Spatial analysis of city size changes with the level of social vulnerability (Case study: Cities over 10,000 populations in Iran)

Today, most countries of the world face the rapid expansion of urbanization. In each urban system, there are cities with different sizes, functions and characteristics. Each of these cities has different degrees of social vulnerability. Their vulnerability varies depending on social and economic systems and any changes in these systems can reduce or increase their social vulnerability. This is an applied research with descriptive - analytical methods based on library and statistical information. This research examines the social vulnerability in all cities that have over 10,000 populations in Iran by using factor analysis method. In the first phase, all cities were classified according to their size in 7 floors and the degree of vulnerability was identified in each population class. Then, the relationship between city size and social vulnerability was presented in the form of a graph. In the next step, the results demonstrated in the template of spatial analysis by using the GIS software. The results showed that social - economical criteria had the greatest impact on the increasing of  social vulnerability. Subsequently, facilities and equipment and physical critoria had the most impact on the increasing of it. It was also found that as population increases, the social vulnerability also increases. Due to this topic that the most populous cities of Iran are in the western and central part of the country, it became clear that the most vulnerable cities are located in the western and central parts of it.According to what was said it should be noted that vulnerability is the result of all factors and cannot be considered in a one-dimensional way and merely focus on one criterion, and for achieving the goal of reducing vulnerability and prevention the occurrence of a humanitarian catastrophe in the country,paying attention to all these criteria is necessary.