Evaluation of urban sprawl phenomenon using F’ANP model

Urban development process has always been paid attention by different scholars and solving city problems has led to providing some views considering cities development. Urban sprawl is one of the city growth phases that have entered to urbanism literature from the second half of the twentieth century and nowadays it is one of the most important debates in the world. This study deals with urban sprawl measurement in Mashhad city. To measure this phenomenon based on F’ANP model, sprawl indicators have measured for 43 districts in Mashhad. The model results show that the five factors centering, density, mix use, acting space and accessibility influence the rate of sprawl in different districts of the city. The results show that the districts near to CBD have the least rate of sprawl. As the distance from the CBD increase, the sprawl intensifies, so that sprawl has occurred the most in the East, North East, North West and in the South. As one of the main reason, we can point to formation of big city blocks with industrial and military land uses and informal settlements.