Journal of Urban Economics and Management

The spatial structure of a city is the result of current spatial processes in a city and in a long run, has close relationship with the efficiency of urban development. Such a concept has a significant effect on the quality of competitiveness, livability, desirability, and the environmental invulnerability of the cities. In this regard, formulating a sustainable spatial structure depends on such factors as the justifiability of functions mixing, providing ease of transfer and access, justifiability of public transport and the extent of adaptation and flexibility, environmental quality, and observing the distance between business and residential centers, etc. The applied study, aiming at identifying and assessing the features of the spatial structure of the city of Sari, with a strategic approach, has been conducted in the framework of the concept of sustainable development in 2012. The research method was descriptive-analytical and the required data were collected via a questionnaire. In line with the purposes of the study through SWOT technique, strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of the urban spatial structure have been analyzed, and, then, to achieve a sustainable spatial structure, appropriate policies and strategies have been offered. Experiential analysis in the case study indicates that the current spatial structure of the city of Sari does not comply with sustainability indexes.