Analysis of urban spatial structure with emphasis on employment and activities distribution in Tehran

The experience of metropolitan development has shown that alongside the urban expansion and population growth, central business districts gradually lose their traditional ability to provide servicing for distant areas. Accordingly, new urban areas have emerged in the form of polycentric structure. Tehran has experienced having a strong center in national level during the last hundred years and intensification of immigration process and growth of the activities in periphery area has caused the city to expand the new subcenters in the last five decades. The purpose of this study is analysis of urban spatial structure based on the spatial distribution of employment and activities in Tehran to show whether the spatial distribution of employment and activities is clustering or dispersing. The kernel density and spatial autocorrelation methods were used to analyze the pattern of employees and activities in the form of a modifiable areal unit problem. Findings showed that the density of employments in the eastern, northwestern and western parts of Tehran is prominent, which also local indicators of spatial association (LISA) statistics confirming this situation. The analysis of spatial autocorrelation for the activities also showed the cluster status of this activity in the spatial structure of Tehran city in the sections mentioned.