investigating the role of physical development plans in urban sprawl through a passive defense approach: the case of sanandaj city

today, sprawl is regarded as one of the serious urban problems in most countries. the problem differs from country to country depending on various geographical, economic, social, and political structures. iran is not an exception in this regard. although urbanization in many cities has been rather gradual, the very inclination of most people to prefer living in towns and cities to living in rural areas has brought about the problem of sprawling in urban areas. the present study has attempted to find an answer to the following questions: what factors and processes have been responsible for the phenomenon of sprawling in sanandaj? what is the role of physical development plans in this respect? to answer these questions, within a descriptive-analytical framework, the hierarchical models of holdren and shannon entropy have been employed. research findings indicate that factors such as the low price of land, the spatial concentration of population, increase in the number of cars owned by people, and poor urban administration on the part of the officials have been most responsible for urban sprawl in the city.