Mashhad metropolitan is the largest population center in the east of Iran and because of
its extreme centralization has a very wide sphere of influence and constantly is adding to
its spatial range and absorbs villages located around it. Before the 1960s, its population
doubled in a period of almost forty years, but after the 1960s, its population has doubled
almost every ten years. Due to increasing population, Mashhad faced a horizontal or a
severe spiral development, to the extent that during 1976 to 1986 despite doubling of its
population, the area of the city tripled and therefore incorporated many villages into
itself. Accordingly, this paper aims to identify incorporated points, analyze the process of
integration and its contribution in increasing the metropolitan population and explore the
future prospects.