In recent years, "City" as the main human settlement has become more important than ever. Cities, as the engine of growth and the main focus of increasing development challenges in environmental, socio-economic, political-institutional, spatial-critical, etc. dimensions, have found complex and diverse aspects and have turned the study of the city into a complex and interdisciplinary field. Iran is also a country that has begun, accelerated, and completed its rapid urbanization process after the second half of the twentieth century. However, the expansion of systematic urban studies on the subject of the city and its vital dimensions has been delayed. The aim of the present article is to systematically review published research with internationally valid indexes. For this purpose, all articles related to the subject of "Iranian cities" in the Scopus scientific database from 1964 to 2026 were analyzed. To extract and visualize the findings, Bibliometrix library tools in the Rstudio and VOSviewer programming environments were used, which can provide more appropriate findings. The results of the study show that in recent years, the volume of research on Iranian cities has expanded significantly. Accordingly, researchers active in the specialized fields of environmental health, geology, and epidemiology have played a prominent role in publishing their research in internationally indexed journals. However, the role of disciplines that specialize in studying cities (such as urban development, urban planning, urban management, architecture, etc.) has been less prominent. In addition, the co-occurrence analysis of keywords in the subsystems of natural-ecological, social-health, political-management, and physical-spatial issues shows that the published articles mainly reflect the urban issues and challenges of Iran and have less expressed innovations and innovative solutions to solve the problems.

Abstract

Urban form can be affected by diverse factors in different times. Socio- economic, political and physical factors are among the main contributors. So, one of the most important challenges of urban planners is measuring and identifying urban development pattern in order to direct and strengthen it to sustainable pattern and right direction. The case study of the present paper is the city of Yazd, a middle-sized city in the center of Iran, and the studied years are 1975, 1987, 2000 and 2010. To achieve the main objective of the paper, measuring Yazd growth and expansion by spatial metrics, it has used remote sensing data and satellite imageries and ArcGIS software. The conclusion revealed that in four periods of study, complexity or irregularity of the urban patch shapes has increased, centrality or average distance of the dispersed parts to the city center has decreased, compactness or the number and area of patches their distance from each other has decreased, porosity or ratio of open space has increased and finally population density of city has decreased in a large amount. Therefore, all perimeters show that the temporal - spatial form of Yazd has moved from compact to sprawl. Due to many undesired impacts of urban sprawl, urban planners and authorities are required to use adherent techniques and policies to control urban sprawl and to direct it toward more sustainable directions.

According to urban environment complexity and dynamism and need to targeted land use change, incorporation GIS and PSS in the form of Spatial Planning Support Systems is inevitable. The aim of this study is to develop a spatial planning support system for urban land uses change (ULCMS), such that planners can enter expert knowledge in the form of desired criteria and weights and see their influence in results. The developed system including modules for land suitability evaluation, calculation of the area of required land and land use change. Access models, neighborhood models and Multi Criteria Decision Making methods, fuzzy operators, linear regression, maximum potential and hierarchical optimization models is used in planning and implementation these modules. System practical test performed for measuring residential, commercial, industrial, agriculture and service land use changes for the year 1390 and 1395 in Shiraz city. The result shows that ULCMS help users in better understanding, showing complexity of land use system and development and improvement land management strategies for the creation of better balance between urban expansion and environmental conservation.

Expansion of urban areas has impacted on climate in local and global scale. As a result, residents’ life would be influenced accordingly. In this study, the effects of changes in land cover and land use change on climate of Shiraz and Fasa were studied in a long-term period. To ensure the normal data, Kolmogrov-Smirnoff test was employed. The minimum and maximum temperature parameters and relative humidity were evaluated using non-parametric Mann-Kendall and regression method in a 45-year period (1966-2010). The results showed a decreasing trend for the minimum temperature and humidity for Fasa and minimum and maximum relative humidity for Shiraz whereas other quantities showed an increasing trend. The study examined the effects of land use changes and land cover types in the 23-year period (1987-2010) using images of LANDSAT satellite of TM sensor on temperature pattern in two cities. During these 23 years, a reduction of 113 square kilometers for barren land of Shiraz and 5/7 square kilometers for barren land of Fasa and extending 110 kilometers residential users and 3/5 square kilometers in Shiraz and Fasa were reported.

Rapid urban development in social, economical, cultural, political and environmental aspects, has affected the human life in recent decades. Introducing the sustainable development as the main theme of the third millennium is the result of urban impact on the biosphere and the range of different aspects of human life too. Concentration on differences in dimensions and indicators of sustainable development in one place and having them compared to other places can use fal for planners to realize the development potential and weaknesses. In theme lines, Boroujerd city have been studied as one of the median cities in the West of Iran to assess the indicators of sustainable development. The purpose of this study is to assess indicators of sustainable urban development in Boroujerd town, compared with Iran urban centers. In this study, methodology, is cognitive in terms of objective, and is comparative- analytical in term of identity and the data collection method is documental studies. To assess the level of development, the concept of sustainable development was classified in four dimensions: social, economical, environmental, physical-institutional and 44 indicators were identified. The data were collected in the Boroujerd city and Iran urban centers. Data were analyzed with sign test in SPSS software. The result has shown that there is no difference between Boroujerd city and Iran urban centers in terms of social and physical-institutional indicators. But, economic and environmental indicators have significant differences. The economic condition is not good but the environmental condition is better. On the other hand, taking into account all indices, the sustainability of Borujerd city, almost is same with Iran situation sustainable.

Social capital including values such as trust and cooperation and solidarity in a residential zone is a concept that has been very important and critical in the process of urban renewal in recent decades. The aim of the present study was to measure the degree of social capital and to investigate the relationship between social capital and physical interference pattern and continued motivation of residence. And it also tries to identify the type and extent of the relationship between social capital with the increased participation and the rate of the implementation of urban renewal projects, on the other hand. The present study is a survey –based research. It is descriptive - analytical. The conceptual questionnaire was used as an instrument in this study. Formulation of theoretical foundation was based on library resources. The population of the present study consisted of all the inhabitants living in Zanjan old texture (family heads) that was 46150. Using multi-stage random sampling was used and 330 samples were selected using Cochran formula. The results showed that the Zanjan old texture residents have the social capital above average; nearly it was true in all of its components. Also significance relationship does not exist between social capital and the renewal of old urban texture. Due to various factors including lack of trust in the body of urban management, lack of reinforcing the planning of required effective variables, residents are uncertain and in doubt on the issue of renewal and improvement of urban old texture. So, it emphasizes on the importance of planning in this area.