Bandar Abbas is the capital city of Hormozgan province, is the south of Iran. The city
has witnessed rapid growth in the last three decades, mostly because of its economic, commercial
and social attractions. However, forms and operations of urban sprawl may vary in important
manners according to determine geographical and historical characteristics, and these difference
need to be reviewed with creation geodatabase of spatial and attribute data during past periods
until now of urban formation and expansion. We implemented this research to understand Bandar
Abbas city growth dynamic during last six decades using aerial photo, Remote Sensing (RS) data
and Geographical Information System (GIS), to investigate its sprawl for the during six decades
and to prepare a basis for urban planning and management. We calibrated it with geospatial data
derived from a time series of aerial photos and satellite images. Treated remote sensing data
covering the six decades were used to calculate land use/cover and urban growth. The application
of classification techniques to the remote sensing data enabled the extraction of eight main types
of land use: agricultural, barren, coastal, hole, river, rocky hill, urban, and built-up. Growth was
calculated through Shannon’s entropy model. The urbanized area increased from 403.77 ha to
4959.59 ha from 1956 to 2012, a rate almost five times that of the population growth observed in
the same period. Such findings make the case of Bandar Abbas important for several reasons.
First, Bandar Abbas has undergone a rapid increase in urban sprawl according to urban growth
indicators. Second, the urban sprawl quickly grew from medium-sized to large a process
considered inappropriate according to physical and structural limitations on urban growth. Lastly,
the excessive extension of the built-up boundary in the city resulted in the loss of coastal land and
open space, two main sources of tourist attraction and economic sustainable development.