Human Factors Affecting Urban Sprawl in Sanandaj (1976-2015) With Emphasis on Informal Settlements and Peri-Urban Villages

An increase in urban sprawl and the physical area has occurred increasingly in most of the cities of the Iran in the previous decade. Urban sprawl or the fast physical development and growth in adjoining areas of the main city is a phenomenon experienced by most cities in Iran. Varied reasons are accountable for it. In this study, the most important factors influencing the horizontal development of Sanandaj, particularly the role of informal neighborhood and nearby villages, have been investigated. The current study examines the role of social revolution including land informs and urban management in increasing migration and physical development of city- through the emergence of free neighborhoods and the joining of nearby cities to Sanandaj. The method of the study was descriptive-analytic. The pictures captured by TM, OLI and Landsat 588 satellites, which were analyzed by ArcGIS. The results demonstrate that a large number of settled people caused the emergence of 13 open neighborhoods in an area of 536 hectares particularly from 1976-1986 which led to the joining often nearby villages to the city, consequently bringing about urban sprawl of Sanandaj in the recent four decades. Moreover, there are many communities around the city which have the potential to join with the city leading to the incoherence and disconnected in the context of city.