Physical development strategy and sustainable form of Isfahan city with approach of smart growth and compact city

The need for sustainable urban development in urban communities and large cities has been emphasized due to rapid urbanization and limitation of land and biological resources. One of the strategies to achieve sustainable urban development is sustainable form of city which has influential role in determining the sustainability of urban environments. Accordingly, the aim of this study is to redefine and determine physical development strategy and sustainable form of Isfahan city to achieve sustainable urban development in prospect of 2035. This study is applied in term of objective. The methodology of this study is a combination of document, analysis, causal and survey. Data collection tool is questionnaire. According to the objectives and the nature of research and to achieve consensus on the identification and assessment of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of Isfahan urban development, data was gathered through 879 samples from the study population including citizens, urban experts and managers and supplementary interviews with 25 people from a selection of experts and city managers and then was analyzed and evaluated using Pearson correlation coefficient and SPPS software. Also, to redefine and establish physical development strategy and sustainable form of Isfahan and completion of evaluation research data, SWOT strategic analysis and internal factors evaluation matrix (IFE) and external factors evaluation matrix (EFE) was used and development physical strategies and sustainable form of Isfahan including the sprawl growth with compact or discrete form of city and smart growth strategy of a compact city has been analyzed and evaluated. According to the perspective of� citizens, urban experts and managers as well as the SWOT matrix and the evaluation of internal and external factors, including strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats and evaluating the benefits of urban development strategy, it was concluded that strategy of urban smart growth and compact city is the best and selected strategy for physical development and sustainable form of Isfahan city with total scores of 3.80 and 3.11 for the internal and external factors using aggressive strategy approach.