ecological planning approach to landscape morphology of maharlu karst basin (south west of iran)

the study of karst phenomena and its potentials has had always a particular importance in semi-arid zones of iran, specifically due to the lack of water sources. in this paper, we are going to discuss the landscape morphology in karstic areas, and the way we can have an ecological planning approach to it. maharlu karst basin was selected as the case study of karstic area, and kaftarak mount in this basin was chosen for the applied landscape design, based on the proposed ecological planning principles and guidelines for karst areas, which is presented as a landscape master plan for the kaftarak mountain. in order to assist the visualization and clearance of the implemented plan, several key points are further designed briefly by means of architectural ideas and tools. research method of the paper is participant observation research method. descriptive analytical techniques have been adopted to enhance the efficiency of models.