نشریه معماری و شهرسازی آرمان شهر
پیاپی 10 (بهار و تابستان 1392)

Identity is one of those symbols which are influenced by variety of factors. Since civilization and culture consists of physical and spiritual manifestations left behind by the mankind throughout the history, the tools and the items used by them becomes extremely important when studying their culture. By studying the symbols and the myths which are reflection of the people who used these items, one could gain insight into how these symbols and myths influenced their design. In this paper, it has been tried to take a look into determining the association of the ancient Iranian myths and symbols with the design of early centuries of the Islamic Era household objects in Nishapur. In other words, the main goal of this study is to bring into light the role and the influence of the ancient Iranian myths and symbols, which originated from Nishapur’s geographical location and climate and was manifested in design and processing of the household objects. The hypothesis of this research is: the ancient Iranian symbols and myths have influenced the design of the household objects during the early centuries of the Islamic Era. To examine the hypothesis, first, Nishapur’s geography reviewed, and then, the household dishes, during the aforementioned centuries, are briefly introduced. Finally, through introducing samples, the ways the ancient symbols and myths have influenced the design of these objects have been analyzed. Majority of the ancient symbols and myths have been inspired by the natural elements, especially, water, fire, animals and plants. For example, designs off fish, Anahita, Lily, and goat-antelope are just a few of the designs which not only were part of the myths and the symbols of the ancient Iran, but also have been used in designs after Islam and are grouped with the symbols associated with water. Moreover, symbols such as the story of Siavash, Izad Soroush, up-pointing triangle, lion and circle are concepts which have been designed in association with light and fire. Ultimately, the influence of the ancient beliefs on design of the household dishes during the early centuries of the Islamic Era in Iran in four groups of symbols, geometric, plant, animal and human were analyzed.

This research is going to explore methods of utilizing nature in architecture and use them to evaluate naturalism of the samples of Iranian contemporary architecture, both qualitatively and quantitatively. The use of various aspects of the nature in Iranian contemporary architecture is less than the past. So the main questions in this research are: «Which methods of utilizing nature have influenced on the artistic works of Iranian contemporary architecture?», and «How and how much are these influences?» In the research process, descriptive-analytic techniques are used. First, the theoretical literature was studied using the archival methods, and then the methods of utilizing nature as evaluation criteria were extracted. Next, using surveying methods, characteristics of case studies were analyzed and their quantitative and qualitative effects were presented. Research results indicated that conceptual, scenery and material techniques have been the most used in the public buildings of Iranian contemporary architecture, and formal, functional and spatial techniques have been neglected. The conclusion is that naturalism has always been on the focal attention in contemporary Iranian architects'' design process, but there is lack of Iranian architects'' effort to create works that nature is present comprehensively in them. On the other hand, public buildings are architectural patterns of every country, and utilizing the above methods in making such buildings can help to improve the quality of architecture in the country.

Developing an integrated model, establishing a balance between conservation and revitalization objectives in the historic environment, has always been a controversial issue in many countries; however, they sometimes have a type of symbiotic relationship with each other. In this regard, the main aim of this paper is to answer this question: Is it possible to provide an appropriate model for “integrated conservation and revitalization initiatives” in historic urban areas which contains criteria for integrated conservation and revitalization in historic context? To answer the main question, the paper in the first step examines the “integrated conservation model” and “integrated revitalization model”. The concepts of “significance” and “economic vitality” are as the fundamental criteria in these models. In the second step, the concept of “integrated conservation and revitalization” combines “significant” and “economic vitality” concepts together to explain different backgrounds. The “integrated conservation and revitalization model” introduces the criteria and indicators for integration “conservation and revitalization initiatives” and provides an analytical framework for assessing the level of integration of strategies and plans in historic urban areas. Consequently, policy makers, planners, designers and managers can introduce appropriate solutions based on the indicators and criteria of “integrated conservation and revitalization” to achieve a balance and integration in their approaches in conservation and revitalization plans. The validity of the proposed model could be examined in many different examples in similar or different contexts and scales.

Flexibility as an ability to respond to changing circumstances is one of the vital characteristics of the natural and built environment. In the contemporary era, diversity of methods for the execution of architectural flexibility is suggested. But along with contemporary conceptual approaches toward pluralism and uncertainty, it seems that the multiplicity of approaches toward flexibility, not only does not have enough efficiency in providing quality in flexibility, but also their plurality produce a kind of ambiguity about the subject. Considering the conceptual roots of flexibility, this article tries to shift the approaches of flexibility from absolute ‘dynamism’ to interaction of ‘durability‘and ‘dynamism’. In this relation, considering the interdisciplinary theories and with dependence to architectural theories, the quality of interaction of durability and dynamism is analyzed. Studying theoretical ideas show that the interaction of dynamism and durability is a general reality in different phenomenon and so it can be studied as a transdisciplinary field. According to the results, in an architectural work, durability and dynamism have complementary characteristics. Quality flexibility have effected on reaching dynamic situation through preserving durable concepts and values of architecture. Coexistence of durability and dynamism is dependent on ‘change controller’. ‘Change Controllers’ are not only the preserver of durability and effective in producing unity, but also are the generator of dynamism.

Water crisis resource management originates from limited resources has made it essential to study the prioritization of traditional and modern methods of sustainable water resource management. The objective of such studies is to provide a list of prioritized traditional and modern methods of sustainable water resource management. This research aims to study rainwater harvesting method and qanat as two traditional methods of water production and transfer. cisterns (Ab Anbars) and the water consumption patterns in Persian gardens are considered as two traditional and sustainable methods of water storage and consumption. The modern methods have been extracted from the Tennessee standard. From the existing methods, using ground slope for water transfer, adjusting water pressure based on consumption rate, qanat, cistern, rainwater harvesting system, drip irrigation system, green roof, sustainable vegetative cover, water absorbing pavement, and rainwater collection system on the roof have been selected and the investment options are listed for updating and implementation purposes. The rate of energy consumption, lifetime of facilities, stationary of the method, costs of production and transfer, observing regional management pattern, use of local materials and professionals, and health issues are the criteria applied for the prioritization of the items based on Delphi method. The prioritization was carried out by SAW (simple additive weighting method). According to the results, slope of the ground was the first priority of these items, and rainwater collecting system on the roof, the last priority.

As a covering method of buildings` roof, domed roofs have mostly been applied in Iranian vernacular architecture and also in the Middle East region according to adobe material abundance comparing with timber. Furthermore, dome remains in the first place in architectural designs due to large area coverage and favorable thermal performance; so that it has been widely utilized in mosques, shrines, churches, bazaars and schools construction. On this account, the current research studies the role of shape in roofs energy loss, specifically throughout a day or year to achieve an optimized form. The paper compares of different domed roofs in hot and dry climatic zones of Iran, speciallyIsfahan city. The research method is based upon modeling and simulation as an alternative to field-based research. To achieve this goal, ten different types of domes are selected, modelled and simulated in energy soft-wares, such as Autodesk Ecotect 2010 and Energy plus 7, while categorizing arches based on inscribed arc angle in three types. The paper is to find a way to recognize the most efficient form of buildings domed roof which can be designed and applied in further contemporary construction and buildings. The result shows that the more roof area, the more building energy consumption is. This means that the dome with lower rise appears in more appropriate thermal performance since it has the least surface area; so type 1, dome with an inscribed arc less than 180 degrees has not only less surface area, but also least energy loss resultant.

Due to human beings’ aesthetic sense, they have always been engaged in embellishing their living environment throughout the history. Given the different culture, customs, beliefs and even varied policy of each society, the applied arts or decorative styles have constantly been evolved. Thus, any individual style has also been brought into focus. The Qajar architecture was influenced by Russian and central Europe styles, and by combining them with the Iranian traditional architecture a unique style in its kind was born. Many palaces and buildings were constructed particularly, during Naser-al din shah era which were tried to present some unique and combined views of their owners power and greatness. It was observed that they were being influenced by the architectural style of the building owners’ favorite countries, including specific style of Qajarid architectures and artists. Although Masudieh complex and Qavam al-saltaneh building were built during two different architectural periods, clearly show the particularities of the Qajarid architecture. So selection and comparison of these buildings will manifest ornamental arts changes during end of Qajarid era. The paper is trying find any similarities and dissimilarities between these decorative elements and to provide required answers to the questions being raised with regards to the specialties and styles of decorative components of the two buildings, by using collected data through library research, dissertations, documents and field studies an analytical and descriptive method has been applied in this respect. Anyhow, the available documents show that no comparative studies have been made so far in the field and only some hints are given concerning the history of Qavam building and Masudieh complex. Although the two buildings were built in two different periods of time they follow a similar style. A neoclassic style together with some similar decorative elements is well visible there.

Housing has been a major challenge for the rising population of countries during last decades and the provision of affordable standard house for low and middle-income households has always been at the forefront of sustainable development strategies and plans, especially in developing countries. Besides, the need to high-density housing systems due to rising population has become a central issue to most urban design or renewal programs in the late 20th century. Therefore, residential complex has rapidly developed into one of the most important prototype of modern housing in urban and metropolitan areas especially in developing countries leading to unprecedented challenges from the sustainability point of view. On the other hand, despite existence of many sustainable principles of residential architecture in ancient era, diverse housing problems and issues have originated in modern housing patterns of urban areas due to consequences of the process of uncontrolled urbanization and industrialization. It is obvious that in most cases, ancient principles of sustainability which have stood the test of time have been ignored in modern housing strategies and plans leading to obstacles in achievement of sustainability in residential buildings. In this paper, the intention is to introduce and analyze diverse obstacles of achieving sustainability in modern housing strategies, policies and regulations in Iran.

Tokyo Metropolis, with some exclusive features such as the experience of land readjustment, high level of technology, great economical centralization, and high density of information, presents a type of complicated, crowded, and instable architecture and city planning. Such a status is a problem for determining the architectural typology and makes it practically hard for introducing the contemporary architecture and the viewpoints concerning it. Understanding the formal types in architecture, makes it possible to gain theoretical and practical ideas and plans for city growth and promotion. The hypothesis of this article declares that among the space and visual instability and the wide variety of architectural forms, there is a special tendency in residential architectural forms in Tokyo that could be studied. To prove the hypothesis, the article’s research methodology starts with determining and understanding the uniqueness of Tokyo and influential factors in the city’s formal state. Then, 50 samples of urban single-unit residential houses are chosen by random selection from the “archdaily” website. Statistical analysis expresses the specific tendencies in formal types of the samples, as the hypothesis states. Results declare the tendencies as: narrow and elongated forms, introverted with surrounded and internal yards and balconies, some facades without decoration and mostly white or grey with low area of glass, white internal space. Understanding formal typologies and tendencies in Tokyo’s contemporary architecture as a developed city has useful trainings for developing cities and countries like Iran to have better decisions in architectural and urban design in the future.

In today’s complicated urban society, various environmental factors during interactions cause the emergence of different types of anomic behavior resulting in development of insecurity in cities and urban spaces. While different elements including social, economic and cultural elements play a vital role in the emergence of behavioral patterns in humans, one cannot ignore the influence of the physical and spatial characteristics of built environment as a back ground for occurrence of anomic behavior on committing crimes. Therefore, a series of approaches and theories such as “discouraging crime through city planning”, “crime prevention through environmental design (CPTED)”, “defendable spaces”, “broken windows”, “hot spot” and “rational choice” were developed. The first objective of this research is to determine the most insecure public spaces using parameters of the first generation of CPTED approach. The other objective is to evaluate the role of each one of these parameters in providing the aspect of security. For this purpose and in order to achieve these objectives, Tehran’s Dehkade Farahzad was chosen due to existence of the evidences indicating urban insecurities. This study is an applied type of research and the methodology used for achieving the goals was to benefit from ANP model which specifies the level of insecurity of urban spaces by evaluating the parameters of the first generation of CPTED approach. The methodology was performed using documentary and field research methods and statistical population used included 5 MA graduates in Urban design filed who had worked on this site on their neighborhood studio were chosen. The analytical results of model indicate that Tabbarok Street from intersection with Emamzadeh Davoud Street to Tavassol Street is the most significant urban insecure space in the mentioned site. In addition, the results demonstrate that territory and control parameters at a value level, activity support, image/management and maintenance, access control and intensifying the target of crime are respectively significant in determining the site’s security level.

Identity is one of the focal concepts and ideas for any human being. Any kind of activity carried out by human is an attempt to gain identity which his Weltanschauung-oriented ideals determine for him. Contemplating the significance and inner nature of objects and actions can function as one of the most important creators of the identity of the individual, society, and the city. Different faces of the old city in Iran and the contemporary cities in Iran are because of identity. In addition, to form and geometrical properties of space and aesthetic addition to the form, is also having a sense of meaning in the collective memory of society closes. Constructive elements of form, composition and method of operating time, everyone has the ability to associate a meaning, enhancing the ability to create a mental image, a sense of place and urban identity. So characteristic of the city can create a mental image in the minds of citizens of the city. The present article, while reviewing the concepts of urban form and Perceived environmental, looks at Islamic urbanism. Importantly it evokes a sense of the Iranian Islamic city. The method explored in the Iranian cities is analytical and field survey to gather information. The results show that there are conceptual and aesthetic values which aimed to provide readability and enhance the image of Iranian cities. In addition, research suggests that the consequences of belonging to a place in the Iranian city provides spatial identity.

Urban design is a multidisciplinary field, consisting of both science and art, whose way of simultaneous consideration to all aspects will cause a design to success or fail. Indeed, considering the human being characteristics, urban design needs to treat also the non-physical aspect of space, and only then start to create urban spaces. The physical aspect together with the non-physical aspects related to human – like meaning and function – along with the presence of human beings, make a successful and dynamic place to be used by people in a good way. Recognition of human depends on recognizing his features, and understanding human features depends on recognizing his culture by which his personality has been figured. Indigenous design is a term that has been used in urban design literature for years and means that every nation, ethnic group, city and neighborhood has its own identifying design principles. So it should be noted that in urban design, psychological differences of humans are important because of their cornerstone role in building human societies. Undoubtedly, culture as a response of a society to its requirements and a means to ensure the quality of life, is one of the most important factors that can help designers in creating an appropriate plan. Among the cultural components that should be considered in the process of an urban design which is compatible with cultural characteristics, are rhythms, scale and proportions with which ethnics are familiar historically. Every ethnic group use specified rhythms, proportions and scale in its cultural products. By identifying them, one can utilize them in designing better urban spaces specially designed for the concerned ethnic group. Music and ritual frolic are two valuable cultural aspects which can provide suitable clues to designers to achieve some regularizing principles for designing better urban spaces. Undoubtedly, many similarities between these two arts and design increase the capabilities and potential force of them in designing appropriate urban spaces. Rhythm, sequence, contrast, hierarchy, rising and falling in a piece of music, frolic & ritual rhythmic frolics can be applied also in designing urban spaces. As every ethnic group is accustomed to a specific kindof music, in terms of psychological aspects, it will make a more comfortable relationship with the rhythms in its own music style. If an urban designer extracts urban design principles out of the rhythm in the music and ritual rhythmic frolic of a specified ethnic group, he or she could apply them in the design process of urban spaces to create much more beloved spaces for the related ethnic group. As there has not been any significant practice of indigenous design in our country, this article tries to establish a relationship between culture and urban design projects. Kurds, Lures (Bakhtiaries), and Turks are three selected ethnic groups discussed in this article. In selecting these ethnic groups, we tried to avoid repetition and similarities as far as possible, and it was also important for us that the distribution of the ethnic groups would cover a significant area of the country. This article first studies Iranian ethnic groups'' music and traditional frolic via collecting data both with observation and descriptive methods, extracts the hidden regularizing principles. Then, tries to analyze the regularizing principles. After that, through an in-depth interview of the target groups, elaborates these principles and finally proposes an innovative framework for designing urban spaces of these mentioned Iranian ethnic groups. Finally it is concluded that the potential of artistic indigenous values such as folk music and ritual rhythmic frolic would increase the quality of their urban design.

Crime is the product of an interaction between the person and the setting. Understanding crime has been the focus of researchers in both design and social fields for a few decades. The empirical research within the design field on the issue of crime has mainly focused on site-specific and situational features of a place. In the past decade, a considerable body of design research begun to devote to the relationship between the occurrence of criminal events and spatial configuration, which is a significant factor in human behavior. More recently, there has been developing a method for analyzing space in an urban environment, capturing its quality as being comprehensible and easily navigable named Space Syntax. Urban design researchers have employed space syntax technique to analyze the geographic distribution of crime due to spatial and socio-demographic factors that could influence crime patterns. In this paper, using descriptive and content analysis research, we first demonstrate the position of crime in both traditional social sciences and place-oriented theories. Finally, a configurational approach will be introduced as an analytical method in urban design, which is based on the theoretical foundations, analytical methods and modeling techniques of space syntax.

Providing efficient programme to promote urban landscape is considered as one of the most significant element of development in developed cities. The significance will become more considerable in edges of megacities where a lot of environmental, social, and economic issues are evident. This article is trying to deal with the importance of landscape control in relation with a neighborhood by suggesting urban landscape planning perspective. The main goal of this research is an understanding of people needs and problems related to the urban landscape planning in the new edged community of Niro- daryaee in Tehran. To achieve such a goal, a survey have been carried out in a local area to understand peoples attitude and characteristics as far as urban landscape planning are concerned. The research data are provided with interviews conducted with 42 local people based on the theme-based content analysis method. The findings of this paper show that factors such as private ownership, contact with the nature, accessibility, not wasting the land, hygiene and cleanliness and sociability of the area exerts a great influence over people `s attitude towards planning of urban landscape as far as eastern edge of Tehran is concerned.

Contrary to traditional Bazaars where social interactions, parallel to economic and movement interactions, created a mixed urban space which was dynamic, lively and attractive to the audience, however, modern shopping centers and shopping malls are economy focused and void of variety of urban spaces like traditional bazaars. In this respect, the presence of public open spaces and urban squares undetectable from traditional bazaarsplay a great role in supporting citizens’ social relations and interaction, resulting in the increase of social capital. This urban element might be called a lost space in modern commercial centers, both in the sense of appearance and meaning. With a descriptive and analytic approach, the present researchfocuses on two case studies (commercial centers) in Mashhad, Bazaar-e Reza and Proma shopping center, in order to identify a method to improve the level of citizens’ social interaction by organizing lost spaces in modern commercial centers. In this respect, the present article using analysis of the rigorous literature review, by presenting extracted theoretical framework identifies influential constructs in supporting citizens’ social interactions in traditional Bazaars. Since in this research, a mixed – method was used to examine validity of the research and also gaining citizens’ ideas, a questionnaire survey was applied toward utilizing inferential statistic (Factorial analysis by LISREL software).The results of this research reveal that thetwo spatial-aesthetic and functional constructs play pivotal roles in supporting citizens social interaction. In this regard, vitality and access – linkage as factors of spatial-aesthetic construct and inclusiveness and personalization as factors offunctional constructs played main role towards supporting citizens social interaction. Finally the results of this study can be utilized in the formation of urban plazas in today’s commercial centers (like Proma) and provide a suitable context for increasing the social capital level in structure of public open spaces in the city.

Since1990, sustainable development has been regarded as a new method in evaluating the sustainability. In this relation, the ecological footprint analysis is considered as one of the most attractive indicators in different levels. The ecological footprint as an indicator estimates the effect of population and industrial products process on ecosystem by evaluating and calculating the used energy and materials in a city, region or country. Dehgolan County is located in Kurdistan province between Hamadan and Sanandaj cities. Dehgolan is one of the important and effective counties of Kurdistan in agriculture. However, with the population growth in the county and especially in Dehgolan town, productive and fertile lands have been invaded incrementally due to constructions in recent years. This is the main cause of severe reduction in the biological resources of the county. The main goal in this research is to evaluate and assess the rate of ecological footprint indicator of different land uses in Dehgolan County and its change during 2005 -2011, and moreover try to find different of ecological footprint and biological capacity in this county. A criteria-based method is used to calculate the footprint of land uses in this paper. Based on Ress and Wakeregnal perspectives, major land uses include forest, pasture, cropland, fisheries and built-up land. Results show that the most increase in rate of ecological footprint belongs to pasture (270%) and forest)94.7%) in 2005 -2011. Also the most decrease in biological capacity related to cropland (-9.6%). Difference between footprint and biological capacity has constantly increased and reached its maximum universal level (1.133 hectares) in 2011.

During the past several decades, neighborhoods have experienced gentrification phenomenon in a number of cities. Gentrification, the process of neighborhood change that results in the replacement of lower income residents with higher income ones, has altered the character of hundreds of urban neighborhoods in many North American and European cities. In this paper we state how does gentrification take place? Then we look at the causes and consequences of gentrification by reviewing the theories used to explain it and assessing their applicability to Behjatabad neighborhood. The method of research in this paper is based on documental research, observation and deep interview with new and old inhabitants in Behjatabad neighborhood. Gentrification has three specific conditions which all must be met and in this paper we checked these 3 items that include: 1. Displacement of original residents 2. Physical upgrading of the neighborhood, particularly of housing stock and Changing in neighborhood character. The results of this research show that gentrification cause displacement of original residents and change in the social and economic character of neighborhood.

Contrary to the past approaches, as the transportation speed and the number of vehicles have increased, nowadays, the major roads do not go through the cities and are laid out on the brink with a particular distance instead and linked with the city’s network through a set of connecting roads instead. Construction of these connecting roads can have diverse effects on economic, social and cultural states of cities. The residents of Loshan have encountered numerous problems since the city was downgraded after the construction of Qazvin-Rasht highway in 2009 which has vastly decreased the flow of passing regional traffic through the city. Durability, survival, continuation, development, stable income and in general, the city’s economy were dependent on the passengers who were crossing the city. As a result, many of existing traveler-service related employment opportunities are threatened and this sector has practically lost its economic viability. In this paper, the effects of the construction of Qazvin-Rasht highway on residents of Loshan have been assessed. In doing so, we have referred to the results of field studies and traffic data of Iran’s Road Maintenance and Transportation Organization. In the end, by having accepted the necessity of constructing the highway outside the city, a few suggestions about compensating the anti-development effects of the highway and restoring the city’s former livelihood have been put forward.

Metropolitan regions as a result of the steady stream of urbanization in industrial period which have occurred during 20th century, become the engine of countries growth and development. In the process of formation and development in these areas, spatial structuring that define through two elements of population and activity with the communication structure interacting between them, has been effective on the overall performance and the characteristics of spatial structure in metropolitan regions. The main goal of this research is to study the most important factors influencing the trends in the spatial structure of metropolitan regions. Through studying the various theories and also the contemplation of metropolitan region samples in developed and developing countries, it is hoped that a better and deeper understanding of total trends of spatial changing will be reached. Besides the main reasons influencing these trends can be identified. The research method is comparative-analytical, and the study is done by the help of recent literature analysis and review on the spatial structure of metropolitan regions. Results show that in a general, metropolitan regions in developing countries have similar trends in their structure, but with time delay more than developed western examples. Moreover the four major factors: communication infrastructure, economic globalization, decentralization and more effective communication between agencies and companies have had the most influence on the spatial processes and changes.

If, regularity and functional arrangement in all aspects of urban structure have been the beneficial products of urbanization, one of the harmful products of excessive urban growth include irregularity, anarchy and disorder, which the reasons could be found in various aspects of new urban structure. Non-compliance with building regulations and bylaws are not excluded from the rule. Building contraventions have become one of the important dilemmas of many cities like Tehran. The wide aftereffects of the contraventions and the large cost of removing their negative effects, make the reduction of the possibility of their occurrence essential. This paper tries to find the reasons and roots of building contraventions in order to prevent their occurrence through appropriate planning, legislation and decision making. In this paper, it is supposed that some urban conditions and location characteristics could result in more opportunities for the occurrence of building contraventions. Therefore, it tries to find the relationship between Tehran’s urban structure and the most dominant kind of building contravention in Tehran, FAR contravention. To study the relationship, the effects of physical, social, economic and functional factors describing Tehran’s urban structure on the occurrence of FAR contravention is surveyed using the correlation method. The results showed that the majority of factors are related to FAR contravention with confidence correlation coefficient of 99% and 95%. Among them, the main factors are residential per capita, average building price, residential land use area, transport network area, total residential building floor area and the average residential plot area. Therefore, specifying the effects of various factors on the occurrence of building contravention causes their prevention to be more feasible.

One priority of planning at the regional level is to recognize the system of residence and particularly its urban system. One of the features of urban system in each area or country is the way of population distribution between the cities of these areas which is called city distribution size. In the last decade the most important concern of planners and policy makers is, setting up the relationship between human beings, space and human activities in space, for proper and sustainable utilization of all human and spatial resources of an area in order to improve the physical and spiritual condition of society. In functional analysis of Mazandaran province 41 development indexes of educational, cultural, social, demographic, economic, health and agricultural fields were selected, then by using factor analysis through SPSS Software, these factors were decreased into 6 main indexes and finally consolidated indexes were extracted. Then, these six factors were used as the inputs of taxonomy analysis in Excel, and the scores of cities which were valued between 0 -1 were obtained. Finally, in order to classify Mazandaran province cities by using cluster analyses, SPSS and Taxonomy scores, all of the cities were classified into 6 levels. To present the results graphically, GIS software was used to present a map entitled «Map of Mazandaran province cities classification». Results indicate that Sari as the center of Mazandaran has located in level 1 and Amol, Babol and Qaemshahr as three most populous areas have also located in level 2. At the end of the article according to the physical plan of northern coastal region, related suggestions on setting optimal and well-balanced urban system have been proposed.