Evaluating Natural and Human Obstacles to the Urban Physical Development of Sanandaj City

Subject Areas :

Majid Goodarzi ^{1 *} , Zahra Soltani ² , ali ashkbos ³

1 - Associate Professor of Geography and Urban Planning, Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz, Ahvaz, Iran
2 - Assistant Professor of Geography and Rural Planning, Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz, Ahvaz, Iran
3 - Department of Geography, Faculty of Literature and Human Sciences, Chamran University, Ahvaz, Iran

Received: 2023-06-15 Accepted : 2024-04-20 Published : 2024-04-22

Keywords: AHP, physical development, Sanandaj City, Geographic Information System (GIS),

Abstract :

Urbanization growth, and consequently the spread of urban creeping tentacles in the peri-urban areas, is a problem for all cities. They have consequences such as marginalization, agricultural land use destruction, an increase in the population of cities, the impossibility of responding to some services and land uses in the city, the disintegration of physical structures, and environmental problems, especially pollution and disorder of the urban image. The present study aimed to evaluate the natural and human obstacles to the physical development of Sanandaj city. The applied study employed a descriptive-analytical research method. At first, via library and field study (questionnaire) techniques, the obstacles involved in the physical development of the city (criteria) i.e. topography, agricultural land use, rivers, industries, military facilities, and cemeteries of the city were identified and selected. Analyzing the questionnaires was done in SPSS v.26 software. Among the measurement criteria, the mean was chosen. Then, according to the mean of their effect from the citizens’ viewpoints, a weight was given to each of them in the form of the Analytic Hierarchy Model (AHP). Expert Choice decision-making software was employed for the AHP model calculation process. The mentioned weight was analyzed and the final weight of the effective criteria was determined using Expert Choice software. According to the final weight of the effective criteria, in the ArcGIS software, the information layers of the obstacles were prepared and zoned from them. Next, using the weight of each layer in the ArcGIS software and with the Overlap weighting method, the layers were combined. As a result, the output demonstrated the effect of the desired criteria to choose the optimal location for the future establishment of the city. The results indicated that the best directions for the future growth of Sanandaj city are in the north and south, and on average in the southeast of the city. Nevertheless, industries, cemeteries, and agricultural land use hinder development, and in the east and southeast direction in the northwest part of the military barracks, in the west and southwest, the topography has created bottlenecks.