Predicting the Physical Development of Qaen City using Satellite Images

The growth of cities and their impacts on the environment have disastrous consequences. But, with having the knowledge of the areas, investigation, employment, and proper use of new technologies, sustainable development can be achieved. On the other hand, geography and its most important indicators, especially geomorphology as a specialized science, can play an important role in the growth and development of urban centers. The present study examines the development status of the city and the risks that affect its development. In the present study, using the remote sensing and geographic information system of land use changes in the city of Qaen, in order to estimate the increase in the urban area and the reduction of agricultural and horticultural lands in the period from 2000 and 2017, and also its effect on the geomorphological hazards (such as fault, waterway and lithology) has been studied in the region. The area of use was characterized by maximum similarity algorithm, supervised method and Markov chain model at 1404 horizons. The results of this study show that during the years 2000, 2010 and 2017, the area of use of the boundaries built in the city of Qaen has increased and this increase has brought the city closer to the clay formations, faults and main waterways. So that constructed lands (114.84%), gardens and agricultural lands (99.1%), uncultivated lands (99.71%) and rangeland (99.94%) will change. The combination of different data to obtain more accurate and coherent outcomes as well as a vision for identification of favorable areas for urban growth and development in the coming years will be considered as the innovation of this research.