Assessing the Neighborhood-Spatial Structure of Urban Settlements based on Earthquake Risk from the Perspective of Passive Defense (Case study: Kermanshah Metropolis)

The need to pay attention to organizing an efficient housing and urban development system and the need to concentrate on new urban planning ideas and defense planning of the city to achieve the goals of urban defense seem very important. Nowadays, the housing system in cities is in a dilemma; on the one hand, the expansion of cities and the formation of new urban patterns, and on the other hand, worn-out and marginal urban textures that are somehow vulnerable to disasters and hazards. The present study used a descriptive-analytical method and library and field work with emphasis on the principles of passive defense and identification of the components and indicators of vulnerability and zoning of danger in four components of natural, physical, social and economic with 45 sub-indices. It also examined earthquake-vulnerable areas comprehensively as well as the neighborhood-spatial structure of Kermanshah urban areas in order to reduce the risk from a defense perspective. In this paper, with fundamental studies related to the spatial structure based on earthquake risk, the formation and collection of experts' opinions and its analysis in the form of taxonomic and Vikor models and the required database in ArcGIS software environment were drawn. In addition to risk zoning, vulnerable neighborhoods and settlements were identified and the necessary defense strategies were provided to reduce vulnerability.