Locating cultural centers in Khorram Abad using geographic information system

Cultural centers in cities are of special importance and due to the large number of visits by citizens; they should be given the attention of urban planners. The location of cultural centers and how they are scattered in cities affect the amount of citizens' use of these centers. In recent decades, geographic information system as a computer-based technology has attracted the attention of many specialists in various fields. This technology has even been able to play an effective role in locating urban services in different parts of the country and numerous researches have been conducted for this purpose. Khorramabad city in the center of Lorestan province does not have a proper distribution of cultural centers. The purpose of this research is to investigate the current state of cultural centers in Khorramabad city in terms of locating and identifying suitable places for building new cultural centers. The research method is that first the effective factors in locating cultural centers are identified. Then, these factors are prepared in the form of information layers and weighted. Finally, suitable places for the construction of cultural centers are determined by summing up the weights of the information layers.. All the above steps have been done using Arc GIS software. The research results show that the cultural centers in Khorram Abad city are not properly distributed. By using the capabilities of geographic information technology and considering the effective factors in the location of cultural centers, it is possible to determine suitable places for the construction of new cultural centers.