The Role of Unbalanced Spatial-Physical Development on Urban Instability (Case Study: Sorkhroud City)

One aspect of the sustainability of urban development is balanced physical development in line with environmental, ecological, and socio-economic conditions. In the last decades of the twentieth century, despite many efforts in the field of sustainable physical-spatial development of cities, this issue still remains one of the major challenges for geographers, urban planners, architects and urban planners. In many developing countries, accelerated urbanization and increasing urban populations have exacerbated environmental hazards. This is doubly important in small towns. Physical development, in addition to changing land use, has severely limited the basic needs of urban society, including the provision of safe and adequate water, per capita green space, urban waste management and environmental pollution. The aim of this study is to analyze the role of physical development on the instability of urban development from an environmental perspective in the city of Sorkhrud, using a descriptive-analytical method. To do this, first the physical development of the city using the Shannon entropy model was examined and then the role of physical development on environmental problems was evaluated through three components and seven criteria. The three components include; physical, functional and environmental, and the seven criteria were observance of standard land uses, urban furniture, observance of building height, urban green space, maintaining soil balance, land use change of agricultural land. The results suggest that unbalanced physical development has led to unorganized environmental instability in the city, such as land use change and increased environmental pollution. Green space development is the best option for moderating unbalanced physical development.