Assessment and Evaluation of Urban Sprawl in Coastal Cities of Māzandarān Province

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Assistant Professor, Department of Geography Education, Farhangian University, Tehran, Iran.

2 Associate Professor, Department of Geography and Urban Planning, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Mazandaran University, Babolsar, Iran.

10.22124/gscaj.2026.29723.1345

Abstract

The coastal cities of Māzandarān Province are facing the challenge of physical sprawl. Given the rapid population growth and unbalanced urban development, this study examined the factors influencing urban sprawl, including population density, total area, employment rate, and population size, to determine the relationship between these factors and the patterns of spatial dispersion. The research method is descriptive–analytical and based on satellite data, utilizing the Shannon entropy model to analyze spatial dispersion data. The research findings indicated a weak inverse relationship between population density, total area, employment rate, and population size and the urban sprawl of coastal cities in Māzandarān Province. The correlation coefficient between population density and urban sprawl was -0.21, between total area and urban sprawl was -0.15, between employment rate and urban sprawl was -0.11, and between population size and urban sprawl was -0.18. It was also found that the growth of the coastal cities has mainly followed a linear pattern, shaped by the specific geographical and environmental conditions of the region. The study concluded that the examined factors alone cannot significantly predict the degree of urban sprawl in the coastal cities of Māzandarān Province. In particular, the very weak correlation coefficients indicated that there is no meaningful relationship between these factors and urban sprawl. Therefore, a more comprehensive investigation of other environmental and economic factors is required to achieve a better understanding and more effective management of the growth of coastal cities.

Highlights

  • Assessing and evaluating urban sprawl in coastal cities through satellite imagery and Shannon’s relative entropy model has provided valuable insights into the physical expansion of these cities.
    • The findings indicate that there is a very weak inverse relationship between urban sprawl in Mazandaran’s coastal cities and factors such as population density, total area, employment rate, and population size.
    • The growth of these coastal cities has mainly followed a linear pattern, shaped largely by the region’s unique geographical and environmental conditions.

Keywords

Main Subjects

References

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