Document Type : Reasearch paper
Abstract
This research focuses on studying the reality of the housing units in the city of Najaf during the years (1997 and 2020) and representing them cartographically, in addition to studying their spatial change graphically between the city’s sectors. This was done using the geographical information system, which is one of the most important means in designing maps, as it was shown through The study studied spatial variation in the geographical distribution of the number of housing units as well as the number of population. The rates of temporal change were followed through graphical forms, Through it, it was revealed that the percentage of residential land occupancy was high, especially in the northern sector of the city, due to the spaces in it compared to the old city, which is clearly overcrowded with commercial use day after day due to the immediate commercial profit compared to residential, as it is a sacred religious center visited by the common people from the east and west of the earth.