The Center of Urban and Regional Planning for Postgraduate Studies at the University of Baghdad discussed the master’s thesis entitled (Factors affecting the selection of the location of new cities and their regional impacts “Comparative Analytical Study” Study area: Al-Muthanna Governorate), by the student Zainab Muhammad Hassan, and supervised by Professor Dr. Hussein Ahmed Al-Shadidi.
The thesis aimed to study the reality of the new cities in terms of realistic, geographical and economic factors, to reach indicators of success and failure points in choosing the sites, and then reach a measurement of the relative importance of the sites of new cities compared to the planning standards, in addition to their rankings in terms of importance and suitability with the standards, as well as clarifying the essential role of choosing the sites of new cities in the process of regional development of the governorate.
The student chose (Al-Muthanna Governorate) for her study in terms of the spatial signature criteria of new cities, and the possibility of achieving regional development goals and their effects on the planning and urban level.
The most important recommendations emphasized working on developing desert agriculture to exploit the large areas in the Salman desert, and working on activating the agricultural sector and attracting population and limiting the dominance of the central cities (Samawah-Rumaitha) by directing investments to the rest of the districts and new cities according to the available capabilities and resources, with the importance of working on balancing the population distribution in all cities by providing services in them and in their countryside, in addition to developing the industrial sector through optimal exploitation of the primary resources available in the governorate, and emphasizing the development of the diverse tourism sector such as religious, archaeological and recreational tourism to achieve the axes of regional development.
