The impact of urban morphology on transportation: a case study of the city of Al-Kut, Iraq

Abstract This study aims to cognize the current effects of land use decisions on traffic in the city centre and predict the future effects of these decisions. The researchers studied and analyzed the effect of changing land uses in the eastern part of Al-Kut city centre on traffic in the city centre. The study adopted the descriptive analytical approach based on the study area data and information. A field survey of the land uses that are most attractive to movement and another field survey of the traffic volume in the study area’s main streets. The study found that the transportation problems in the city centre will be exacerbated in the future due to the inappropriate position of many activities in the past two decades. All these changes attracted many transport trips and thus increased the volume of movement in the area. Kut city’s specificity exacerbated the problem as all the crossings between the two river banks are located in the city centre. This problem will be exacerbated in the future when Wasit University colleges are completed, and the number of transport trips to them increases and at completing the mall construction.