Ecological Footprint Assessment of Urban Transportation; New Approach for Sustainability of Urban Transportation Planning)

Ecological footprint is an indicator that estimates the pressure of population and industrial processes on ecosystem by evaluating and determining energy and used materials in a city. This indicator has illustrated that both of the energy consumption and exploitation of resources that could be directly linked to any land uses in the city, region or country which can be evaluated. The centralization of services and facilities in Urmia made this city as capital of west Azerbaijan province and as one of the most important cities of the northwest of Iran that can provides services for this part of the country. This centrality can also increase population growth and it turns transportation and traffic issues to one of the main problems of this city. However in recent years in terms of the urban development plan and traffic general plans and with a special emphasis on public transportation, some policies has been taken that aim to alleviate this problem. Therefore, the main purpose of this study is to determine the sustainability amount of various modes of public transportation by means of the ecological footprint model In order to assess the level of sustainability in Urmia city.