Prioritization of the factors effective on urban development and zonation using Ecological and Information Value and Correlation Models (A case study in Mazandaran Province)

Background and Objective: It is important to determine the ecological capacity of zones for appropriate location of urban places. In zonation these are different factor. The study attempts prioritize these factors and to develop the zonation map of the province of Mazandaran using models of ecological urban development, information value and correlation. Method: At first, effective ecological factors in determining appropriate zonation for urban development in the form of information layers were developed in Arc GIS environment the urban development ecological model was used for determining range of each class. However for calculating the weight of classes in each factor model of information value was used through comparing areas of cities in each class with the whole area. The weight of factors effective on zonation was calculated using the appropriate weight for each layer and implementing the above mentioned models. Findings: Results show that elevation of 0-400 and 1200-1800 meters, slope of 0-6 percents, the northern direction, quaternary fluvial, precipitation of less than 500 and higher 800 millimeters, wet of less than 60 percents and vegetation density of 30 -60 percents are appropriate for urban development. Discussion and Conclusion: factors of soil, lithology, elevation, slope, vegetation, wet, rain and aspect received the highest to the lowest priority in location of urban areas and obtaining zonation map respectively. Evaluation of the models indicated the information value is of a higher accuracy.