Modeling Urban Growth Through Vector-Based Cellular Automata In Parcel Level

Urban growth simulation in a sustainable way has always been one of the challenges in the field of urban management and planning. One of the most widely used models in this field is cellular automata which has considerably attracted the attention of urban researchers in recent decades. On the other side, previous studies show that the output of conventional cellular automata model is sensitive to cell size and neighboring structure and varies as these parameters were changed. For this purpose, vector based cellular automata models were introduced which in their evolution period managed to overcome the limitations in conventional CA model and which gave better results. The purpose of this study is to simulate urban growth through vector based cellular automata and to illustrate urban growth in a parcel structure with a high spatial resolution. In this model, neighborhood structure is defined as an external buffer from parcel edges and on the basis of a weighted function of distance, area and land use of cadastral parcels. The presented model has been implemented and analyzed using the data of the 22nd municipal region of Tehran. The obtained results indicate the capability of the model in assessing the interactions of urban parcels with different shapes and distances from each other and also illustrate urban growth in an acceptable proportion of different urban land use arrangements. Since it is possible in this model to allocate different urban land uses, it can be used in spatial decision making and planning of urban land uses.