, in order to optimally locate hospitals in District 5 of Tehran metropolis, a combination of the geographical information system, objective weighting methods, and multi-criteria decision making method was used. The geographical information system was used to analyze and manage the optimal hospital locating criteria, the CRITIC weighting method was implemented to account for the correlation between the criteria, and Shannon's entropy method was used to model the existing uncertainty in the criteria. CODAS multi-criteria decision making method was used due to its novelty and the evaluation of alternatives based on two criteria. Based on the results obtained from CRITIC weighting method, distance from health centers, and based on the results of Shannon's entropy method, distance from industrial areas were the most important optimal hospital locating criteria. The results of ranking the candidate sites using CRITIC-CODAS and Shannon’s entropy-CODAS were almost the same, and both methods identified the sites on the western side of the District (that did not have any hospital) as the appropriate sites. The results of the study indicated the high accuracy of combined objective weighting and multi-criteria decision making methods in optimal locating of the hospitals. It might be asserted that these methods can replace thematic weighting methods such as analytical hierarchy process.

Sustainable development has gradually and over time brought about various approaches with different goals. Ecological city is one of these approaches that has a stronger emphasis on environment issue as well as the relationships between city development and nature. The purpose of this study was to determine the local factors effective on the achievement of ecological city in order to sustainably develop Darcheh city. This study was mixed-methods (qualitative-quantitative) in terms of paradigm, and descriptive-analytical and exploratory in terms of nature. Data was collected using document analysis and field study through two means: interviews with experts using the Delphi method and a questionnaire. In the qualitative phase (the Delphi method), 30 experts and specialists were interviewed. In the quantitative phase, the statistical population of the study was comprised of Darcheh citizens aging over 15, who were 37367 individuals in the year 2016. From among these, 375 participants were selected using cluster sampling. The face validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by the urban planning experts, and its reliability was corroborated through Chronbach’s alpha coefficient. The results of the study in both phases (qualitative and quantitative) showed that the environmental and economic dimensions – with the average scores of 4.23 and 4.11 and (beta) regression coefficients of .345 and .349 – best describe the achievement of ecological city, there is a relative homogeneity among various neighborhoods of the city in terms of ecological city indices, and the ecological city development can be attained through a clear model. Moreover, according to Pearson correlation coefficient, the citizens who have had a higher educational level have shown a higher tendency (.585) to help implement the ecological city project.

The risk of earthquake always influences the human communities and inflicts irreparable damages to them. Therefore, preparation against this crisis through the identification and elimination of vulnerable parts is effective in reducing the damages of earthquakes. As Iran is located on one of the two major seismic belts of the world and has many faults, the occurrence of earthquake in the Iranian plateau is natural. Iran is among the top ten countries with the highest rates of earthquakes. Urmia city, which is located on the skirts of Zagros mountain range, is not an exception in this regard, and every year many earthquakes with different intensities occur in this city. Therefore, in order to confront the foregoing issue, we need precise studies regarding construction and safety. In this study, to evaluate the rate of vulnerability to earthquakes, the effective parameters were identified and then were weighted using fuzzy hierarchical analysis. The vulnerability map was prepared using index and fuzzy logic overlay method for Urmia statistical blocks and was presented in the spatial information system environment. The obtained results indicated the vulnerability of nearly 50 percent of the city area to earthquake (i.e., 151574 m2), with .005 percent having a very high vulnerability grade and .40 percent (i.e., 11538359 m2) a high vulnerability grade to earthquake.

The disasters of recent years indicate that communities and individuals are getting increasingly vulnerable and risks are progressively growing. Nonetheless, the need to reduce risks and vulnerabilities are often ignored up until the occurrence of disasters. In the study at hand, which was done based on the descriptive-analytical method, it was tried to examine and predict the vulnerability perspective of the areas located within District six of Ahvaz metropolis during a potential earthquake based on the main purpose of this study. The theoretical data of the study was collected through library research method. After the extraction of the related indices, the spatial analysis of each index was carried out through fuzzy Delphi method, IHWP vulnerability model, and GIS software analyses. The analysis of the findings illustrated that considering the first and second priorities of the crises management, 15.03 percent of all areas of the district under study are highly vulnerable to earthquake. That is to say, in case of a strong earthquake in the district, they will be vulnerable. The study concluded that the physical qualities of the building are as important as the factors such as land use, population density, and time of earthquake occurrence. These have all effective roles in the vulnerability rate and the rescue activities.

The purpose of this study was examining the course of development of Qazvin urban area in order to optimize the decisions of related authorities to enhance sustainable spatial efficiency and exploitation. Through a meta-analysis, four urban area perspectives were extracted, including natural-cultural, administrative-political, functional, and communicative. This was then followed by a theoretical conclusion. GIS spatial statistics were used for the analysis purposes. The results indicated the presence of only the physical and political perspective. The administrative-political perspective of urban area (as the only formal area) and functional urban area (only in an informal manner) were identified as the urban perspectives of Qazvin. The investigation of the natural-cultural perspective of Qazvin urban area led to the identification of southern Alborz area, which based on water resources approximately conforms to the political borders of Qazvin province. Due to its use as a crossroads, this area does not have cultural coherence, and its closeness to the political capital of Iran has made its environmental conditions critical and has changed the role of this area. To solve these problems, it is suggested that first an ecological planning is done as the basis of spatial planning and development decisions. Moreover, due to the cultural inconsistency of Qazvin area, it is suggested to adopt creation of identity through regional governance. Moreover, the economic areas resulting from functionally connected areas should be enhanced and directed in the light of the ecological conditions of the area. Although the application of neo-regionalism viewpoint at transnational level is not possible due to the specific political conditions of Iran, its application in regional and local levels seems to be unavoidable in order to reduce ecologic crisis (water resources) and enhance identity creation in Qazvin urban area.

The vulnerability appraisal is one of the prerequisites of risk analysis in disaster management. Vulnerability to earthquake, especially in urban areas, has increased over years due to the existence of complex urban structures and rapid development. In order to take preemptive measures and reduce the damages of earthquake, the determination of vulnerable areas and implementation of necessary measures seem inevitable. Accordingly, the present study set out to examine the vulnerability of Tehran urban blocks via a location-base model. To attain this objective, first the criteria effective on the evaluation of earthquake vulnerability were divided into three groups, namely exposure, sensitivity, and adaptation capability (16 location criteria in general). Using the expert opinions and network analysis model, the importance of each of the criteria was determined. Fuzzy functions and ordered weighted averaging method were used to normalize the criteria map and develop vulnerability maps under various scenarios. Finally, the sensitivity analysis of the criteria was carried out. The results showed that vulnerable population density and average slope were the criteria with the most and least importance, respectively. The vulnerability maps demonstrated that the areas to the north of the area under study are in the vulnerable class under all scenarios. The stability and dependability of the output results were assessed using sensitivity analysis. The results indicated that changing the weight of the criteria does not have a significant effect on the model outputs, a finding that clearly proves the stability of the model.

The topic of climate change and the dangers that lie ahead is part of the debate in land management. The dynamics of global change and the sovereign approach of global governments have opened new perspectives on land management issues. One of the hidden challenges in this regard is the increasing risk of the occurrence of floods. The purpose of this study was to undertake metric or measurement model as a spatial basis unit to predict flood occurrence. In the present article, in line with using MikeUrban 2019 software, a wide range of tools and quantitative processing steps were used in accordance with the research objectives. In order to predict floods, the past incident factors were studied, namely a review of the principles and operational indicators related to each parcel using the OLI sensor images of Landsat 8 satellite in the year 2020 through the integrated interpretation method and an examination of the basic map of Ilam city in wet seasons (autumn, winter, and spring). Then, the city coverage map was prepared in two uses, i.e., False Color (Urban) and Land / Water. Next, Google Earth images were used to determine the accuracy and precision of the coverage maps. By combining four selected measures with the highest spatial correlation in 50 random points of the city, hexagonal measures with optimal areas were selected and spatial patterns were analyzed. According to the results, in the actual event (1), eight spatial measures with an area of ​​68 hectares and coverage of 1.5% of the entire city are at risk of flood. In events 0.8 and 0.9, 19 measures with an area of ​​170 hectares, 3.6% of the land use coverage of the area, are at potential risk. While there is a high correlation between flood event and type of measure, amount and direction of slope, as well as density and width of road network on one side and drainage network on the other side, in high events (1-8), 28 measures in the residential uses in the detailed design scale with an area of ​​76.5 hectares, barren and enclosed uses with an area of 70.55 hectares, roads network with an area of 29.75 hectares, and parks and green spaces with 17 hectares were identified as the uses targeted by the flood danger. Among all risky user groups, 29.5% were identified in the newly built group, 44.5% in the maintainable group, and 18% in the decayed urban environment group.

The number and population of metropolitan areas have increased significantly during the last century, and in line with the increase in population, improved communications, global trends, and other significant factors, there have been many changes in the spatial development of these areas. These changes are observed in metropolitan areas of Iran during the same period, but there have been a few studies on the changes of these areas in Iran. In this study, the urban land density (U.L.D) function was used to investigate the spatial development trend in Shiraz metropolitan area from 1996-2016. The results show that the Shiraz metropolitan area has experienced a decentralized and scattered spatial form from 1996 to 2016. The pattern of changes in the region's spatial development during the years 1996-2006 and 2006-2016 shows that spatial development has become more decentralized and scattered. According to demographic analysis, the highest population density in 2006, 2011, and 2016 can be seen in the central buffer zone of Shiraz metropolis. Based on directional distribution (standard distance), the population distribution has moved to the northwest of the region. In addition, when analyzing the population distribution pattern, the Moran statistics shows that the region population is distributed in clusters. In general, the decentralized and dispersed spatial form and the formation of population clusters in the region's development process show an imbalance in the region's spatial and demographic development. Some of the significant effects of this phenomenon are urban fragmentation, social segregation, car dependency, and the destruction of agricultural lands and gardens.