A Comparative Study on Urban Green Space Landscape Developments an Geomorphological Perspective in Shiraz City, Iran, from 1976 to 2014 using GIS/RS

Green spaces represent an indispensible role and specific significance in today’s urban life. The importance of green spaces is to such an extent that experts regard such spaces as the “lungs” of cities. Nowadays, remote assessment applications, such as satellite imagery, have become especially important. Of course, analyzing the changes via such applications demands frequently updated images. In the present study, GIS/RS technology was used to investigate geomorphological patterns of change in urban spaces in Shiraz city, Iran, within a 38-year statistical period (1976-2014). To conduct the research, a normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) of Landsat satellite images (1, 8) and ETM+ and MSS sensors were processed in ENVI4.8. The maps of green space changes and the geomorphological perspective within the said period were prepared in GIS. Results revealed that the green space in Shiraz, within the period under study, was reduced more than 61.17%. The average of green space in the city was 57.11 m2 in 1976 which was reduced to 10 m2 in 2014.