Gruehn, DietwaldHajani, Ismail Ibrahim Suliman2020-09-022020-09-022019http://hdl.handle.net/2003/39248http://dx.doi.org/10.17877/DE290R-21165The main force that affects the city’s urban form is the process of urban growth. Kurdistan Region encounters great challenges characterized by high population growth and rapid expansion towards the surrounding rural region. The last five decades witnessed a series of wars and other political conflicts which has made the whole Iraq unstable and affected the performance of planning institutions, patterns of physical development, and destruction of social and physical infrastructure. As a result, the cities in Kurdistan Region- also in whole Iraq- did not keep track of perceptive planning schedules which generated many conflicts in the form and the structure of the cities and hardly influenced land use pattern, provision of essential infrastructure and the quality of the built environment, therefore, this has created a type of urban form and structure that is a malfunction and is not user-friendly. This research explores the way for the future urban development in Kurdistan to adopt the concept of sustainable urban growth. The notion of pursuing sustainable urban development is promoted through seeking better physical development that can uplift the quality of the urban built environment. Furthermore, the research explores the challenges facing the context and potentials needed for embracing sustainable development. The outcome of this research is depicted in the form of conceptual proposal suggesting compactness, density, mixed use, accessibility, diversity, enhancing greening and residents’ satisfaction as criteria for sustainable physical development in the cities of Kurdistan. Moreover, this dissertation recommends general strategies as the fundamental basement for changing towards sustainability. The recommendations are related to; regulatory and institutional structure, spatial practices and current opportunities for early change.enRapid urban growthSustainable urban developmentPhysical urban developmentUrban form and structureCriteriaDuhok710TextDihokStadtplanungNachhaltigkeit