Investigation of citizens' perceptions about urban sprawl effects(Case study: Tehran/Damavand)

Urban growth and creepsprawl is a dynamic and if this process continuous so fast and unplanned, in addition urban spaces could not creating a good physical composition. Also, it will create many problems in various social, economic and environmental areas for the urban space. It will be a model of a sick city that has suffered from the damage caused by this growing disorder from the development of the city. This form of physical growth of the city is in conflict with the sustainable development of the city.CreepSprawl is generally seen as a low-density, unplanned, and irregularly growing phenomenon outside of urban centers. Compared to intensive development city, urban creepsprawl develops more peripheral spaces and absorbs areas around the city. And so it destroys many rural settlements and agricultural land uses, challenging the countryside ecosystem.Damavand city in the northeast of Tehran metropolis has also been strongly affected by the mentioned conditions. This city to the above problems has been increasingly expanding from the center to the natural and rural suburbs around the central city in recent decades. Problems caused by urban management weaknesses, in order to create an unfavorable role in controlling the conditions governing the growth and physical development of Damavand city. The city of Damavand, towards uncontrolled growth, led to the surrounding natural and rural spaces, especially in the northern and southern parts. Therefore, the present study examines the different dimensions of the negative effects to urban creepsprawl in Damavand city.Theoretical FoundationsThe creepsprawl phenomenon in a variety of ways, from the perspective of developmental aesthetics to local street patterns can be described. There are several common features that encompass literature that can be help researchers to understand and even measure it. These include: 1. Low-density, single-family homes; 2. Dependence on cars; 3. Existence of creepsprawl growth outside urban centers; 4. Growth creepsprawling pattern; 5. Extension of urban growth; 6. Unspecified boundaries between urban areas and rural areas. By examining the theoretical literature of urban creepsprawl, these theories can be categorized under five heading groups.

This research is applied in terms of purpose, and in terms of the nature and method of data collection and analysis is quantitative, and descriptive-survey in terms of implementation method. Data collection tools are the standard questionnaire of the European Environment Agency on the subject of "urban creepsprawl" along with field observations. This questionnaire was designed to evaluate the effects of urban creepsprawl from the perspective of urban development stakeholders. Based on this, the citizens living in the native or permanent city of Damavand were considered as statistical population. The Likert range consisted of five options for answering questions. The Cochran's formula was used at the error level of 0.05 to determine the sample size. The Cronbach's alpha coefficient was used to evaluate the reliability of the research instrument. Based on the population of Damavand city, the last official census of the country (2016) and using Cochran's formula, the sample size was estimated to be 384 people. Samples were selected by simple random sampling. The Kolmogorov-Smirnov test was used to check the normality of the data. Finally, after ensuring that the data were normal, an inferential and parametric test was used to analyze the data.

The data in this part of the study have a high reliability (0.85). In all items, the t-test value was 95% significant. Also, the average obtained in all cases is higher than acceptable. The findings show that from the perspective of respondents, urban creepsprawl has a negative impact on Damavand's natural resources and environmental countryside ecosystem. This situation shows that in general, the items that affect the impact of urban creepsprawl on water and soil resources are more important to the citizens living in Damavand.In examining the reliability of urban creepsprawl data on the health and quality of life of Damavand citizens, the value of Cronbach's alpha was 0.74, which indicates an acceptable level of confidence. Also, the average number in all cases is more than acceptable, i.e. 3 as the middle limit. In general, the findings show that in this part of the research, the impact of urban creepsprawl on the dimensions of environmental pollution has received more attention from respondents.In the reliability study of the economic effects of the urban creepsprawl phenomenon in Damavand, the value of Cronbach's alpha was 0.83. This value indicates the reliability and high validity of the obtained data. In general, the analysis of the findings of this part of the research shows that economic issues related to the environment and more energy consumption are in the focus of respondent's attention. Rising urban living costs and rising wastewater and urban waste management are other issues that come to the next.By its nature, urban creepsprawl is a physical development and physical expansion of the city into its surroundings. The results of the T-test were observed in both significant cases and the mean value was calculated beyond the acceptable level, so that the average of "physical growth of the city unplanned, spontaneous and uncontrolled" was equal to 4.11, and the mean of "creating dense textures and disrupting the process of renovation and improvement of the city" was 4.99.

The findings show due to the growth of environmental pollution, increased vulnerability to that the threat to the health of citizens. And also, natural disasters due to manipulation and uncontrolled interventions in the natural environment, uncontrolled growth of population and population density in the region are more threat to the health of citizens. The negative economic effects of urban creepsprawl in Damavand include: increasing the costs of nature restoration and increasing the costs of environmental protection; increasing consumption and energy costs; increasing the cost of land and housing; increasing the cost of developing urban infrastructure and services; increasing the cost of relocation and transportation; rising wastewater and municipal waste management costs.