Analyzing the Physical Expansion of City and Its Impact on the Quality of Urban Environment (Case Study: Babolsar City)

In the contemporary capitalist system, cities are the haven of life. The influence of capitalist culture on developing countries such as Iran has led to heterogeneous urban concentration and rapid population growth which have brought about environmental problems. This paper seeks to investigate the impact of urban expansion on the environmental quality of Babolsar City. The methodology of the present research is based on descriptive and analytical approaches which broadly draw on statistical models to measure the impact of physical development on the quality of urban environment. Amongst these models wereShannon entropy and Heldern, as well as tests such as Kendal, and Gama.Findings/ Theresults confirmed the significant relationship between physical expansion and quality of three other factors (socialwelfare, commercial and recreational services), demonstrating that Districts 3, 2, and 4 were distinctive in terms of environmental quality and which was directly related to socio-economic and cultural base of these Districts. It seems that the control of city physical expansion should beone of the main policies of local authorities, as it is clear that the protection of fertile lands in the outskirts of cities will contribute to the sustainability of environment.