Spatio-temporal analysis of urban form in metropolises of Iran

With the increase in the number of people living in urban areas, urban expansion is increasing all over the world. The rapid expansion of cities as a major factor in the evolution of urban forms in recent decades has become an important issue in spatial planning and urban management. Spatio-temporal measurement and analysis of urban forms can provide a good basis for making decisions about cities and regions with rapid physical growth. Urban form as spatial configuration of fixed elements in metropolitan area has significant effects on physical and mental activity and health, transportation patterns, social interactions, environmental quality, climate change, and human well-being. Accordingly, the main purpose of this study is to analyze the Spatio-temporal evolution of urban form in metropolitan areas of Iran.The General Census of Population and Housing from 1986 to 2016 and Landsat satellite images in 1987,2000 and 2017 have been used in this study. The general population and housing censuses were used to study demographic changes and Landsat satellite imageries were used to generate urban land maps in the study area. 24 Landsat TM and OLI images were used to generate urban land maps using the Maximum Proximity algorithm in ENVI software.