International Journal of Social and Economic Research

Sport spaces are one of the major service centres in the city that a considerable level of urban space is allocated to. Therefore, noting this point that sport spaces must be properly located at the urban level seems essential. This study investigates the current situations of sport spaces of Kahnouj city using geographic information system (GIS) and analytical hierarchy process (AHP) to locate these places in Kahnouj city. Therefore, the main question raised in this study is how spatial distribution of sport use in Kahnouj city is and whether the mentioned use is appropriate to define standards. Findings obtained from this study indicate that the amount of this use in Kahnouj city is not sufficient, so that level of capitation in Kahnouj city is 1.15 m² per each person, while the current standard of this use is 2.50 m². Therefore, Kahnouj city with a population of 34500 in 2004 must have over 86250 m² sport spaces, which indicate a lack of sport spaces over 46500 m². To find the most appropriate location to establish sport use, these layers are placed on each other using the AHP model and then with the help of overlay functions in GIS and finally the most appropriate places to build new sport spaces have been selected.