Annexation of Rural Settlements to Zanjan City (Case study: Sayan and Gawazang Villages)

Under the current process, it seems, urbanization and physical development of cities, as twin phenomena and on a global scale, will determine the future of the world. In this regard, although in the recent years the so-called “annexation” has been more or less a growing debate among urban scholars, but there has been little effort to measure its sprawl or monitor changes over time. Referring to the existing scattered information and data, during the last one or two decades, this phenomenon in the absence of compatible urban plans has grown and provided the ground for annexation of many rural settlements into the urban and especially metropolitan centers of the country. The result is that many valuable scarce resources, particularly irrigation water and arable lands have been put under urban construction. In addition, many peripheral rural environments have been transformed from productive areas to neither city-nor village spaces. In this connection, aside from the general trends, the phenomena such as “gobbling” on the one hand and extension of the boundaries of urban areas on the other hand, have created such urban centers. This article attempts to examine the different aspects of the “annexation” and related sprawl and gobbling phenomena in Zanjan, referring to two peripheral rural settlements, namely Sayan and Gawazang. The research method has been descriptive – analytical based on mixed documentarylibrary studies and fieldwork. The findings of the study indicate that the annexation consequences resulting from the transformation of rural settlements, not only has failed to improve the living conditions of the villagers but also has paved the way for new issues in rural environments; Excessive growth of population density and immigration, inappropriate urban-like construction, environmental pollution, and perhaps above all, incorrectly changing the land use are some of these consequences.