An Analysis of Population Growth and Physical Growth of Shahrood City

Following the complex economic and technological changes after the industrial revolution, there was a dramatic change in the size of the cities and the proportion of the population living there which has led to socio-economic damage and adverse environmental impacts, including destruction and alteration of agricultural land use, pollution of air, water and soil. In the meantime, the physical development and population growth in the cities of Iran has been very rapid, so that in recent decades, the growth and expansion of cities has become a problem and the importance of paying attention to urban issues, especially its physical issues, has become important in the context of scientific frameworks. In this regard, the present study, with descriptive-analytic method, tries to answer this question that during the last half century, has the physical growth of the city of Shahroud been in order to the needs of population? The information gathered through documents, analyzed using the Holdern model. The result from the Holdern model states that over the past 55 years, about 48% of the city's physical growth has been related to population growth and 52% of city's physical growth has been related to city's uneven growth. Therefore, in order to cope with the unnecessary growth of the city of Shahrud and preventing its irreparable consequences, there must be policies that can lead to sustainable urban development through proper planning and management.