Evaluation of Environmental Impact of Urban Sprawl in the Urban Development Trend (Case study: Rasht city)

Population growth in Iranian cities has increased dramatically since the Islamic Revolution, and this growth has been such that over the last two decades cities have evolved in a variety of ways: horizontal growth, vertical growth, urban sprawl, and suburbia. The city of Rasht has not been exception from the rule, and due to its role in the region and province, compared to other cities in the region, Rasht has seen poor physical growth. The most important feature of this growth was the sprawl of the city towards and around the legal boundaries of the city. Accordingly, the main purpose of the present study was to evaluate the environmental impacts of the city’s sprawl on the spatio-temporal development process. This applied research with a descriptive-analytical approach focused on documentary and field data and used the Quantitative Rapid Impact Assessment Matrix (RIAM) model. The results show that various indices such as abandonment of wasteland, expansion of informal housing, housing cooperatives, integration of suburban villages, and urban development plans have contributed to the unbalanced spatial development of Rasht. RIAM matrix analysis showed that 83.87% of the area around Rasht had negative environmental effects resulting from urban sprawl and only 16.13% of environmental components had positive environmental effects.