Journal of Spatial Analysis

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Drought is one of the most important challenges faced by pastoralists around the world. This phenomenon can have significant negative effects on livestock health, production, and livelihoods. However, pastoralists can adapt to drought and reduce its negative effects by adopting various strategies. Semi-nomadic people in Darbandi, Kalat-Naderi County, have been facing drought since 2007 due to their livestock farming. Since livestock farming has profound impacts on the lifestyle and livelihoods of these communities, the present study examines their experience in facing drought and identifies their management strategies in these conditions. The research method is qualitative and the research tool is in-depth interviews with 20 semi-nomadic people in Darbandi, Kalat-Naderi. Sampling was purposeful and carried out until theoretical saturation was reached to ensure that a wide range of perspectives and experiences were collected. The data from the interviews were analyzed using a qualitative grounded theory approach to extract key patterns and concepts. According to the findings, the semi-nomadic Darbandi people of Kalat County have adopted various strategies in the face of drought, which are classified into four categories: rangeland and grazing management strategies, livestock nutrition management, water consumption management, and livelihood diversification. These results can be used as a basis for formulating better policies in the field of crisis management and rural development. Also, these results can be used for more effective planning to reduce the vulnerability of nomads to drought.

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The occurrence of persistent rainfall, resulting from the integration of multi-scale cyclonic systems, is prone to producing heavy to severe precipitation. Therefore, it is highly significant due to its potential to cause disasters such as floods and landslides, as well as its importance in water resource management for agricultural purposes. In this study, persistent rainfall refers to rainfall events lasting at least three consecutive days with a total precipitation of more than 1 millimeter. The aim of this research is to identify and classify these types of rainfall for the western region of Iran over a 30-year statistical period (1993 to 2022) for the first time using the Lamb-Jenkinson method. In this method, the central coordinates of the study area are used as the reference point in the calculations. Sixteen additional points are also determined around the reference point. With the availability of instantaneous standard sea-level pressure data for these points, it becomes possible to calculate the values of geostrophic wind and vorticity. By comparing these two quantities, the types of weather patterns in the L-J method—which include four types: directional, cyclonic, hybrid, and undefined—are identified and categorized. Disregarding the undefined category, it was ultimately determined that the provinces of Kermanshah, Kurdistan, Hamedan, Lorestan, and Ilam each had 50, 50, 50, 40, and 39 occurrences of the directional state, respectively. Moreover, the frequencies of the cyclonic state for these provinces were 69, 94, 65, 66, and 38, respectively, with cyclonic rotation percentages of 100%, 98%, 97%, 95%, and 97%, respectively. As for the hybrid state, the frequencies obtained for each province were 49, 53, 43, 41, and 38, respectively.
 

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Aging is one of the most prominent indicators of demographic decline that most modern societies experience. At this stage of demographic decline, alongside a decrease and stabilization of mortality rates, birth rates also sharply decline. The development of technology and the mechanization of tasks, the improvement of quality of life and health-related indicators, individual-centered lifestyles, and increased economic inflation are significant factors in this issue. Iran is also among the countries on the verge of entering the stage of demographic decline. However, the intensity of this trend varies in different regions of the country. This article examines and analyzes the state of aging in the neighborhoods of the metropolis of Tehran. This research falls into the category of applied research in terms of purpose and is descriptive-analytical in terms of method. The research is based on the census data from 2016 and utilizes spatial statistical analyses. The positive values of Moran's autocorrelation analysis for each of the indices: aging (0.664), old-age dependency ratio (0.644), youth ratio (0.653), aging ratio (0.664), and aging index (0.665) in the neighborhoods of Tehran indicate a clustered pattern. This means that the issue of aging is more acute in some neighborhoods and areas of Tehran. Accordingly, the density of the elderly population is higher in most neighborhoods of the central and northern parts of the city. The final result shows that the distribution of the elderly space follows the logic of the social macro-ecology of Tehran and is relatively consistent with its natural-social topography. Furthermore, the spatial analysis of aging in the neighborhoods of this city shows that although all neighborhoods generally grapple with the issue of aging, planning and management should be based on the patterns and nature of the spatial distribution of this issue.
 

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Deforestation is one of the primary challenges and environmental threats facing forest ecosystems, including the Hyrcanian forests, and occurs under the influence of various natural and anthropogenic drivers. This study aimed to model the probability of deforestation occurrence within the Loveh forest management district located in northern Iran. The dataset comprised 104 documented deforestation points and 14 explanatory variables, derived through spatial analysis using GIS and environmental, topographic, and anthropogenic data. To assess the relationships among variables and predict the likelihood of deforestation, two statistical models were employed: logistic regression and the Generalized Additive Model (GAM). The results revealed that the GAM outperformed the logistic regression model, achieving a higher Kappa coefficient (0.84) and Area Under the Curve (AUC) value (0.956), and providing a more realistic spatial distribution of deforestation risk. The most influential variables included distance from roads, slope, wind effect, and elevation. Based on the GAM output, approximately 20% of the study area was categorized as high and very high risk. These findings underscore the pivotal role of access infrastructure, human pressure, and climatic factors in accelerating deforestation processes. The results of this study can serve as a scientific basis for prioritizing conservation interventions, reassessing road development policies, and enhancing spatial planning for sustainable forest management in northern Iran.
 

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The vulnerability of rural settlements to environmental hazards necessitates attention to local resilience. The aim of this study was to prioritize the factors affecting the physical-environmental and institutional resilience of Divshal rural district. The approach of the present study is descriptive-analytical and survey. Data collection was done in two forms: documentary and field (expert questionnaire). The statistical population of the study is 16 Rural managers of Divshal rural district. Using DEMATEL and ANP techniques, the obtained data were analyzed. According to the results of the ANP method, the sub-criteria of respecting the privacy of roads and preserving indigenous and cultural identity in new constructions have the greatest impact on the resilience of the study area. Also in the quality index of passages, sub-criteria of observing the privacy of passages; In the index of quality of access to services and infrastructure, quality of access to welfare and administrative services; In the shelter index, the existence of a strong public shelter in critical situations; In the index of quality of housing and constructions, preservation of indigenous and cultural identity in new constructions; In the environmental quality index, waste collection and disposal; In land use quality index, proper location of land uses; In the context of institutions, the existence of administrative organizations and institutions to help people; And in the Index of Institutional Relations, the cooperation of institutions in facilitating laws and giving credit to the people has the greatest effect on physical-environmental and institutional resilience.

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Reducing the emissions caused by deforestation and forest degradation REDD is a strategy to moderate climate change, which is used to reduce the intensity of deforestation and greenhouse gas emissions in developing countries. In the last few decades, drastic changes in land use have caused a significant decrease in Hyrkan forests located in Mazandaran province. For this purpose, the aim of this study is to investigate the changes in land use and its prediction for the year 2050 using the Markov chain and the REDD project to reduce carbon dioxide emissions for the cities of Nowshahr and Chalus. Using the images of TM and ETM⁺ sensors of Landsat satellite, a land use map has been prepared in three time periods related to the years 1989, 2000 and 2021. Maximum likelihood method was used to classify images from supervised classification. From the error matrix, the Kappa coefficient in this evaluation was equal to 0.83 for 1989, 0.81 for 2000, and 0.92 for 2021. The results show that the forest cover decreases in 2050. In contrast, the area of ​​range land, city, barren land, agriculture and wetland will increase. Based on the goals of the REDD project, the amount of carbon dioxide emissions was calculated until 2050. If the REDD project is not implemented, a large area of ​​forest cover will be destroyed and a lot of carbon dioxide is released. The amount of carbon dioxide in the project area in 2021 is 49,681 tons and will reach 806,732 tons by 2051, and with the implementation of the REDD project in the region, this amount of gas can be increased to the equivalent of 402,321 tons. 404411 tons of carbon dioxide was prevented from entering the upper atmosphere of the earth. Examining changes using satellite images can help managers and planners to make more informed decisions.
 

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Objective: Investigating the occurrence of land subsidence in the country and the extent to which rural settlements are exposed to the phenomenon of land subsidence.
Methods: The present study was based on library surveys and studies, field observations and impressions. Using information received from the National Mapping Organization, a map of the country's subsidence zones and the degree of risk of each zone, including very low, low, medium, high and very high risk, was drawn, and the aforementioned maps were compared with the location of the villages.
Results: According to the analysis of the available data, 302 villages are at very high risk, 768 villages are at high risk, 834 villages are in the medium risk zone, and 573 villages are in the low risk zone. In terms of percentage weight, about 4 percent of the country's villages are at medium to very high risk of subsidence, of which 1,904 villages are at medium to very high risk, and 573 villages are at low risk.
Conclusions: The highest provincial distribution of villages at risk of subsidence in the country with a very high degree is in the provinces of Alborz, Tehran, Khorasan Razavi, Qazvin, Kerman, Golestan and Hamedan, and the highest provincial distribution with a high degree is in the provinces of West Azerbaijan, Isfahan, Alborz, Tehran, Khorasan Razavi, Semnan, Qazvin, Kerman, Golestan, East Azerbaijan, Hamedan and Yazd. Also, the highest provincial distribution of villages at risk of medium-level subsidence is in the provinces of East and West Azerbaijan, Isfahan, Alborz, Tehran, Semnan, Qazvin, Kerman, Golestan, Mazandaran, Markazi, Hormozgan, Hamedan, and Yazd.

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Waste management is one of the main challenges faced by modern cities. Given the population growth and the increasing generation of waste, there is a growing need for innovative and intelligent methods in this field. Smart growth indicators can serve as tools to improve urban waste management. A waste management system comprises a set of activities aimed at organizing community waste through engineering and sanitary approaches. One of the most significant problems of coastal areas is the lack of proper waste management. Smart growth in waste management focuses on integrating technology and sustainable practices to optimize waste collection, reduce environmental impacts, and promote recycling. This study presents key indicators and trends related to smart waste management. The research employs a mixed-methods approach, combining quantitative and qualitative data via a descriptive survey. The study collected opinions from 20 experts in waste management and urban growth issues, as well as from randomly selected residents of Mahmoudabad city. Data analysis was conducted using grounded theory for qualitative data and structural equation modeling for quantitative data. The results indicate that the smart growth indicator of modern leadership, with a mean score of 4.6, and adequate infrastructure, with a mean score of 4.04, hold the highest average values among the smart growth indicators affecting waste management in the coastal city of Mahmoudabad.
 

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Drought is one of the most significant natural hazards, characterized by complex spatiotemporal patterns. This study analyzes the structural and spatial characteristics of droughts in Iran across three temporal scales: annual, seasonal, and monthly. To achieve this, the intensity and extent of droughts were calculated using the RAI index and ERA5 monthly precipitation data over 42 years (1979–2021). Initially, the spatial distribution and directional trends of the drought centroid were examined, and its spatial variations over the years were analyzed. Additionally, the relationship between the location of the drought centroid and its extent was investigated. The results revealed that during the cold season, the drought centroid is primarily concentrated in central Iran, while in the warm season, it shifts toward the northwest, the Caspian Sea coast, and the southeastern regions of the country. The distribution pattern of droughts at all scales predominantly follows a northwest-to-southeast trajectory. Furthermore, shifts in the drought centroid toward the northeast, east, southeast, and south were observed to coincide with an increase in drought extent, whereas shifts toward the north, northwest, and west were associated with a reduction in drought extent. Overall, the findings of this study demonstrate a direct relationship between the location of the drought centroid and changes in drought extent, despite the fact that droughts in Iran lack consistent and predictable spatiotemporal patterns