Environmental assessment of land use in the city of Samawah using spatial techniques

Abstract

The city of Samawah is one of the most important cities which emerged in the poverty area within the poverty map produced by the Ministry of Planning, despite being an important provincial centre. Although it has great development potentials, it was neglected for more than 50 years,. This dereliction has caused a series of negative accumulations at the urban levels (environmental, social and economic). Therefore, the basic idea of this research is to detect part of these challenges that are preventing growth and development of the city. The methodology of the research is to extrapolate the reality with the analysis of the results, data and environmental impact assessment of the projects using the methods of spatial analysis and modelling provided by different spatial techniques. The environmental side was chosen because it is the most sensitive aspect in terms of its impact and its impact on the development side, also on the stability of the population in any city. All environmental and urban elements that are affected by human activities and natural factors and their spatial distribution in the city and its environs will be identified, and analysis of the mutual influences between the environmental elements and the urban land uses of the city will be done. The main results and conclusions are: preserve the green areas within the city and not expand in its direction, develop the sewage system and develop sewage treatment plant especially for the small part of the city to end the discharge of sewage to the river, transferring the gas station outside the city border as it is adjacent to the residential neighbourhoods and adopting a technology friendly to the environment in its establishment.