Geography and Urban Research

Site selection for physical development of Maragheh city using fuzzy logic and natural variables

Document Type : Article extracted from the dissertation

Authors

Marziyeh esmaeilpour 1
Sedigheh Karimi 2

1 a. Department of Geography and Urban Planning, Faculty of Human Sciences, University of Maragheh, Maragheh, Iran.

2 b. Department of Geography and Urban Planning, Faculty of Human Sciences, University of Maragheh, Maragheh, Iran.

https://doi.org/10.22130/gur.2025.2053087.1017
Abstract
Currently, 50 percent of the world's population lives in cities, and statistics indicate an increasing trend of urbanization in the world. In order to prevent damage to the environment, the settlement of the population in urban areas should be carried out in accordance with prior planning. On the other hand, understanding the processes related to the physical development of the city is essential for planners to adopt sustainable urban development strategies. In order to examine the suitability of land for the physical development of Maragheh city, nine variables were examined, including slope, elevation, distance to the city, distance to communication network, distance to the river, soil, geology, vegetation, and land use. The thematic layers of the variables were transformed into fuzzy sets using various types of linear functions, either decreasing or increasing, and user-defined. In this way, the values ​​of all the prepared maps were defined between 0 and 1 and then combined using the fuzzy gamma operator. Finally, the final map of land suitability for the physical development of Maragheh was prepared. The results show that over 23% of the study area is in the very low-proportion class for spatial development of the city. In comparison, 18% of the study area in the east and southwest of Maragheh city and continuously connected to the city have very favorable conditions for physical development of Maragheh city. These areas are located far from the river and the bed of the Sufi-Chai valley, and as a result, environmental and ecological problems will be avoided.

Keywords

physical development
site selection
natural variables
fuzzy logic
Maragheh
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Geography and Urban Research
Volume 2, Issue 1
Spring 2025
Pages 48-65

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