Studying the Sprawl Level of Rural Growth Patterns around Tehran Metropolis

This research aims to first discover the pattern of rural development around Tehran metropolis and then compare the finding with smart growth principles; finally, it assesses the impact of sustainable development factors on rural growth patterns. In this study, library research, document reviews, structured interviews and questionnaires were applied to collect data. The present study is a quantitative one regarding the nature and method of data collection. The statistical population of this study consists of the villages around Tehran metropolis that have a population growth rate above 3% and the population between 10000-1000 having local management. Radar and SPSS software were used to analyze the collected data. Villages around Tehran metropolis failed to adapt to smart growth principles, Therefore, the growth pattern of the rural areas around Tehran metropolis is a diffuse growth pattern. Moreover, the physical dimension of sustainable development had the greatest impact on the growth pattern of rural areas. The proximity of villages to the metropolis of Tehran has made them more vulnerable to drastic changes and the growth pattern of the villages tends towards the sprawl growth pattern. In fact, villages affected by the metropolis of Tehran have a scattered texture, high population growth, reduced agricultural land area, high physical growth rate, environmental pollution, visual pollution, etc. In fact, based on the principles of smart growth pattern, the evaluation of the villages around Tehran metropolis reflects the fact that these villages follow a sprawl growth pattern in which the rural programs have not been able to move within the framework of sustainable development.