Evaluation of Sustainability of Development in Zone 22 of Tehran by Ecological Footprint Method

Abstract

Only the sustainable development is valuable in every zone, and only in this situation development don’t couse to destroying zone. In this research, investigation of the sustainability of urban development in Tehran zone 22 was done based on a sceintefic method. The research method was based on the calculation of ecological footprint and biocapacity. In scientific terms, the sustainable development occurs with the equilibrium between these two parameters. Arc GIS and Google Earth, were used in biocapacity calculations and land area that used for each different land uses were datermind. Tehran zone 22 Biocapacity calculated, 0.005 global hectares per capita; as the comparison to Iran, Asia and the world, it can be concluded that zone 22 have much lower biocapacity than Iran, Asia and world. Ecological footprint value calculated 4.1 global hectares per capita based on zone population and lifestyle. After comparing this ecological footprint with the average footprint in Iran (2.67), Asia (1/8) and the world (2.7) it can be concluded that the ecological footprint in this region should decrease by changing the lifestyle and population decrement. Because of the difference amount of biocapacity and ecological footprint in Tehran zone 22, sustainable development wasn’t achievable. This study shows the rapid use and destroying of remain of natural resources in Tehran zone 22 and based on this results, sustainable development will be achieved after rethink in natural sources using policy and population distributions

Keywords

• "development"
• "ecological footprint"
• "biocapacity"
• "zone 22 of tehran"