Application of TOPSIS method in analysis and prioritizing sustainable development of urban zones (case study: urban zones of Isfahan)

  Abstract   Parallel to development and increment of large cities population, appearance of different and complex social-economical problems within the cities and entrance of large third-world cities into the global economics, the urbanism planning has gained new dimensions and caused a precise analysis of social and political conditions in the realm of urban geography. Towards recognition of developed and undeveloped state of the regions, it is needed to investigate the regional inequity patterns, differences of the regions and the prominence measure of a location in relation with the structure of similar locations in the city. Purpose of this paper is employing equal opportunities mechanism and gaining the inequities regional measure in urban zones of Isfahan in terms of under study indicators. The research method is "descriptive and analytical" that used few models. Along with the analysis, the thirteen-some zones of Isfahan municipality fitted into three levels of rich, semi-rich (medium), and under-rich (deprived). Towards the recognition of richness levels of Isfahan urban zones, 21 under study indicators were weighted through Shannon's entropy model and in this way, TOPSIS was used as a multi-criteria decision-making method, and finally, by using the Arc GIS software, the richness map of the city's zones has been plotted. The results of the investigation shows that among urban zones of Isfahan, there are six deprived regions with priority coefficient of 0.22 to 0.34 fitted in the lowest level of richness and dominated the first priority of development. The second level contains four zones of the city which have the priority coefficient of 0.42 to 0.47 and embrace the second level of regional development. The level one contains three rich zones in terms of 21 studied indicators with priority coefficients of 0.53 to 0.64 that are in the last development priority.