evaluation of spatial structure of zanjan growth with emphasis on land use/cover changes (1975-2005)

the complexity of urban systems in our recent world, make it difficult to evaluation and explanation of their changes with traditional and customarily methods. in the past, remote sensing has shown an ability to detect and describe urban growth patterns at different spatial scales. with new remote sensing devices (e.g. ikonos), with innovative image processing techniques and with further development of decision support tools (e.g. gis and urban land use change models), remote sensing has new opportunities to provide useful information in support of sustainable development and ًsmart growthً for urban areas. given that urban dynamics impact many physical/ spatial scales, we present a framework for the mapping and analysis of predictable patterns of urban growth at different spatial scales in order to analyze the urbanization process. also we conduct urban growth analysis using spatial measurements of changes in the urban environment on the regional scale, and urban land cover structure on the local scale, in the zanjan area. results show how the new era of remote sensing data and superior methods allow for a better understanding, modeling, and prediction of the spatial and temporal dynamics of urban physical/ spatial growth at each of the different scales. according to this view in this paper to evaluation of zanjan physical/ spatial expansion we have been used regression line and crosstab models. the results of research have been show the correlation, intensity, extent and conversion/ changes mechanism of urban land use of zanjan city as a result of its spatial structure growth. according of this, we show the scale of intensity of land use changes (e.g. dray farming, barren land, etc. to urban land use) in the region of zanjan city under its physical - spatial growth. keywords: evaluation, physical/spatial growth, smart growth, regression line, crosstab