Explaining the role of neighborhoods in the spatial structure of Ahvaz metropolis

The neighborhood as a residential system, both spontaneously and systematically, has long been a major component of cities. The neighborhood has internal and external dynamics and mechanisms. Whenever the neighborhood space system is in balance, the spatial structure of cities moves towards spatial balance and homogeneity. With this attitude, the present article seeks to identify the state of balance and equilibrium of neighborhoods in the spatial structure of Ahvaz metropolis. Since the metropolis of Ahvaz is associated with rapid urbanization and uncontrolled horizontal development; Therefore, it is necessary to guide and control the development of neighborhoods in the framework of normative development and systematic growth. The units of analysis in this study include 139 neighborhoods in the metropolis of Ahvaz. Required data include demographic data, services, land use maps and urban road network, which are provided in the form of documentary-library and survey.

This research is explanatory. The data were quantitative and qualitative and were collected by library-documentary and survey method. The source of data, works and scientific sources are basic and primary in urban geography, urban planning and urban neighborhoods as well as statistical data of the population and housing census of 2016 and information related to land use map for the year 1399 in Ahvaz. The last land use map in the metropolis of Ahvaz was available for 1390, which was updated in 1399 with a field survey. To analyze the data, the spatial autocorrelation model including general and local walls, residential building density, population density and per capita determination method were used. The concept of spatial autocorrelation is that the values of the studied attributes are self-correlated and their correlation can be attributed to the spatial-spatial order of the phenomena.

The results of this study show that the pattern of distribution of different land uses in the Ahvaz metropolis has been formed with spatial requirements such as maximum profit and maximum access. The concentration of "service neighborhoods" in the central part of the city reflects these economic and spatial principles. Since the central part of the city has a high population threshold, various transportation facilities and has maximum spatial interconnection; The neighborhoods in this section have attracted various types of services and infrastructure facilities over time and have played an important and effective role in the spatial structure of Ahvaz. Also, in this city, the neighborhood is often used as a collection of residential complexes, neighborhood units, public and private houses, and conventional houses built by the people, which have been formed at different times. According to the above, the general pattern of the spatial structure of the metropolis of Ahvaz according to the functions and spatial structure of the neighborhoods, tends to the center and the development of the central parts of the city. Ahvaz neighborhoods have found their own role and function based on spatial factors, components and processes such as access system, distance from activity centers, spatial centrality and spatial interaction. Thus, the forces of the space system over time have affected the process of "population invasion and sequencing" and as a result, neighborhoods with higher services and facilities are concentrated in places of the city that have easier access to the central part of the city and services. Urban highways have benefited. Meanwhile, economic opportunities and political decisions have fueled various social and economic stratifications in the city of Ahvaz, which has resulted in the formation of different neighborhoods in the city of Ahvaz. The study of the neighborhoods of Ahvaz shows that these neighborhoods, in addition to the spatial and non-spatial requirements and necessities affecting their emergence, have a special spatial structure that forms the foundation of that neighborhood.

As a final result of the article, it can be said that the spatial structure of Ahvaz city is unbalanced and unbalanced and the pattern of living in it tends to the central neighborhoods, increasing facilities and services in the central parts and people's desire from the periphery to the central neighborhoods of the city. Is. This issue is mainly understood under the influence of two important factors: one is the pattern of unbalanced distribution of business uses in the city of Ahvaz and the other is the existence of neighborhoods, many of which with the horizontal development of the city without providing infrastructure and facilities. Necessarily, they have been built as organizational houses with the management of relevant institutions and organizations, as well as the housing of low-income (marginal) social groups; So that the neighborhoods in the central part of Ahvaz metropolis have a decisive role in the spatial structure of the city; Because these neighborhoods, while providing various services to their residents, also provide various services and facilities to other neighborhoods in the city, which has played an effective role in the emergence of spatial imbalances in the city structure. Theoretically, the result of the present article indicates the fact that the normative concepts of "service-ten" and "empowering" neighborhoods have the necessary theoretical capacity to justify the formation of an unbalanced structure in the city of Ahvaz. Because according to the criteria of the mentioned neighborhoods, the diversity of neighborhoods in the city of Ahvaz is such that it has produced the current unbalanced structure. Therefore, it seems that giving direction to the development model of the spatial structure of Ahvaz city based on the characteristics of "service-ten" and "empowering" neighborhoods can help to improve the spatial structure of the city; Because over time, this can moderate the tendency to the center and increase the uncontrolled density in the neighborhoods of the central part and extend the functions of the neighborhood to other neighborhoods and neighborhoods of the city of Ahvaz.