Spatial Analysis of Mosque in Ardebil city in the Contemporary Era

The city of Ardabil, as one of the most important cities in the territory of the Islamic civilization, in recent decades, is faced with the problem of unbalanced distribution of mosques in the city. This uneven distribution can be dependent on such factors as population density, historical elements and the formation of city neighborhoods. The unbalanced distribution of mosques in the city, can lead to some problems such as congestion and overcrowding in some neighborhoods. The aim of this study is analyzing the spatial distribution pattern and frequency of mosques and its relationship between the population density and the historical elements and determination of the mosque distribution in the city areas and neighborhoods. The type of study is analytical-descriptive and the location of the 179 mosques has been extracted from urban documents.
such as Kernel Density, the closest neighborhood average and geographic Weighting Regression analysis was used in Arc GIS 10.3 software.
Findings: The results of using the mean nearest neighbor method, shows that the distribution pattern of mosque in Ardebil city with a coefficient of 99%, is a cluster type. Use of geographical weighted regression method and Kernel Density method, shows that the density and proximity of mosques in the central part of the city are much higher than within the old and median tissues and marginal or new neighborhoods of the city. The main reason for the concentration of mosques in central part of the city is the existence of places like the grand mosque, Bazaar, commercial spaces, the geographical center of the city and old neighborhoods. The use of spatial autocorrelation (Moran index) method showed that there is a significant positive relationship between the population density and distribution of mosques in the city area. New urban districts often face low-density point mosques. In the remainder of the city and in areas with high population concentration, the numbers of mosques are greater. New neighborhoods due to their short life and low population density lack completed mosques. Geographically weighted regression method results showed that there is a high positive and meaningful relationship between distance of the main urban spaces and symbols with the number of mosques. About 81 percent of the mosques are located in the service radius of zero to five minutes of the city’s main spaces and symbols. The buffering method and determination of the mosque coverage area and calculation of religious space per capita in urban neighborhoods showed that the distribution of mosques in neighborhoods of the city is often uneven. The central parts of the city have more mosques, but towns and new neighborhoods often have fewer mosques.
The results of this article show that the spatial distribution pattern of Ardabil mosques is the cluster type and there is a significant relationship between the spatial distribution of mosques and population density and the historical elements of the city. The spatial distribution of mosques in Ardebil city neighborhoods is heterogeneous. Finally, based on the findings, recommendations are presented.