Spatial-geographical analysis of urbanization in Iran

Abstract The development of urbanization and urbanism in Iran has created a wide socioeconomic gap in urban areas. Rapid population growth along with the lack of socioeconomic growth programs and urban development strategies have deteriorated unemployment, inflation, housing price, traffic congestion, and marginalization in cities, particularly in metropolises of Iran. This paper, using a descriptive-analytic research method and a meta-analysis technique, addresses the urbanization and urbanism changes in Iran. Using GIS technique and CV formula, the spatial distribution of urbanization and its rapid growth in Iran are depicted. The research data was derived from a systematic review of documents and techniques over 40 years. The results of the study demonstrated that Iranian cities have undergone an unsustainable growth trend and urbanization has overtaken urbanism. Over the past 4 decades, cities have been struggling with rapid growth and development. In this regard, development-oriented governments can play a significant role in tackling growth and urbanization problems. These problems are especially evident in the socio-economic, urban planning and urban ecology. The rapid growth of urbanization (74% in 2016) has resulted in the emergence of metropolitan areas in an unstable process. Also, in metropolitan areas of Iran, environmental and ecological threats, rural–urban migration and marginalization have posed serious national–regional and local challenges. The structural–functional reforms in Iran, along with skeletal–spatial and socio-economic changes in cities, have given rise to a new social class (low-income people), which is characterized with non-formal businesses and informal settlements in the outskirts of cities, especially metropolitan areas. This has prompted unsustainability in main indicators of urban development such as security, building density, environmental threats, and centralization, among other things. This analysis is based on indicators such as density and centralization, informal settlement, and urban security.