Although remotely sensed images have been used to study urban growth patterns the world over, very
few studies have employed these methods to examine the growth of Iranian cities. Shiraz is perhaps
the most important city in the southern part of Iran and, thus, was selected for this study. We used satellite
images of the study area from the period between 1976 and 2005, and population censuses of Shiraz.
By applying classification methods to the satellite images four main types of land use were extracted:
water, built-up, vegetation and bare land. Then, the area coverage for all the land use types at different
points in time were measured and coupled with population data. The results demonstrate that, over the
entire study period, development in Shiraz cannot be characterized as sprawl. Since 2000, however, one
can see evidence of sprawl. These results are also supported by calculations using Shannon’s entropy. A
further finding is that vegetation growth did not keep pace with that of population or the built-up area;
more recently, vegetation has greatly declined. It is advisable that future plans for the city give serious
consideration to the preservation of available vegetation and, when possible, the restoration of vegetation
that was destroyed in the past.