Trends and Determinants of Urban Growth of the City of Qurna

The city of Qurna took two distinct directions in its urban growth, the first direction extended north of the Euphrates River and included thirteen residential neighborhoods, while the second direction extended south of the Euphrates River and included eleven residential neighborhoods. Population growth, which reached 4.7% between 2009-2020, however, urban growth in the study area faces natural and human determinants that hinder its extent, and the aim of the research is to reveal the importance of the study area as an area that attracts the inhabitants of the surrounding areas, as well as identifying the obstacles that Limit urban growth to develop planning solutions and treatments, and the research has adopted the historical approach in tracking the stage of urban development and methods of descriptive methodology, office sources, maps and relevant official departments to analyze the current urban growth of the city, and the research reached results, the most important of which is the acceleration of urban growth, both demographically and spatially. Population from (27811) people on an area of (540) hectares in 1977, to (155707) people on an area of (1503.7) hectares, in addition to the housing deficit, which amounted to 8954 housing units for the year 2020