A Comparative Assessment of the Density of Modern and Historical Contexts, Case Study: Gazorgah and Forudgah Quarter in Yazd

Exacerbation of environmental problems, emergence of the economic crises and social adversity hardship inequality, as the effective historical roots in formation of theory of sustainable development, motivated the experts on urban issues to suggest some practical solutions and also some special administrative measures in order to achieve more sustainable cities. In this respect, physical compaction in cities during the 1970s and 1980s would come up as one of the basic principles of sustainable urban development and the strategies to achieve that based on sustainability principles in reaction to sporadic growth. Therefore, assessing and evaluating the compression level of the urban contexts are of the first steps in reviewing the sustainability status in the cities. So, in this study, as the first step, using the existing documents, the theoretical framework of the sustainable development and the compact city is discussed and then the identified indices for evaluating the compression level of the urban contexts will be determined, and using the Delphi method and AHP technique, the weight of each index would be determined. Finally, in order to comprehensive and integrated evaluation of the indices and assessing the compression level of the two discussed quarters in the city of Yazd, we used the GIS and the overlap analysis. The type of this research is of application and has been done by the descriptive – analytical method In Gazorgah quarter from the historical context and Forudgah quarter from the new context of the city of Yazd. According to the obtained results, in 46.77% of Gazorgah quarter, are situated in the historical context, the degree of compression is median and higher, whereas the number in Forudgah quarter is as of 38.17%. Besides, in the historical context, the distribution of the compaction is balanced and closer to the normal distribution.