Volume 29, No. 3, Autumn 2024 Journal of Fine Arts: Architecture and Urban Planning 31 Research Article Urban Growth Patterns and its Driving Forces in the Tehran Urban Agglomeration Abstract Today, over half of the world's population lives in urban areas, withmany developing countries experiencing rapid urbanization, resulting in emergence of metropolitan areas. Each metropolitan area can follow a different growth pattern according to its characteristics and environmental conditions. In Iran, metropolitan areas such as Tehranconfront challenges associated with sprawl development, often at the expense of green lands. Neglecting this phenomenon can lead to spatial fragmentation leading to inefficiency of regional development policies. Tehran metropolitan area, Iran's largest urban center, continually attracts a growing population, necessitating a thorough analysis of its growth dynamics and underlying drivers for effective planning. Therefore, the present study intends to analyze the growth patterns and the driving forces influencing the formation of Tehran and Alborz urban agglomeration by using quantitative research approach and using satellite images and secondary data. The study evaluated the spatial pattern of growth of Tehran urban agglomeration during the years 2000 to 2020 using the SLEUTH model, complemented by logistic regression to identify key drivers. First the land use changes of Tehran urban agglomeration during the last two decades are examined and then, according to the coefficients obtained in the implementation of the calibration of the SLEUTH model, the urban growth pattern is determined. Logistic regression was used to evaluate the effects of driving forces. During the last two decades, the share of urban areas and bare lands in the study area has increased and the area of agricultural lands, grasslands and gardens has decreased. Thus, the biggest change was in the increase in the share of barren land use, where most of the agricultural land and orchards have been converted to other uses. The results of calibration of historical data in the region suggested that road infrastructure and topographical features, particularly slopes, heavily influence Tehran's urban growth patterns. The main pattern of urban growth in the suburban areas of the region has a linear nature and edge expansion due to slope resistance. However, the coefficients of expansion, diffusion and beer show less probability for a new diffusion center and spontaneous growth in this study. Therefore, it can be concluded that the main factor of urban growth in this region is road-based infrastructure. Also, in areas with high topography such as eastern areas and Alborz area, slope has an important role in urban configuration. In the changes of the built areas, the distance from the bare lands, in the changes of the agricultural lands, the distance from the main roads and in the changes of the bare lands, the distance from the agricultural lands have had the most impact. Keywords Urban Growth Patterns, Urban Growth Driving Forces, SLEUTH Model, Tehran Urban Agglomeration Received: 03 Apr 2022 Received in revised form: 10 May 2023 Accepted: 15 Sep 2024 Hashem Dadashpoor 1 iD (Corresponding Author) Professor, Department of Urban and Regional Planning, Faculty of Art Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran. E-mail: h-dadashpoor@modares.ac.ir Peyman Karami 2 iD (Corresponding Author) Master of Urban and Regional Planning.Department of Urban and Regional Planning, Faculty of Arts, Tarbiat Modares Univer- sity, Tehran, Iran. E-mail: carami.pcf_up@yahoo.com Hosein Sharifzadeh Moghadam 3 iD Associate Professor, Department of Water Engineering and Man- agement, Faculty of Agriculture, Tarbiat Modares University, Teh- ran, Iran. E-mail: h_shafizadeh@modares.ac.ir https://doi.org/10.22059/jfaup.2025.340883.672757 Citation: Dadashpoor, Hashem; Karami, Peyman & Sharifzadeh Moghadam, Hosein (2024). Urban growth patterns and its driving forces in the Tehran urban agglomeration, Journal of Fine Arts: Architecture and Urban Planning, 29(3), 31-42. (in Persian) The Author(s). Publisher: University of Tehran Press. ©