Ecological potential evaluation and balance measurement of macro-land use in the urban set of Tehran-Alborz

The ecological capacity evaluation is an estimate of the land's capabilities and limitations for macro-land use development, which determines and grades the environment's capacity for the establishment of uses by measuring the ecological characteristics of the land. In this regard, in the present study, the evaluation of the ecological capacity and balance measurement of 11 land uses (including urban and rural development, industrial development, irrigated and rainfed agriculture development, pasture development, cold water and warm water aquaculture development, the development of concentrated tourism (tourist) and extensive (nature tourism) and forestry development) in Tehran-Alborz urban complex based on ecological criteria and spatial indicators identified based on theoretical studies and literature review were discussed. Then, while compiling the letter model for the users, the spatial indicators of each user were mapped and integrated with the form of mathematical models with the logic of Boolean algebra and the layers of each index in the geographic information system (GIS) environment. According to the results, the areas with potential for the development of nature tourism (extensive tourism) occupied the largest area (72.17 percent). In addition, based on the distribution of protected areas, wildlife refuges, and no-hunting areas in the region, 28% of the studied area has ecological limitations for the development of uses. Also, according to the protection considerations, 81936 ha of the area have a ban on physical development and 1850080 ha have restrictions on physical development. The results obtained from the evaluation of the ecological capacity of the development of macro-land uses in this region can be used as a platform for the balanced development of uses and a tool to identify existing imbalances to measure the ecological capacities and limitations of the region for the development of macro-land use, the possibility of multiple exploitations. From the programmable capacities, it helps to identify the considerations of natural hazards and the sensitivity of the environment in the development of uses, as well as an estimate of the balancing power of the uses in the studied area.