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Drivers of urban sprawl in urban areas of Iran
Author(s) -
Hosseini Seyyed Hadi,
Hajilou Mehran
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
papers in regional science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.937
H-Index - 64
eISSN - 1435-5957
pISSN - 1056-8190
DOI - 10.1111/pirs.12381
Subject(s) - urban sprawl , geography , population , urban planning , land use , government (linguistics) , environmental planning , population growth , economic geography , economic growth , economics , civil engineering , demography , sociology , engineering , linguistics , philosophy
During the recent decades, debates about urban sprawl have increased strongly in Iran. Literature review shows that there are few studies about causes of sprawl in urban areas of Iran. This paper analyses driving forces in creation or intensification of urban sprawl in Iranian cities. The methodology of the research is based on documentary and survey method. Results indicate that the most important drivers of urban sprawl are 22 factors in Iran. By using exploratory factor analysis, 22 factors are summarized in eight main factors. These factors include population growth, land value, political fragmentation, land speculation, transportation policies, exterior pressure, management system and land use. The eight main factors are able to explain an average of 76.9% of the urban sprawl phenomenon in Iran. The analysis of variance indicates that none of them can be effective in explaining urban sprawl alone in Iran that they were explained by each factor on urban sprawl. The population growth has the highest impact by 13% and land use has the lowest impact by about 7%. The margin of discrepancy between variance was explained by factors that suggest all of the eight extracted factors play a key role in the urban sprawl of Iran. Policies for controlling and reducing consequences of this phenomenon should be initiated by the government by considering the influential role of government in the urban sprawl of Iran. In particular, it can be helpful to establish integrated urban management, a compilation of comprehensive law about urban land and pay attention to worn‐out textures and brownfield development.