Journal of Geographical Studies of Mountainous Areas

Journal of Geographical Studies of Mountainous Areas

Explaining and analysis of factors affecting urban sprawl (case study: Borujerd) County

Document Type : Original Article

Authors
Mohammad Beyranvand 1
Abdolreza Rahmanifazli 2
Zhila Sajadi 3
Mohsen Kalantari 3
1 Ph.D. Student Geoghraphy and Urban planning, Department of Human Geography, Shahid Beheshti of University, Tehran, Iran
2 Associate Professor, Department of Human Geography, Shahid Beheshti of University, Tehran, Iran.
3 Associate Professor, Department of Human Geography, Shahid Beheshti of University, Tehran, Iran
10.22034/gsma.2025.2047151.1047
Abstract
Introduction

The world is rapidly urbanizing, it was expected that by 2018, more than half (55%) of the world's population will live in urban areas. It is predicted that this amount will increase to 68% by 2050 (Tagnan et al. 2022). Urbanization, which is considered as a positive process related to industrialization, modernization and global integration, economically, a minority of the urban population has benefited from its benefits (El Garouani et al, 2014:161). Urban form is one of the basic elements of urban planning that can lead the city towards stability or instability. Usually, urban form has a positive or negative effect on the quality of life of residents (Kakar & Prasad, 2020: 1881).
 

Methodology

This research is applied in terms of objective and analytical in terms of descriptive method based on structural equations using MikMak software. Using geographic information system software, a map of the seven stages of the city's development was drawn based on historical and library documents. In the structural equations section, the expert community of this research includes professors and doctoral students who have worked in the field of urban distribution, who were selected using the snowball technique. In response to the first question of the research (identification of factors affecting urban sprawl), the literature was discussed, and based on studies and library documents, the most important factors influencing urban sprawl were identified, and according to the specific conditions of the studied area, the factors were localized to some extent. Then, by using the questionnaire tool, the opinions of experts and experts were obtained about the 49 obtained factors.

Results

Cities have expanded under the influence of various factors in different time periods, especially under the influence of urban population growth and physical development, which has been large and unbalanced in specific time periods of this expansion, and this physical development has resulted in various environmental, economic and social consequences for the city. According to the drawing of the map of the seven stages of the development of the city and the high coefficients of urban population growth in the years before 1365 and especially between the years 1335 to 1365 in the city of Borujerd, it provided the ground for the horizontal growth of the city.
 

Discussion

The most physical growth also happened in the fifth stage of the development of Borujerd It has happened that this growth is due to the migration of villagers to the city, the annexation of southern, eastern and northern villages to the city, the transfer of urban land, the granting of illegal permits for constructions by the relevant institutions, and the migrations of elots and nomads from the surrounding parts of the city to these areas. Is. As an intermediate city, the city of Borujerd has expanded physically since the formation of the historical core of the city until today in different geographical directions and in the location of different economic classes. In the city of Borujerd, during the accumulation of capital in the commodification process of land and housing, as a productive sector with high added value, it has received the attention of various activists and producers of the urban space.
 

Conclusion

According to the results obtained from the structural equations of Mic Mac software and the output of the impact and effectiveness graph, factors such as government policies in the housing sector, integration of surrounding villages, land trading and land trading, and informal housing, poor land use program, managerial corruption, land use change Migration agriculture and household dimensions were identified as the most effective variables.In this regard, it can be said that the physical development process of the city has been influenced by the decisions of urban housing cooperative companies, the municipality, the Urban Land Department and the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development, immigrant citizens and land and real estate owners, and land and housing stock exchanges, and these factors in The pursuit of interests and the acquisition of profit have been more than housing as a capital good, and this conflict of interests has fueled the emergence of this massive physical expansion in various forms in the city of Borujerd.
 
Acknowledgments
The current paper is adapted from a research assigned in Geoghraphy and Urban Planning University of Shahid Beheshti, with a Grant Number of 1404.15, and financially supported by the university, thereby we declare our appreciation for their help.
Keywords
Urban sprawl
Micmac
government policy
Bourojerd city
Structural Equation Model
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Journal of Geographical Studies of Mountainous Areas
Volume 6, Issue 2 - Serial Number 22
Summer
Spring 2025
Pages 205-228