Geographical analysis of city form in Iran

As an important subject in urban studies، city form corresponds to the spatial distribution of human activities in cities and is deeply influenced by urban management and physical and socio-economic characteristics. The main goal of this study is to provide a general perspective on the characteristics of city form in Iran through the evaluation and classification of their physical patterns. Attempts have also been made to analyze the potential associations between city forms and a number of selected physical and human variables. The main method utilized in this study is descriptive and the employed data comes from a variety of sources. Google Earth Pro images، results of Iran’s national censuses and Climatic Atlas of Iran are among the main data sources of this research. Q-square tests (x2) have been used to analyze the relationship among city form and selected variables. Only cities with over five thousands inhabitants، which include 689 cities، are examined in this research. During the past 50 years (1956-2006)، Iran’s urban population has increased from 6 million to over 48 million and the number of cities has soared from 200 to over 1000. Definitely، such an increase in the number of cities and their population has impacted the arrangement of human activities in urban areas which are reflected in different city forms. Main city forms in this study were classified into five categories. Our findings depict that 40. 2% of the cities have mixed، 29. 2% linear، 24. 3% iron grid، 4. 35% organic and finally 1. 9% radial patterns. Findings also indicated that 60% of the cities have predominantly continuous and 40% discontinuous physical growth pattern. Our data revealed a higher population growth rate for iron grid and linear city forms than that of organic، radial and mixed city forms. In terms of area size، while organic and linear cities، mostly tends to have smaller areas (less than 500 hectares)، iron grid radial and mixed cities mostly have larger areas. Like the size، organic and linear cities tend to have lower population density (ResultsFindings asserted a significant association between the city form and selected human and physical variables، like population size، growth rate، physical growth pattern، area size، density، elevation and climate type. The results were put in a suggested model that tries to describe urban forms in Iran. The major characteristics of this model can be summarized as follow: cities with organic pattern are related with small population and area size، continues physical growth، low growth rate and density and semi-arid and Mediterranean climate. Cities with liner pattern mainly correspond with small population and area size، but with discontinuous physical pattern، above average population growth rate، medium density، low altitude and Khazari climate. Urban areas with iron grid pattern، on the other hand، are mainly linked with medium population and area size، continuous physical growth، the highest population growth rate، medium and high density، altitude of over 1000 meter and predominantly arid and semi-arid climate. The radial pattern cities are mostly connected with large population and area size، continuous physical growth، average growth rate، high density، above 1000 meter altitude and mainly Mediterranean climate. Finally، mixed pattern cities are mainly correlated with combination of medium، large and very large population and area size، continuous physical growth، relatively lower population growth rate، average and high density، over 1000 meter altitude and a combination of Mediterranean، arid and semi-arid climate.