ارزیابی توان اکولوژیک

The assessment of ecological capacity and balance evaluates the permissible human activities within each land zone, while also identifying activities that are either infeasible, lack economic viability, or adversely affect environmental sustainability. This investigation seeks to safeguard environmental functions through the analysis and evaluation of ecological potential in Lorestan Province, which is undergoing significant urbanization. In pursuit of this objective, the ecological capacity for settlement expansion within Lorestan Province is assessed, alongside the identification of the opportunities, capabilities, and constraints inherent in the region's land resources, thereby establishing a foundation for effective planning. The research utilizes a land capability analysis methodology based on an ecological framework developed through fuzzy land-use planning techniques. Among the myriad criteria and variables influencing land capability, three primary factors—agricultural potential, forestry, and urban-residential development—were scrutinized. Significant environmental and ecological potentials act as critical constraints on urban development. Approximately 94% of the province’s territory is deemed suitable for residential and industrial advancement; however, this statistic pertains exclusively to areas earmarked for development, while approximately 6% of the land exhibits insufficient ecological capacity to support such expansion. Consequently, it is imperative to enhance urban green infrastructure, foster biodiversity-oriented agricultural practices, and implement initiatives such as forest restoration to improve regional vegetation cover.

The ecological capacity evaluation is an estimate of the land's capabilities and limitations for macro-land use development, which determines and grades the environment's capacity for the establishment of uses by measuring the ecological characteristics of the land. In this regard, in the present study, the evaluation of the ecological capacity and balance measurement of 11 land uses (including urban and rural development, industrial development, irrigated and rainfed agriculture development, pasture development, cold water and warm water aquaculture development, the development of concentrated tourism (tourist) and extensive (nature tourism) and forestry development) in Tehran-Alborz urban complex based on ecological criteria and spatial indicators identified based on theoretical studies and literature review were discussed. Then, while compiling the letter model for the users, the spatial indicators of each user were mapped and integrated with the form of mathematical models with the logic of Boolean algebra and the layers of each index in the geographic information system (GIS) environment. According to the results, the areas with potential for the development of nature tourism (extensive tourism) occupied the largest area (72.17 percent). In addition, based on the distribution of protected areas, wildlife refuges, and no-hunting areas in the region, 28% of the studied area has ecological limitations for the development of uses. Also, according to the protection considerations, 81936 ha of the area have a ban on physical development and 1850080 ha have restrictions on physical development. The results obtained from the evaluation of the ecological capacity of the development of macro-land uses in this region can be used as a platform for the balanced development of uses and a tool to identify existing imbalances to measure the ecological capacities and limitations of the region for the development of macro-land use, the possibility of multiple exploitations. From the programmable capacities, it helps to identify the considerations of natural hazards and the sensitivity of the environment in the development of uses, as well as an estimate of the balancing power of the uses in the studied area.

Evaluation of ecological potential is known as the pioneer of land use. The central Zagros region needs to develop an environmental management plan with a comprehensive and practical approach due to its much environmental sensitivity and numerous threats to biodiversity. Based on this, Koohrang management watershed area, as one of the pilot areas in central Zagros, has been studied and evaluated. In the first step, by examining common models in Iran and the world, a suitable model was designed to evaluate the ecological potential of the region. In the following, a consolidated model was selected and designed for the area, which has the highest degree of consistency and appropriateness with the existing natural and structural features. Finally, by using the basic data and multiple layers of information, by layering layers in the GIS environment and ArcGIS software, 9.3, synthesis and zoning were carried out. Field studies were used to reference the data and fill information gaps. The results show that most of the region is mountainous and the highest rate of erosion is medium with 38.39%. Currently, the use of pasture has the largest share among other uses with about 68%. On the other hand, the most priority use in the study area is dedicated to various aspects of protection and grazing with 53 and 25%, respectively, and development has the lowest share with 0.05%.

The assessment of the ecological potential of the environment is to determine and measure the potential power and the natural use type of the land. Therefore, the environment power assessment is a tool for the management of geographical space and strategic planning for sustainable development and correct use of land sources. The aim of this study was to evaluate the ecological potential of agricultural and rangeland use in Kangavar city with an area of ​​883.9 km2 using Makhdoom ecological model. To this end, the required data and ecological resources were collected and generated. After creating and combining the maps in the ArcGIS system in a multi-hybrid way, the maps of environmental units were constructed and the ecological potential of the area was evaluated using the features of each environmental unit. To do this, the indicators and variables that could be involved in each of these models were examined. To classify the ecological potential of the area for agricultural and rangeland uses and to produce the map of different classes potential, 15 parameters were used as criteria for weighting and measuring the power. The results of Kangavar city ecological potential assessment led to the extraction of 58 environmental units in 7 classes with completely suitable, suitable, weak, and unsuitable power classes for agricultural and rangeland use. An area of about 356.79 Km2 was found to have suitable and completely suitable power for agricultural use. In addition, it was estimated that an area of about 72.23 Km2 would be appropriate for rangeland and rainfed agricultural use with suitable power. An area of about 483.26 Km2 of Kangavar city is currently allocated to agricultural use, while the optimal area for this means is 356.79 Km2. Thus, the land use of an area of about 126.47 Km2 has been converted to agricultural purposes. According to the results, the lands of the region have been exploited more than their potential for agricultural use (irrigated and rainfed) and the lands with rangeland use have been changed to agricultural use.

Industrial and economic developmentalong with population growth and increased exploitation of natural resources may upset the environmental balance. Inappropriate land use, along withpollution and destruction of natural resources are considered to be serious problems caused by environmental imbalance in many parts of the world. These problems indicate the limited capacity of environment to resist human exploitation of land. Industrial site selectionis considered to be one of the key factors in sustainable regional planning due to the different environmental impacts of industries. Because of the developmentin industrial areas and the existence of numerous mines in GolpayeganCounty, it is necessary to optimize industrialsite selection in accordance with environmental standards and regulations. Therefore, the present studyintegrates hierarchical analysis with multi-criteria evaluation methods to investigate 24 different criteria with the aim ofoptimizing industrial site selection in accordance withenvironmental standards and regulations in GolpayeganCounty.  

In accordance with the rules and regulations of setting up industrial and manufacturing units and similar studies,the conceptual model of Golpayegan county site selection was prepared based on three criteria: physical, biological and socio-economical. Followingthe preparation ofinformation layer for each criterion, spatial analysis ofEuclidean Distance was performed for each of them.Then, information layers produced in the previous steps were standardized using Boolean and fuzzy logic. The integration and overlapping in Boolean method was performed using AND logic.At this stage, all the information layers were entered into TerrSet software and standardized using fuzzy model and membership functions of the software’sfuzzy sets. The real scale (from 0 to 1) was used in this study to determine the membership function.Higher membership value in this range indicates higher utility while lower membership value indicates lower utility. In the present study, AND operator was used to integrate maps.Hierarchical analysis was used to determine the weight of each factor. Afterwards, the maps were integrated using fuzzy overlay method, weighted sum model and weighted linear combination (WLC) method. In this way, a map was produced for the industrial park site selection. Then according to the histogram curve and its breakpoints and also according to the environmental conditions of the region, it was classified into 5 classes.  

An inconsistency rate of 0.04 was calculated in the present study to evaluate the accuracy of judgments made about the weight of the criteria and sub-criteria.Distance from Mouteh Wildlife Refuge, distance from faults, distance from wells and distance from roadswere identified as the most important criteria for assessing the industrial capacity of the region. Maps produced using the Boolean method include two classes of 0 and 1,the valuesin the fuzzy overlay, weighted sum and weighted linear combination methods rangebetween 0 and 1, while they range between 0 and 0.7 in the weighted sum method and between 0 and 0.8 in the weighted Linear combinations method. 2783.5 hectares of the study area have the potential of serving as industrial sites based on the Boolean method, indicating that 1.7% of the study area is suitable for industrial construction. Combining moderate, good and highlysuitable classes using fuzzy overlay method showed that 1769.13 hectares or 1.1% of Golpayeganregionare suitable for industrial site construction. Combining good and highlysuitable classes usingweighted sum method showed that 1758.77 hectares or 1.09% of Golpayeganregionare suitable for industrial site construction. Combining good and highlysuitable classes using weighted linear combination method showed that 1902.78 hectares or 1.18% of Golpayeganregionaresuitable for industrial site construction. No matter which method is used, suitable areas for industrial site constructionare located in the southeastern region of the County and in vicinity of the main road.  

Comparing the results of the present study with similar studies indicates that the Boolean logic finds the least number of suitable areas for industrial park construction and its selected areas must have an appropriate score in all evaluation criteria. Findings indicated that due to the specific characteristicsof the Analytical Hierarchy Process, this method can be useful in the investigation of regional planning issues. It can be concluded that Weighted Sumand WLC are more effective than Boolean and fuzzy overlay methods. Results indicate that all four models located landssuitable for industrial development in the southeastern areas of ​​the County and in vicinity ofits main road, thus these areas should be prioritizedin future planning, policy making and investment for industrial development. Furthermore, given the concentration of agricultural activities in GolpayeganCounty and its numerous tourism capacities, the development of agricultural conversion industries and ecotourism related industries within the predicted authorized areas can be considered as priorities of regional development. Nowadays, sustainable economic development in most countries depends on industrial development. Sustainable development of industries creates more opportunities for social and economic growth. Sinceappropriate site selection for industrial parksharmonize the goals of economic development with the goals of urban development, economic enterprises and environmental objectives, it is considered to be a step toward sustainable development. Achieving such a goal requires a revision of the site selection criteria in accordance with the sustainable development indicators. This increases national and local employment rate and accelerates industrial growth without damaging the environment. .

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.

In order to perform the foretold action, the hierarchy process analysis (AHP) and the geographical information system (GIS) was used. In the manner that after conducting the intended information layers and application of these information layers in the Arc GIS environment and after the conduction and completion of the questionnaire by the subject-related professionals, prototype and normal matrix has been completed for designating the relative weight of the layers. In the hierarchy process analysis (AHP), according to the relative weight of the layers which were designated after the completion of the questionnaire by the subject-related professionals and conduction of prototype and normal matrix and the conclusions in result, the highest controlling variable is the gradient which the highest percentage of relative weight is allocated to this matter; therefore the region’s central parts which has the least gradient meaning acquiring 0-2 up to 8-12 percent and in the manner of vegetation includes low density fields and thinly scattered forests, etc. are the most appropriate parts for development. Finally the determination of final weight of layers and combining the information was performed in the Idrisi software that the results of this method are as follows: about 14.36 percent of the total area acquires grade one appropriate potential, and about 10.12 percent acquires the grade two potential appropriate for urban- rural development and 75.52 percent also acquires the lack of desired potential for such developments.

Agriculture is the main source of national income and food for all developing countries, but the main problem facing many managers and farmers is when and where they can cultivate. Horticulture is one of the agricultural activities, the maintenance and development of which requires sustainable economic, social, cultural, ecological and institutional infrastructure. It also requires the participation and comprehensive planning at a local to national scale. The first step in achieving sustainable development, especially in the agricultural activities and the subsequent orchard farming, is to recognize the ecological potential and the land capability in each region. In this regard, the knowledge of land evaluation plays a decisive role in determining the land suitability or evaluating the ecological potential of each region for the intended uses, including the development of gardens. Numerous studies have been conducted to evaluate the land suitability for crop cultivation, including horticultural and agricultural products. Since orchards require more investment and time than crop farming, the importance of basic studies and research for the orchards will be much greater than that the crop; because if an unsuitable land is used for orchard establishment, after it, for several years, more important than wasting the money paid is the loss of time, which is not compensable. But, only one crop season is lost for crop farming.

In Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province, the development of the orchard is very important for the people as well as the relevant officials. Therefore, the selection of the suitable location for the orchard farming is a very important issue. For this purpose, this research was conducted with the aim of achieving the best and most sustainable use of land in Saman County, which has the first rank in the province with about 13,000 hectares of gardens. Due to the climate of this area, the orchard products for cold regions, such as apricots, almonds, apples, peaches and grapes was selected and the possibility of sustainable development of these orchards was studied using the land suitability evaluation based on the FAO standard method. For this purpose, the land characteristics (LC) related to the intended crops, which mostly included the climatic characteristics and the characteristics of the soil and the land, were first collected and classified. Then, the requirements of the these crops or products were determined and at the end, the characteristics or qualities collected were compared and evaluated with the requirement tables of the selected crops. Each land feature was then given a class or numerical value, which combined two important indicators, including the climate index and the land index. In this study, the process of land suitability assessment was performed with a size approach and numerical (parametric) method and then land fit maps of the desired products were prepared.

Table 1 shows the class and subclass of land suitability for apricots. As can be seen, 42530.7 hectares or 86.87% of the whole land are in the suitable order. The subclasses include climatic (c) and soil physical (s) limitations. The most important soil physical limiting factors are soil depth, lime percentage and gravel percentage. Also, the land with an area of ​​6429.7 hectares or 13.13% of the land is in the not-suitable order, which due to the limitations of the gravel percentage and soil depth is in the permanently unsuitable class or N2s class.The results of land suitability assessment for peaches, apples, grapes, and almonds are shown in tables 2 and 3. The findings showed that according to climatic and soil characteristics, different regions had different degrees of proportionality or ecological potential, so that the study area had S3 and N classes in 86.87% and 13.33% of the area, respectively.For grapes and almonds, the land suitability classes were S2, S3 and N classes, in 21.90%, 65.57% and 90% of the area, respectively (Table 3). The most important limitations were the soil depth, gravel, slope, and climatic constraints. According to such findings, planners and decision makers can plan and choose the best options to take into account both the product profitability and sustainability. Of course, in addition to ecological requirements, it is recommended to study other requirements such as social characteristics, economic conditions, cultural acceptance, and the current situation of orchards to complete the process of sustainable development for horticulture.
Table 1. Land Suitability Classification for Apricots

Identifying tourism development capacities is an undeniable priority in any country, especially in developing countries. There are various methods for determining such zones. Given the sensitivity of forest ecosystems to human interference, the purpose of this study is to evaluate the ecological potential of Tonekabon forests.

To evaluate the ecological potential of the study area, we used the combination of Makhdoom and FAO model in GIS environment using Layer Overlay (IO) technique and weighting by AHP method. In this study, the importance of the criteria and sub-criteria involved in the evaluation process was determined using experts' hierarchy and the weight of each layer was determined using Expert Choice software.

Results indicated that 118.73 hectares of the area is suitable for centralized recreation and 487.72 hectares for extensive recreation and the rest is of conservation value.

The results of this study showed that the combination of IO with AHP in GIS could well compare and evaluate different layers according to the criteria and be used as a suitable tool by decision makers to determine forest ecological potential for tourism development. The issue can be effective in achieving sustainable tourism development.

Working within ecotourism planning framework, this research is aimed at investigating ecological potential provided by Balghur watershed (Mashhad, Iran) in terms of sustainable utilization of natural resources for the sake of nature travelling, so as to determine its environmental capacities. Used to evaluate the region’s potential in terms of recreational activities were the following parameters: slope, aspect, elevation, soil texture, soil erosion, vegetation coverage (in percent), bed rock, relative humidity, temperature, number of sunny days, distance to communication roads, distance to ground waters, distance to residential areas, SAR, look out and land uses. Collected for the time period 2014 – May 2015, the required data was obtained from statistics and information provided by Iranian national census conducted in 2004, related books and journals, similar researches, topographic maps of 1:25,000 scale surveyed by Natural Resources Administration Office in Khorasan-e-Razavi province, Iran (2004), visiting the area and surveying a set of experts. Once finished with data gathering, fuzzy - analytic hierarchy process was used to evaluate the region’s potential of supporting centralized and extended recreational uses. The results indicated that, when centralized recreational uses were concerned, 19.6% of the region enjoyed a good potential, 16.6% of the region provided very good potentials, and 28.1% (2587 hectares) of the region had moderate potentials while 24.3% (2229 hectares) was of poor potential and, finally, 11.3% (1044 hectares) was very poor in providing such uses with the required provisions. However, when concerned with extended recreational uses, 18.1% of the region enjoyed a good potential, 26.1% of the region provided very good potentials, and 24.6% (2271 hectares) of the region had moderate potentials while 10.3% (945 hectares) was of poor potential and, finally, 20.8% (1923 hectares) was very poor in providing such uses with the required provisions. Accordingly one can suggest that this region possesses good potentials in terms of developing ecotourism industry (either centralized or extended recreations).

The continuous utilization of renewable natural resources involves identifying the ecological potential of the land in any environment, and this identification, with the help of optimal and programmed management, enables the use of resources and prevents environmental degradation.
The national natural monuments of Dehloran, in the form of three important national natural effects, including mineral hot springs, natural bitumen springs and bat cave, can provide a suitable platform to attract ecotourism in the region. Therefore, promotion of ecotourism in the area is considered as a supportive tool for conservation and a tool to facilitate its management. Regarding this issue, in this study, the ecological potential of this region has been evaluated for ecotourism use. Ecological capability of these monuments for ecotourism use has been evaluated. After data collection and basic studies, the important criteria of soil, climate, physiographic and vegetation cover are selected. Then, multiple criteria evaluation of FUZZY AHP and ANP methods have been used for standardization and weighting of criteria. Finally, environmental unit map of ecological capability for ecotourism was prepared using Makhdom model and WLC. The results indicated that in FUZZY AHP method, 80 percent of the area is suitable for ecotourism which is more close to reality, but ANP method shows 62 percent accordance. The main result of this research is that FUZZY AHP is more flexible which is powerful for creating ecotourism capability map of such area.
Extended Abstract
1- Ecotourism travels responsibly and sustainably are based on relatively untouched areas in nature to satisfy psychological needs which provide the basis for socio-economic participation, local communities, and have the least negative impact on nature and natural resources. Tourism with the ecotourism approach is considered as a pattern of tourism in nature. This spatial pattern involves the approach of tourists to the natural environment, with different motivations that the tourist is considered in traveling to the natural environment or nature. In the studies of land capability and land use planning for sustainable development, data and maps of various ecological, economic, social and infrastructural parameters are needed for the identification, preparation, analysis and evaluation of them with traditional methods, especially when it comes to multi-purpose use, it is very complicated and time consuming. National natural monuments of Dehloran, including mineral hot springs, natural bitumen springs and bat cave with their natural attractions can provide a suitable platform for tourism attraction in the region, Therefore, promoting ecotourism in the region is considered as a supportive tool for conservation and a tool to facilitate its management.
2- Iran's ecological model of ecotourism in general represents a three-story power which has been organized within the framework of equations, linear programming. In this model, gradually from class one to class three, the quality and flexibility of land is unsuitable for ecotourism. The present study is based on the ecological parameters (physical and biological) to assess the ecological capability of agriculture land use including physiographic (percent slope) (So), precipitation (Cp), temperature (Ct), distance from water sources (Wc), soil depth (Pd), soil erosion (Es), soil structure (Ps), soil texture (Pte), soil drainage (Pdr) and vegetation types (Vgo). The weighing of information layers is done using the methods of network analysis and fuzzy AHP analysis. After the preparation and preparation of the information layers, the information layers were entered into the geographic information system as a grid and the initial spatial analysis was performed on them. The fuzzy method was then used to determine the membership function. The weights obtained from both methods were applied to the fuzzy layers. Then, to combine the layers, the model of overlapping index or linear weight composition was used.
3- Using the GIS on the slope of the linear reduction subscription function, the trajectory linear membership function layer and the temperature layer, an incremental linear membership function was applied. Based on the final zoning map of the total area of the region, about 57% is recognized as first class and about 38% in third class for tourism. Through the network analysis process and in the fuzzy AHP method, 5% is recognized as first class and about 16% in third class. In the process of network analysis, the slope has the highest impact and aspect has the minimum impact on the study area which is consistent with the results of Aghdar et al. (2017). Moreover, in the fuzzy AHP method, among the main criteria, vegetation density has the highest and climate has the least effect. Among the soil criteria, under construction criteria and depth, respectively, have the highest and the least impact. According to the final maps, obtained from both methods and their analysis in Google Earth software, regions that are similar in all respects are in the same class in the fuzzy AHP method and in the network analysis process, they are in two different classes, which is not compatible with the existing reality. Using Google Earth software and field observations in the study area, it can be concluded that the results obtained from the fuzzy AHP method are more consistent with the reality of the region. The results also indicate that not only is there a case for expanding tourism activities in the region, but also the conditions of the region for ecotourism are good; it is a more obvious result in the fuzzy AHP method.
4- The identification of suitable areas and those with the potential to develop ecotourism in the areas managed by the department of the environment is considered very important for sustainable use of natural resources. The study area in terms of tourism, regional, national and international aspects, is an excellent location with good planning principles and the conditions can be provided to attract ecotourism. Thus, promoting ecotourism in the region, is considered as a safety net to protect and as tools to facilitate the management of national natural monuments of Dehloran. Fuzzy AHP method results indicated the efficacy of this method for studying land use, particularly in the studies of ecological capability evaluation.

The purpose of this research is to evaluate the process of ecological potential assessment of Gorgan city in order to determine potential urban development points. The research method in this study is descriptive-analytical; in order to achieve the purpose of the research, first - the required information of the area is collected using available information sources and fieldwork and interviews with relevant experts and then using the evaluation approach. Multi-criteria and specifically the use of the hierarchical analysis process, one of the most popular multi-objective decision making techniques for complex situations with multiple and contrasting metrics, is evaluated, analyzed, summarized and integrated in the geographic information system environment. Based on the results, the whole study area is in terms of elevation criterion and most of the study area in terms of slope, land use, communication and precipitation criteria to determine optimal urban development points were appropriate and direction criteria. Slope, soil, geology, fault, distance from river are limited in More area for the study of city development. Finally, 11.73% of this area has very good capability, 21.91% has good capability and 27.03% has moderate capability for city development. On the other hand, 26.07% of this area has inadequate power and 13.26% has very limited capacity for city development. Overall, the city of Gorgan in the study area has more than average capacity for urban development.

Introduction Without taking the ecological differences and environmental capabilities of lands into account, using land can culminate in unpleasant consequences and destroy the environment. This will endanger natural resources and obstruct the environment’s sustainable development as such. The region of Sahand (located in East Azerbaijan Province) boasting a diverse, suitable ecosystem for human life and a variety of natural attractions together with invaluable environmental sceneries is among the most important regions in East Azerbaijan province which is capable of population attraction. Hence, the growth of cities and rural settlements with their concomitant construction of infrastructures and facilities required by humans has resulted in insufficient evaluation regarding the ecological capability required for proper land use prior to the allocation of the swathes of this region for the land-use in question.
Methodology In the present study, the systematic location finding concerning the physical development of the city of Sahand is the main objective. In MADMs, the intended criteria should be weighed first. Weighing process is crucial and decisive. In this sense, careful attention should be paid to the selection of weights so that the results are in line with expectations. In the present research, weighing was done using Analytic Hierarchy Processes (AHP). In the first stage, Sahand, as the area under the study, and the influential physical-ecological factors in urban development location-finding, including physical (i.e., the surveys of geography, geology, soil, hydrology, hydrogeology, climatology, etc.) and biological (i.e., the evaluations of flora and fauna in the protected areas, etc.) features were determined. In the second stage, the standardization and the overlying of information layers were done using Arc GIS, and the directions of the city’s development were identified. The third stage involved the analysis done using AHP and WLC in which the map of Sahand’s ecological development capability was extracted and then categorized by comparing it with the model of urban development. At the moment, the city of Sahand spans an area of 2329 acres. In the research, basic and influencing variables affecting the development of a city were used. These variables include height from the sea level, slope, slope direction, distance from fault lines, lithology, the texture of the soil, the distance from roads, underground waters, surface waters, and the distance from power grid. These maps were then standardized using fuzzy model.
Results The findings revealed that out of the overall studied surface area of Sahand identified as 1721 ecological units and spanned 45200 acres, 3326 acres were placed in the first class potential and 4279 acres were in the second class potential regarding urban development. At the moment, the spatial distribution of population centers in the township is mainly located in the second class (average) land-uses, which can be attributed to important factors, such as moderate slope, a rather suitable texture of soil, the proper drainage systems, and favorable climate.
Conclusion From an urban planning perspective, the final confines of area development are determined through the overlying of maps pertaining to proper ecological capability and those of proper slopes. In division maps, slopes are considered to be 0-8 percent, 8-12 percent, 12-15 percent, and 20-15 percent. It is suggested that slopes of 15-20 percent be used for green spaces. Moreover, in the newly suggested area, the creation of flanks with unsuitable width has been avoided, since they increase the infrastructure costs. In determining the new area for development, we have tried to make the most of topographical lines. The evaluation of the findings indicates that in addition to identifying the suitable locations for urban development in acceptable directions, the model designed with AHP also suggests other directions. However, WLC model yields directions for development based on both evidence of survey studies and the comparison of the findings with the existing reality. According to the directions of development identified in both AHP and WLC models, the best alternative was chosen based on ranking. The southern part of the city is surrounded by steep height, and currently some parts of these mountainsides with a considerable slope are occupied by people in the vicinity. Not only is this part of the city incapable of further development, but some of its population will also be displaced in case the improvement and renovation projects of the distressed areas are put into action. This area, due to its location, has some partial limitations, especially with regard to the shape of the land. The western area has very limited potential for development and the creation of metropolitan applications and job centers along the former route from Sahand to Tabriz. Typological complexities have deprived this area of playing a crucial role in development and population attraction. The western area is predominantly occupied by heavy industries and does not have any potential for development or settlement or whatsoever due to its direction of prevailing winds. Similarly, in the south-western area the development seems impossible due to closeness of the city of Sahand to Tabriz and their facilitating integration. Given the finalized maps of AHP and WLC models, the lands located on the eastern area create the most essential and natural possibility for the development of Sahand due to having proper slope, facing the sun, and having suitable status in terms of the environmental factors. The studies conducted in this regard, including Sahand’s master planning, acknowledge the fact that in recent years the city has faced major natural obstacles regarding its development, and has inevitably raided some parts of nature; this has resulted in instances such as the destruction of the renowned Osku gardens. Sahand’s master planning with regard to the geographical and typological location of the city suburbs has proposed the eastern and north-eastern areas as the most suitable parts for the physical development of the city. By pursuing development in these parts, a sufficient area provided for the development and the density of urban spaces is highly avoided at the same time. Reviewing the studies revealed that in the southern section of Sahand, that is, from Sahand to Osku, lush gardens are located whose land use should be changed under no circumstances. Moreover, the relative adjacency of western part of Sahand to the heavy industries creates the opportunity for installing the non-polluting industries located along the Tabriz-Azarsharh route. An important point to bear in mind while using AHP and WLC is to choose weights correctly and use information layers effectively. This is of great importance, because when the selected weights are not suitable for the process of decision making regardless of the number of the used information layers, the findings will not be satisfactory.

Nowadays correct planning and comprehensive utilization of the environment is based on the recognition of talents and evaluation of the productive potential of the region.  The evaluation of the regions’ ecologic potential is the middle phase of the region planning or environmental planning process. In fact, region evaluation provides the primary information of the second phase of regional planning including choosing the most appropriate utilization of the region and the management system. In this manner, the purpose of the present study is to determine the most desired and appropriate environmental areas of Tarom’s basin located in Zanjan province with evaluating the ecologic potential for developmental application. To this end, the analytic hierarchy process analysis (AHP) and the geographical information system (GIS) was used. In the manner that after conducting the intended information layers and application of these information layers in the Arc GIS environment and after the conduction and completion of the questionnaire by the subject-related professionals, prototype and normal matrix has been completed for designating the relative weight of the layers. In the analytic hierarchy process (AHP), regarding to the relative weight of the layers which were designated after the completion of the questionnaire by the subject-related professionals and conduction of prototype and normal matrix and the results showed that the highest controlling variable is the gradient with the highest percentage of relative weight. Therefore, the region’s central parts which has the least gradient meaning acquiring 0-2 up to 8-12 percent and in the manner of vegetation includes low density fields and thinly scattered forests are the most appropriate parts for development. Finally, the determination of final weight of layers and combining the data was performed in the Idrisi software that the results of this method are as follows: about 14.36 percent of the total area acquires grade one appropriate potential, and about 10.12 percent acquires the grade two potential appropriate for urban- rural development and 75.52 percent also lacks the desired potential for such developments.

Execution of development and creation of appropriate points for urban development without considering ecological capability will result in the appearance of several environmental, economic and social problems. This research is done in an analysis approach frame of a system with the aim of determine appropriate locations for urban development, has been done according to the indicators of ecological capability evaluation model of Iran urban development in the border town of Arak. For this purpose, it has been used multi-criteria decision-making methods of AHP and FUZZYAHP Buckley in order to determine the weighting of criteria and fuzzy membership functions for standardization. The results showed that from the total region area by using FAHP, 63 percent of the lands with capable of first degree and 12 percent of lands are unsuitable for urban development, and by method of AHP, 65 percent has the capacity first class and 21 percent are unsuitable for urban development land use. Results of control the urban development classes in this study while confirmation of decision-making model AHP in the Study area, determined that the best method for assessment, is multi-criteria decision-making method FAHP, that is modelling the act of ecological capability evaluation of land use more carefully and is having more accordance with the reality of the ground truth.

Man has always been dependent on nature and for their basic needs is based to the environment. But over time due to management practices and right or wrong interventions enter the effects on land. For this reason and because of the human potential, the ecological potential for future development of land is very important. Today, many cities in our country due to its unlimited expansion and without program Can take destroy of natural environments. But the increasing urban population, followed by the growth of cities, according to the control of the development of cities and stepping to the principles of sustainable development is necessary. Purpose of this study is determination of the best of environmental arenas for urban development land use in Tarom watershed in Zanjan province. For this study was used Analytical Hierarchy Process method. For this purpose after preparation of information layers and import of these layers in Arc GIS software and after preparation of questionnaire by experts, were completed early and normal matrices for determination of layers relative weight. Upshot, layers ultimate weight and incorporation of information in Idrisi Software were performed. Results showed about 14.36 percent of total of area has appropriate grade and 10.12 percent has second degree and 75.52 percent don’t have potential for this development.

Land use suitability assessment is necessary to prevent and imporove environmental issues. Land use planning provides a basis for decision making in spatial planning and land-use management. Selecting the appropriate land-use type and pattern according to ecological suitability of lands is the main purpose of watershed management and can lead to the control and decrease of the undesirable effects of natural disasters. Land-use planning provides the basis for considering the land management and also the natural and anthropogenic hazards necessary for the developmental process of land management. The arranement of relationships among people, land and human activities, and the sustainable utilization of human and environmental resources is important to improve the material and spiritual conditions of the community wellbeing over time, which is one of the main objectives of ecological potential assessment.
Theoretical framework: Land-use planning provides a basis for decision making in land-use management. The residential areas are affected by the changing dynamics of land use through an increase in the density of the area. Population growth increases the needs for recreation and accommodation, which leads to degradation of soil and natural resources. The increasing population growth along with the need to ensure food security in Iran is one of the main reasons of the conversion of forests and grasslands into agricultural and settled regios of the counry. Different criteria can be employed to plan the residential areas and the land-use suitability assessment at both local and national levels. Land use influened by dynamic human needs and environmental features varies with changes in lifestyle. The persistent engagement and conflict between human and environmental needs causes changes in land usage patterns, structures, and comopision at different spatial levels and time frames.
The present study was conducted in Ziarat Watershed located in the southwest of Gorgan City, Golestan Province. The intensive settlement growth and land-use conversion has occurred in Ziarat Watershed due to its favorable climatic condition and geographical location. Nowadays, the Ziarat watershed is in a critical condition due to the influence of human societies in terms of tourism and settlement development and it is necessary to conduct environmental assessment studies before implementation of development programs. The suitability of land resources was evaluated using the Systematic Model of Iran and the GIS tools.
According to the land-use map (2001), the extent of residential areas has been calculated to be 111.82 hectare. While the residetial aeas reached to 235.17 hectare in 2011 due to the extensive construction of new buildings and villas. Three residential categories were identified, including the favorable areas, the appropriate areas, and the inappropriate areas. The analysis of favorable and appropriate categories showed that the route development does not comply with the proposed development appraoch. The amount of overall Kappa index (0.3164) was within the range of low conformity, and the partial vakues of Kappa index were 0.2037 and 0.161 for the favorable and appropriate categories, respectively.To sum up, the both favorable and appropriatecategories were in the poor range of conformity. The results indicate that 4.46% and 4.52% of the study areas were assigned as suitable for the first and second categories, respectively, whereas the remaining areas (91.76%) can be consider as an unsuitable category for settlement growth. The comparison of settlement in the categories shows that the current condition of settlement growth is not in conformity with the ecological planning program. According to the results, the value of overall Kappa index was 0.3164, which can be assumed as a low-agreement settlement category. Also the values of Kappa index for the first and second categories were 0.2037 and 0.161, which fall into weak categories with low conformity. According to Kappa index values, the residential development does not comply with the current status while the developmental conditions of the residential areas, roads, and tourist facilities have damaged the study area. In the study area, the agricultural lands and forests restricts the residential development according to the results of the Systematic Model of Iran.
Conclusion and Suggestions: The current settlement development categories are not in conformity with the ecological planning program based on the obtained Kappa index value (0.3164). This kind of evaluation can be used to assist the designers of settlement development to plan to reduce the damages caused by natural hazards at local and regional scales. Ineffective management and inappropriate pattern of land-use patches regarding the ecological suitability has complicated the issue of the dvelopment of residentail areas. In fact, the ecological capability of development in residential areas was considered asa comprehensive approach to all ecological parameters of land management. In this sense, physical and biological parameters were identified and analysed; therefore, the sustainable developmente of residential areas include activities to stop or reduce the degradation, or at least slow down the destructive effects of previous undesirable utilizations in order to move towards the sustainable management of residentail areas at a watershed scale.

Today, with the rapid growth of urban population and as a result, rapid and unbridled urbanization of human societies have been caused some issues. In Gorgan, an increase in level of urban settlements is done regardless to the capabilities and limitations of land and ecological potential of urban development. In this study, it is performed to evaluate and conform to urban development, regard to ecological capability to protect the environmental ability of Grogan. In this case, the multi-criteria assessment approach with weighted linear combination of the GIS is performed to evaluate the ecological capability of Gorgan for conformity to urban development in different years based on the criteria. Then, there is a comparison between final map of capability and current development; moreover, the rate of conformity in different years is calculated. It is illustrated that the ecological conformity had been decrease gradually from 1987 to 2013, which causes hazardous effects on the environment that seems to be still remain for years. Therefore, reduction of the ecological noncompliance should be considered by relevant authorities. The outputs could be used for urban planners to observe the environmental principles to promote existing conditions.

Nowadays as for increasing growth of urban population and then expedite and ungovernable development of cities، many issues and problems have been stand on human societies The assessment of change rate of urban settlements in Sari city in the past half-century shows significant increment of urban lands space over the city. Increment of urban settlements in mentioned area takes place regardless capabilities and restrictions on lands and also ecological capability assessment process of urban development which causes wide range of valuable lands to be destroyed. Ecological capability assessment process of urban development estimates possible utilization of human from land for urban development usage. The present study which is descriptive and analysis and applicable research، is done to achieve designing and using a holistic and flexible model in order to ecological capability assessment of urban development by utilizing ANP. Analysis network process is relatively a modern method in the field of environmental researches that is based on mutual influence of environmental standards and of course wisdom collective judgment. The results of present research led to offering lands zoning map of the under studding area based on Ecological capability assessment of urban development to optimize activities in order to preventing environmental imbalance.