Problem statement: The Zayandehrood River as the most important ecological factor in Isfahan plain, is the main factor in maintaining habitat and regulating of the region’s ecosystem. In recent years, due to different reasons, the Zayandehrood has faced some issues include climate change, drought, traditional view on dam construction, population increase, using the age-old farming method, water-based industries, excessive water withdrawal, integrated management segregation and unprofessional and illegal resolutions, dehydration and dried-up crisis. These issues have caused intermittent interruption of river water flow in the Isfahan city, and consequently, deficiencies in the cultural, social, economic and tourism dimensions of the city.
Research objective: The research is based on the theoretical origin of landscape architecture discipline and adopts a systematic view of natural phenomena, considers the most important issue regarding the Zayandehood River crisis in Isfahan in the separation of its constituent components as a result of the lack of a systematic and holistic view in its analysis and management. Therefore, the main strategy to solve this issue is the overview of the river as an integrated system, continuous understanding of ecological issues, and analyze the impact of society on the perception of an urban river.
Research method: This is a case study based on library resources, field observations, visual documents, and the adaptation of “understanding and analysis of the urban river as an integrated social-ecological system” theory as research method deals with understanding the subsystems, discovering its internal relations, conditions, pressure and flow rate of water in accordance with the situation of the Zayandehrood river.
Conclusion: The result of this study shows that the inconsistency between pressure and internal flows in ecological and social subsystems in this structure unbalance this complex, and its adaptability and self-organization properties have been disrupted. The issue should be noticed by recovering the neglected relationships between key social components (values, people, and government) and the lost relationships between ecosystem conditions and processes and the role of social infrastructure in massive decisions, also by implementing multilevel programs, timely and strategically return this balance to the system.