ABSTRACTDuring the last century, ports of Persian Gulf become the most important storage, refining and transportation of crude oil, oil derivation, petrochemical products and also, business activities. Nowadays, due to functional diversity between ports, the impact of port activities on the development of urban spaces will be different, and this issue leads to structural differences of port cities. The purpose of this research is to identify the key variables affecting the relations and spatial structure of port-city in Dubai as the most thriving and successful port-city in the Persian Gulf. This research is based on deductive reasoning and carried out by analysis of cross effects with secondary data (results of other prominent articles) and also primary data (questionnaire). sampling method is based on purposive sampling and Micmac software was used to analyze the data. Output of Micmac software shows the position of the instability of the system. Therefore, the position of each variables in the conceptual model can be categorized to driver, linkage, dependent, and autonomous factors. The research findings indicate 4 variables (like as “income, cost and investmnets in port-city”) can be introduced as a driver factor, 5 variables (like as “advanced multimodal transportation in the port”) can be introduced as a linkage factor, 6 variables (like as “quality of living environment and desirable city”) can be introduced as a dependent factor, 3 variables (like as “environmental protection and sustainable development of the city-port”) can be introduced as an autonomous factor. The rapid development of Dubai can be explained by the purposeful distribution of revenues from trade and tourismExtended AbstractIntroductionDuring the last century, ports of Persian Gulf become the most important storage, refining and transportation of crude oil, oil derivation, petrochemical products and also, business activities. The global increase in oil demand since the 1950s led to the creation of discovery of new oil wells and large industrial areas. With the construction of new oil or gas facilities in the port areas, increasing oil revenues contributed to the countries of the Persian Gulf region and form a new geographical relationship between ports and coastal cities which had an impact on the spatial structure and relation of them. Nowadays, due to functional diversity between ports, the impact of port activities on the development of urban spaces will be different, and this issue leads to structural differences of port cities. In the 1950s, Containerization (container loading technology) was based in some of the world's ports and created a huge transformation in the shipping industry, which had a significant impact on the development of ports. Although the ports of the Persian Gulf have made a significant contribution to the economic growth and physical development of other ports in the world, but few researches have been done on the variables and factors affecting the development of the spatial structure of the important ports of the Persian Gulf. This region, due to its unique geographical location, has always been considered as a most important corridor in the field of economic and transportation throughout history. Some of the most important energy and commercial ports in this region are: Dubai, Manama, Kuwait, Dammam, Doha, Bushehr, Bandar-Abbas and Assaluyeh. In this regard, the purpose of this research is to identify the key variables affecting the relations and spatial structure of port-city in Dubai as the most thriving and successful port-city in the Persian Gulf. MethodologyThis research is based on deductive reasoning and carried out by analysis of cross effects with secondary data (results of other prominent articles) and also primary data (questionnaire). The method used in this research is quantitative and the sampling method is based on purposive sampling. the variables affecting the spatial structure of port-city relations were identified in the form of a review of 31 prominent articles. 25 experts (who had comprehensive knowledge and information about the development process of the city-port of Dubai) participated to determine the effectiveness or influence of variables. Finally, the output of data analysis was done by the Micmac software. Results and discussionOutput of Micmac software shows the position of the variables in the diagram that it indicates their status in the system and their role in the dynamics and changes of the system. The method of distribution and dispersion of the variables in the spatial structure of port-city relations indicates the instability of the system. Therefore, based on the output of the system, the position of each variables in the conceptual model can be identified in five categories (driver, linkage, dependent, autonomous and regulatory variables). According to the results, some variables such as “the changes in the strategic positions” and “geopolitics of port-city”, “the modification of the management method” and “regional planning of the ports”, “the promotion of local governance in the relations between port-city” and “the way of national and international management of ports have been introduced as driver variables. On the other hand, five variables consist of “advanced multimodal transportation in the port” and “income, cost and investment in the port-city”, “the contrast and physical integration of the port - city space”, “the development of various industrial and production activities in the ports and their local hinterland” and “their qualities Financial and commercial policies of ports” have been introduced as linkage variables. Findings of research also shows that some variables consist of “quality of living environment and desirable city”, “quantity and quality of transit corridors (rail, road and air) to hinterland”, “construction and launching the new port (sea port or dry port)”, “terminal facilities and infrastructure and warehousing”, “conflict or convergence between the city and the port” and “increase in population growth rate and migration to the port - city” categorized as dependent variables. Three variables including “cultural and historical background of ports”, “use of cheaper energy, Less-polluted, clean and renewable energies in the city-port” and “environmental protection and sustainable development of the city-port” categorized as autonomous variables. Finally, a variable with the title of “improvement in management and information technology and development in loading, unloading and storage of commodities” have been introduced as regulatory variables. The findings of this research have a remarkable similarity with other researches carried out in the field of city-port relation and clearly emphasize the direct impact of the "investment in port-city" in the development of them. For example, Grossmann (2008) emphasized that city-port of Hamburg has become one of the largest ports in Northern Europe during the last few decades due to huge domestic and foreign investment. ConclusionThis research carried out in order to introduce and explain the key variables affecting the development of the spatial structure of the port-city of Dubai. On this basis, 21 variables have been extracted by systematic reviews of prominent articles. In the following, 25 experts were selected with the purposive sampling method. Among the 21 variables extracted, 4 variables (like as “geopolitics of port-city”) introduced as a driver factor, 5 variables (like as “advanced multimodal transportation in the port”) introduced as a linkage factor, 6 variables (like as “quality of living environment and desirable city”) introduced as a dependent factor, 3 variables (like as “environmental protection and sustainable development of the city-port”) introduced as an autonomous factor. The rapid development of Dubai can be explained by the purposeful distribution of revenues from trade and tourism. A part of these revenues has been directed towards investment in important transportation infrastructures such as airports and ports of this city. These strategies have a wide impact on improving the economic growth of the city and the development of the port in order to adapt with the global trade and advanced technologies. FundingThere is no funding support. Authors’ ContributionAuthors contributed equally to the conceptualization and writing of the article. All of the authors approved the content of the manuscript and agreed on all aspects of the work declaration of competing interest none. Conflict of InterestAuthors declared no conflict of interest. Acknowledgments We are grateful to all the scientific consultants of this paper.

A B S T R A C T The current research is descriptive-analytical. In terms of purpose, it is in the category of applied research. Both library and field methods have collected the information required for this research. The statistical population of the research consisted of citizens living in Kasra, Azadi, Rezvan, Rahan, Hasht Behesht and Zeytoun residential complexes, which consisted of 6588 people, and the sample size according to the Cochran formula was 364. The study results of the studied residential complexes from the perspective of spatial connectivity indicators indicated that among the investigated complexes, Rahan residential complex had the lowest connectivity index compared to the rest of the complexes, and the highest share of this comparison goes to Kasra residential complex. From the comparison of the complexes based on the interconnection index, we conclude that the location of spaces and accesses in Rahan complex is very weak. Compared to the rest of the complexes, the location of access and communication in Kasra complex is lower. Moreover, Rezvan has been suitable and successful. It is said that the increase of connection in public spaces occurs with increase of sociability. Among the other results of this research, the spatial order component with the path coefficient value of 0.368 has the highest path coefficient among the investigated components. In the first place, the playability component with a path coefficient of 0.253 is in the second place, the multi-purpose component with a path coefficient of 231 0.0 in the third place, the security component with a path coefficient of 0.162 is in the fourth place and the environmental comfort component is in the fifth place with a path coefficient of 0.153 Extended Abstract Introduction In the public space of neighborhoods and residential environments, the issue of sociability has been less addressed. Public spaces can boost the social life of citizens by strengthening social interactions and being involved in social sustainability. The residential environment conveys the residents a sense of well-being and satisfaction through physical, social or symbolic features. In each residential complex, according to the different arrangements of the blocks in it, it is possible to reach different influential indicators of the public space in it, which, according to the way they are arranged, have different potentials from the point of view of sociability in them. Declining sociability causes many problems in relationships between people and reduces the sense of belonging to a place, security, and other issues caused by not paying attention to the quality of collective life in housing. The main question is: - What are the components of the spatial structure affecting the sociability of residential complexes in the city of Kermanshah?   Methodology The current research is descriptive-analytical. In terms of purpose, it is in the category of applied research. Two library and field methods have collected the information needed for this research. In the field method, primary data collection has been done according to the research questions by designing a 5-scale Likert scale questionnaire. The statistical population of the study consisted of citizens living in Kasra, Azadi, Rezvan, Rahan, Hasht Behesht and Zeytoun residential complexes, which consisted of 6588 people, and the sample size was estimated to be 364 people using the Cochran formula. Factors such as the ease of access to the complexes, the willingness and cooperation of the residents and the management of the complexes were also influential in selecting the samples studied in this research. In this research, in order to investigate the sociability of residential complexes based on the   theoretical framework prepared in the present research, the physical indicators affecting this issue include five indicators of "connectivity, interconnectedness, control, selection and depth" in each of The studied samples have been evaluated and analyzed in public spaces including the playground, gathering space, parking lot, and lobby. This research used Depthmap analytical software and structural equation modeling software to analyze the data.   Results and discussion In this research, the relation of sociability of public spaces of residential complexes in Kermanshah, which includes Kasra residential complex, Azadi residential complex, Rezvan residential complex, Rahan residential complex, Hasht Behesht residential complex and Zeytoun residential complex as the basis of the research case. Among the samples studied, Rahan residential complex has the lowest connectivity index compared to other complexes; the largest share of this comparison goes to Kasra residential complex. In the meantime, Zeytoun residential complex, then Azadi, Hasht Behesht and Rezvan have the lowest to the highest amount. It can be seen that the public spaces of Rahan residential complex do not have the desired level of connectivity. As the communication increases, the spaces will become more sociable. From the comparison of the complexes based on the interconnection index, we conclude that the location of the spaces and accesses in the Rahan complex is very weak and lower than the rest of the complexes. According to the numbers extracted, Zeytoun complex and following that Kasra and Rezvan complexes are at the same level of performance, and Azadi and Hasht Behesht complexes have the best performance in this aspect; the placement of access and communications in Kasra and Rezvan complexes has been appropriate and successful. It is said that the increase of connection in public spaces occurs with the increase of sociability. Among the investigated sociability components, the spatial order component with the path coefficient value of 0.368 has the highest path coefficient. In the first place the playability component with a path coefficient of 0.253 is in the second place, and the multipurpose component with a path coefficient of 0.231. In the third place, the security component, with a path coefficient of 0.162, is in the fourth place, and the environmental comfort component is in the fifth place, with a path coefficient of 0.153.     Conclusion Living in the common spaces of residential complexes allows one to be with others comfortably and effortlessly. A person can take a usual walk to be among people, sit on a bench near the door for a short time, and even sometimes look out of the window can be a worthwhile activity. In this research, an attempt was made to examine the condition of the studied residential complexes from the perspective of sociability. The results showed that Rahan residential complex had the lowest level of connectivity index compared to the rest of the complexes and the largest share of this. The comparison reaches Kasra residential complex. In the meantime, Zeytoun residential complex, then Azadi, Hasht Behesht and Rezvan have the lowest to the highest amount. It can be seen that the public spaces of Rahan residential complex do not have the desired level of connectivity. As the communication increases, the spaces will become more sociable. From the comparison of the complexes based on the interconnection index, we conclude that the location of spaces and accesses in Rahan complex is very weak. Compared to the rest of the complexes, the location of access and communication in Kasra complex is lower. And Rezvan has been suitable and successful. It is said that the increase of connection in public spaces occurs with the increase of sociability. Extended Abstract Introduction In the public space of neighborhoods and residential environments, the issue of sociability has been less addressed. Public spaces can boost the social life of citizens by strengthening social interactions and being involved in social sustainability. The residential environment conveys the residents a sense of well-being and satisfaction through physical, social or symbolic features. In each residential complex, according to the different arrangements of the blocks in it, it is possible to reach different influential indicators of the public space in it, which, according to the way they are arranged, have different potentials from the point of view of sociability in them. Declining sociability causes many problems in relationships between people and reduces the sense of belonging to a place, security, and other issues caused by not paying attention to the quality of collective life in housing. The main question is: - What are the components of the spatial structure affecting the sociability of residential complexes in the city of Kermanshah?   Methodology The current research is descriptive-analytical. In terms of purpose, it is in the category of applied research. Two library and field methods have collected the information needed for this research. In the field method, primary data collection has been done according to the research questions by designing a 5-scale Likert scale questionnaire. The statistical population of the study consisted of citizens living in Kasra, Azadi, Rezvan, Rahan, Hasht Behesht and Zeytoun residential complexes, which consisted of 6588 people, and the sample size was estimated to be 364 people using the Cochran formula. Factors such as the ease of access to the complexes, the willingness and cooperation of the residents and the management of the complexes were also influential in selecting the samples studied in this research. In this research, in order to investigate the sociability of residential complexes based on the theoretical framework prepared in the present research, the physical indicators affecting this issue include five indicators of "connectivity, interconnectedness, control, selection and depth" in each of The studied samples have been evaluated and analyzed in public spaces including the playground, gathering space, parking lot, and lobby. This research used Depthmap analytical software and structural equation modeling software to analyze the data.   Results and discussion In this research, the relation of sociability of public spaces of residential complexes in Kermanshah, which includes Kasra residential complex, Azadi residential complex, Rezvan residential complex, Rahan residential complex, Hasht Behesht residential complex and Zeytoun residential complex as the basis of the research case. Among the samples studied, Rahan residential complex has the lowest connectivity index compared to other complexes; the largest share of this comparison goes to Kasra residential complex. In the meantime, Zeytoun residential complex, then Azadi, Hasht Behesht and Rezvan have the lowest to the highest amount. It can be seen that the public spaces of Rahan residential complex do not have the desired level of connectivity. As the communication increases, the spaces will become more sociable. From the comparison of the complexes based on the interconnection index, we conclude that the location of the spaces and accesses in the Rahan complex is very weak and lower than the rest of the complexes. According to the numbers extracted, Zeytoun complex and following that Kasra and Rezvan complexes are at the same level of performance, and Azadi and Hasht Behesht complexes have the best performance in this aspect; the placement of access and communications in Kasra and Rezvan complexes has been appropriate and successful. It is said that the increase of connection in public spaces occurs with the increase of sociability. Among the investigated sociability components, the spatial order component with the path coefficient value of 0.368 has the highest path coefficient. In the first place the playability component with a path coefficient of 0.253 is in the second place, and the multipurpose component with a path coefficient of 0.231. In the third place, the security component, with a path coefficient of 0.162, is in the fourth place, and the environmental comfort component is in the fifth place, with a path coefficient of 0.153.     Conclusion Living in the common spaces of residential complexes allows one to be with others comfortably and effortlessly. A person can take a usual walk to be among people, sit on a bench near the door for a short time, and even sometimes look out of the window can be a worthwhile activity. In this research, an attempt was made to examine the condition of the studied residential complexes from the perspective of sociability. The results showed that Rahan residential complex had the lowest level of connectivity index compared to the rest of the complexes and the largest share of this. The comparison reaches Kasra residential complex. In the meantime, Zeytoun residential complex, then Azadi, Hasht Behesht and Rezvan have the lowest to the highest amount. It can be seen that the public spaces of Rahan residential complex do not have the desired level of connectivity. As the communication increases, the spaces will become more sociable. From the comparison of the complexes based on the interconnection index, we conclude that the location of spaces and accesses in Rahan complex is very weak. Compared to the rest of the complexes, the location of access and communication in Kasra complex is lower. And Rezvan has been suitable and successful. It is said that the increase of connection in public spaces occurs with the increase of sociability.

A B S T R A C TThe right to the city in urban development goes beyond the physical form and, at the same time, has a mental and social meaning, which has been popularized in planning theory and urban studies after its proposal by Lefebvre. This theory focuses on the residents and the distinctive features of the space and believes that the right to the city can only be formulated as the right to the evolved and renewed urban life. Based on descriptive-explanatory purpose, this research seeks to spatially analyze the components of right to the city in Bandar Abbas. Therefore, after collecting 77 subjective and objective measures around the research components, the multi-criteria decision-making technique of COPRAS has been exploited to integrate the data in the ArcMap Tools. The findings show that in the current state of urban development in Bandar Abbas, the right to the city in all its aspects, the right to ownership, the right to participation and the right to difference for the residents have been weakened and ignored. A share of up to 20.7% of the city space, which is mainly directed to the wealthy neighborhoods and parts of the central areas of the city, as well as parts of new developments, the right to the city has been more manifested, and in about 19.8% of the city spaces. Mainly applicable to informal settlements and slums of the city, this right has been undermined and ignoredExtended AbstractIntroductionThe right to the city as a physical, mental and social concept seeks a fundamental change in dealing with urban planning and development issues, which has been popularized in planning theory and urban studies after its proposal by Lefebvre. This theory focuses on the residents and the distinctive features of the space and believes that the right to the city can only be formulated as the right to the evolved and renewed urban life. In other words, this theory is a call for the priority of the consumption value of the city against its exchange value, which can only be pursued through the analysis of urban issues in the framework of the "city space" metaphor in the right to the city. It is a fundamental change in the city to create opportunities and space for citizens to meet and achieve their needs. MethodologyFrom a descriptive-explanatory purpose, this research seeks to spatially analyze the explanatory components of urban development in Bandar Abbas from the perspective of the right to the city. In this research, by collecting 77 subjective and objective measures, the COPRAS multi-criteria decision-making technique has been used to integrate data in the ArcMap environment. Citizens are the source of mental data, official documents and maps are the objective data, and experts are the relative weight of the criteria. It should be mentioned that to guarantee the validity of the content based on the guidance of supervisors and advisors, the collective opinion of university experts and the use of similar studies were exerted. The reliability of the questionnaire was also tested by Cronbach's alpha method, and the value of the alpha coefficient (0.866) indicates the high reliability of the questionnaire. Results and discussionThe findings show that in the current state of urban development in Bandar Abbas, the right to the city in all its aspects, including the right to possession, the right to participation, and the right to difference for the residents, has been weakened and ignored. A review of the findings shows that the social function of the city's real estate and land, with a coefficient of 0.136, followed by environmental justice, with a coefficient of 0.131, has the greatest impact on the urban development of Bandar Abbas. On the other hand, socio-spatial justice in the process of taking over space, with a coefficient of 0.106, shows the lowest level of influence in the development of Bandar Abbas compared to other components of the right to the city. The results show that about 20% of the area of Bandar Abbas city is in a very unfavorable situation compared to the components of urban development based on the right to the city approach. These areas of the city are spaces where the residents' right to the city has been severely denied, and they are deprived of taking over the city space.In this regard, the results show that 20.7% of the city's space, mainly focused on wealthy neighborhoods, parts of the city's central areas, and parts of Mehr's housing, has the right to a greater manifestation of the city. The city's space is more in line with its residents. As shown in the spatial distribution of the urban development components of Bandar Abbas based on the right to the city approach, the possession of space through the right to presence, the accessibility of residents to the opportunities and resources of the city, as well as the fair distribution of facilities and services play a decisive role in urban development. However, as the results show, it is the difference that gives meaning to the urban space, and therefore the space must provide the conditions for the city to play a role in meeting the needs of all city groups. The requirement of this role is the central position of the residents in making decisions about the city space, which is a unique way to realize the right to the city. ConclusionAs Brenner states, the right to the city is a call to create "cities for people, not for profit." In this definition, urban development is more than a physical thing and has a mental and social dimension at the same time. In terms of the right to the city, the right to possession, the right to participation, and the right to difference form the trinity of urban development and the guiding light of these three principles that determine the quality of a different city. Unfortunately, urban development in Bandar Abbas has weakened and denied residents' rights. The zoning resulting from the spatial analysis shows that about 19.8% of the city's spaces, which mainly correspond to informal settlements and poor neighborhoods, this right has been weakened and ignored. From the theoretical aspect of the right to the city, this event originates from the space as an economic and physical thing exchanged in the market, not a consumption thing formed by the citizens and in social interaction with the space. FundingThere is no funding support. Authors’ ContributionAuthors contributed equally to the conceptualization and writing of the article. All of the authors approved thecontent of the manuscript and agreed on all aspects of the work declaration of competing interest none. Conflict of InterestAuthors declared no conflict of interest. Acknowledgments We are grateful to all the scientific consultants of this paper.

Segregation of social groups leads to the increase of social and physical distance between diverse groups of people and results in social exclusion and other negative consequences. Increasing understanding of the relationship between the urban spatial structure and segregation patterns can help with the realization of plans and the success of the city management, so the objective of the present study is to analyze the segregation of different classes in the city of Qom and its relation with the urban spatial structure. Quantitative method and descriptive analytical approach have been applied. For this purpose, multigroup segregation of high, middle and low classes of the city was examined which indicated that there was a medium segregation in the city. Also, when examining the indicators of the deliberation of spatial structure including distribution, clustering and concentration, based on the population and activity statistic data of 1390 consisting 758 statistic districts in the city of Qom, it is revealed that Qom has a centered and clustered structure. To find out the relation between the amount of the segregation and the distribution of population and activity, Moran's bivariate correlation has been applied and the results suggest that there is a direct positive relation between the local segregation entropy of the low class in the city and the entropy of population and activity and the Moran’ s indicator was (36%), and there is a negative and reversal relation between the segregation of high and middle class and the distribution of population and activity and the Moran’ s indicators were respectively (-36%) and (-24%). Applying the spatial regression to find the class most effective in making the spatial structure of the city of Qom, it has been indicated that the high class of the city has been the most effective (R^2= 0. 27) following which came the low and middle classes.

This paper is intended to determine whether there is a meaningful relationship between urban spatial structure and functionality of streets. Urban spatial structure refers to spatial configuration and arrangement of streets in an urban transportation network. Also, in this context, functionality of a street defines if the street is an arterial or local path. In order to evaluate the spatial structural properties of streets in an urban transportation network, this paper applies an indicator called “Shortest Path Frequency” (SPF). This indicator determines the frequency in which a given street participates in possible shortest paths throughout the network. Higher SPF indicates that the street is more structurally important. Moreover, in order to achieve the mentioned goal, the SPF indicator was adopted to assess the structural importance of streets in a case study network. Then, the assessed importance of each street is compared to its functionality in real network. The functionality of streets was categorized in four level including: main arterial, secondary arterial, main streets and local streets. The comparison between calculated and observed importance of streets was achieved by using a statistical test. The test revealed that there is restrict meaningful relationship between structural importance level of streets and functionality of streets. In other words, the streets which were identified as structurally important also are identified in the category of main or secondary arterials in real world. As a result, this procedure can help urban designers to predict structurally important streets in a network and provide required plans such as particular land-use policy or specific design to avoid from congestion in such streets.

Over the 20th and 21st centuries, rapid urban development has significantly altered urban landscape, often resulting in unfavorable changes. These changes have altered user perceptions of visual quality. While prior studies have examined urban aesthetics, few have explored how spatial structure directly shapes visual pollution, particularly in dynamic and rapidly urbanizing contexts. This research addresses the visual quality of urban landscape by asking: How does spatial structure influence visual pollution? A mixed-methods approach was employed, using Tajrish Square as a case study. The findings from the questionnaire surveys and visual graph analysis, categorized into four types: form, function, furniture and infrastructure, highlighted the critical role of spatial structure components in contributing to visual pollution of the urban landscape. Key factors include poor urban composition, substandard access networks, inconsistent facades, excessive advertisements, litter, insufficient green spaces, and suspended cables. The studies also showed that visual pollution in the Tajrish area focuses more on urban form factors such as land use patterns, the placement of urban elements—including public transport stations and religious sites— traffic network, congestion nodes, in addition to pedestrian network’s geometric continuity and accessibility. The research highlights how poor landmark access and spatial design amplify visual pollution, reducing urban coherence and quality. These findings provide actionable insights for urban planners and policymakers, emphasizing the importance of integrating spatial structure considerations into urban planning to enhance visual coherence and mitigate pollution in similar urban landscapes.

Introduction: City has long been regarded as one of the human achievements by civilizations. Urban structure is part of the basic and mainconcepts of urban engineering knowledge and, in fact, is the foundation of its formation, and it is of great importance that some urban planners in developed countries regard it as equal to the spatial planning of the city. Today, lots of driving forces exert pressure on the environment. Change in land use and land cover is one of the pressures caused by driving factors such as population and its increase. The destruction of urban landscape, and change in land use and land cover are cases that constantly pressure the environmentof the country. Land use change is a complex and dynamic process thatinterconnect natural and human systems, therefore it directly relatesto many environmental issues that are globally significant. So, it can be stated that changes in urban structure has always been one of the most important factors, by whichmanhas influenced his environment. Given the role of environment in human life, precise information about the environmental change and the process of their changes should be achieved, which, can determine the extent of the expansion and destruction of resources, and guide these changes in appropriate courses by predicting urban structure changes...

Disharmonic growth of Cities and urban sprawl are among the most problematic issues of current cities which have led to destruction of farm lands around them and other destructive consequences. Therefore, it has doubled the importance of conscious leading and controlling expansions of cities. Urban sprawl, which was initiated in the second half of the 20th century, is propounded as one of the main issues in most of the countries. Urban sprawl is accompanied by several positive and negative consequences and is caused by various reasons in different cities with different geographical, economical, political and social characteristics. The Iranian cities are no exceptions to this norm; although they have had slow expansions over the last centuries. However, as the time goes by, most of them are faced with sprawl phenomenon.Moreover, specific formal characteristics of the cities act as effective factors in urban expansion, and lacking specific forms and structural patterns. Meanwhile, structural tools, which have formed the city and caused the integration of spatial organization of it, are kinds of instruments that through them the urban planners, as well as the decision makers, can help the urban management to control the expansion of the city. Urmia is one of the cities that has confronted with rapid growth in recent years. In order to measure the sprawl in this city, after reviewing the related theoretical as well as empirical literature, based on the findings of Ewing et al (2002), Torrens (2008), Frenkel and Ashkenazi (2007) on sprawl, 19 variables were selected to study the sprawl phenomenon in this city. A factor analysis in 30 districts of the city was run to identify the underlying dimensions of sprawl in the city. Six factors were extracted, named: mix land use; density; irregularity of the built up area; centrality; access; and activity spaces. The combination of these 6 factors in a GIS map illustrates that the central areas of the city are the least affected areas by sprawl, and the further it goes from the center, the more intensive the sprawl becomes, whereas the most sprawl could be seen in the northwestern, southern, eastern and western parts of the city. Moreover, comparing sprawl and expansion process of the city in different periods of time shows that the earlier formed districts have the lowest sprawl and as a person reaches to the newly built areas, the city expansion process tends to have more sprawled. Also the investigation of the Radial-Concentric form of Uroumieh and the characteristics of development in location and time aspects and comparison of them with the sprawl in various parts of the city indicates that the rupture created in the city form have led to a high sprawl at the out-of-form areas.Consequently, in order to control the sprawl, some proposals were presented by making use of structural tools and creation of integration in the spatial organization of the city.

Extended AbstractIntroductionNowadays cities are not independent from their surroundings, and studying the city together with its surroundings, or in other words, the urban area, is an inevitable necessity. For this purpose, the examination of population and employment data, changes or trends of displacements, various functions of the area, existing spatial structures, existing interactions between elements, the way of population concentration, as well as the examination of issues and problems caused by the formation of urban areas should be taken into consideration by urban managers and planners. Considering the extensive interactions of the central city with its surrounding areas and the impact of this process in different dimensions, the purpose of this research is to examine the issues and problems caused by the formation of urban areas in Iran, and in this regard, the urban area of Tabriz has been investigated. The mother city of Tabriz has a mutual relationship with 11 urban points around it, and this area can be called the urban area of Tabriz. Interactions and developments that have taken place in recent years in various social, economic, physical, etc. dimensions have made the urban area of Tabriz face many problems and issues, hence the investigation of these issues and problems and the presentation of workable solutions to promote the stability and development of the region it is necessary. MethodologyThe research method in the present study is mixed (quantitative-qualitative) with practical purpose and analytical-exploratory nature. The statistical population of the research was also formed by managers and city officials, and due to the unknown size of the statistical population, 100 people were determined as the sample size through Cohen's method and non-random sampling. In this research, the most important issues and problems of the urban area of Tabriz were first identified by examining the existing documents and materials, especially the "Comprehensive" development and construction plan approved in 2015 and interviewing a statistical sample, then through questioning the sample size and using the factor analysis model in SPSS software environment, the amount of these factors and their classification has been done. Results and DiscussionThe findings of the research show that the most important issues and problems of Tabriz urban region can be divided into 6 main categories, which include 81.452% of the issues and problems of Tabriz urban region based on the factor analysis model. The factors and issues extracted in order of importance include issues of spatial structure and organization, environmental issues, physical vulnerability, economic issues, communication network, transportation and traffic, and socio-cultural issues, whose special value is 6.915, 3.422, 2/711, 2/091, 1/822 and 1/327 respectively. It can also be said that the one-sided and unipolar structure of the region (Tabriz metropolis) has had a significant effect on increasing issues and problems. ConclusionSurveys in Tabriz urban region indicate the existence of many issues and problems in the direction of realizing the sustainable development of the region, which can be divided into 6 main groups.a) Spatial structure and organizationTabriz urban region does not have a unified and coherent framework, and the interference of the boundaries of the city of Tabriz with the neighboring cities, as well as the transformation of the surrounding rural settlements into unproductive areas, is one of the basic issues of the region. Inside the city of Tabriz, we can also refer to the physical expansion of the city and the construction of apartments and the per capita lack of basic services.b) Environmental issuesThe environment of Tabriz urban region, especially in the west, has been facing many problems due to the gradual drying up of Lake Urmia and the expansion of various industries and the destruction of valuable agricultural and horticultural lands in various sectors. Also, in the city of Tabriz, the pollution of surface streams (teapots) and the improper disposal of sewage and domestic effluents and urban passages to the riverbed are among the basic environmental issues.c) Physical vulnerabilityTabriz urban region is located in areas with a high risk of earthquakes, and we have witnessed numerous earthquakes in the region over the past years. Also, in the city of Tabriz, we see the expansion of houses in the northern areas and around the fault line, and in case of possible earthquakes, irreparable damage will be done to this area.d) Economic issuesMost of the region's services are established in Tabriz city and many people from the region's cities travel to this city to receive various services (it should be mentioned that a large population from other cities and provinces also enter Tabriz city to receive some services). Therefore, the unipolarity of the area may cause the loss of the attractiveness of the surrounding areas. Also, at the level of Tabriz city, we can see the polarization of the city in terms of the level of development and the formation of new Tabriz in the east and old Tabriz in the west.e) Communication, transportation and traffic networkThe communication network of the region is in a good condition and only in the city of Tabriz, we have witnessed the absence of the north-south corridor and the weakness of transportation facilities and facilities, the lack of parking and the low capacity of communication networks due to the use of marginal and double parks.f) Social and cultural issuesThe social and cultural issues of Tabriz urban region include the intensification of migration to the region, especially from outside urban and rural areas, as well as the intensification of further migration to the city of Tabriz, especially from the peripheral areas (urban area), which, in addition to increasing the problems and problems of the city of Tabriz, decreases the population of the peripheral areas. will lead Also, migration to Tabriz city on the one hand and bipolarization of the city and the attractiveness of the eastern regions on the other hand will reduce the population of old areas, especially the historical context of the city, and gradually reduce their social and cultural dignity.  FundingThere is no funding support. Authors’ ContributionAll of the authors approved the content ofthe manuscript and agreed on all aspects ofthe work. Conflict of InterestAuthors declared no conflict of interest. AcknowledgmentsWe are grateful to all the scientificconsultants of this paper.