Urban Planning
zeynab aliabadi; mahmoud mohammdi
Abstract
This research was conducted to investigate the effects of the parameters pertaining to the spatial structure of passages on imperviousness in passages less than six meters wide, which has led to distressed areas in the city of Zanjan, Iran. The research questions inquired what factors in the spatial ...
Read More
This research was conducted to investigate the effects of the parameters pertaining to the spatial structure of passages on imperviousness in passages less than six meters wide, which has led to distressed areas in the city of Zanjan, Iran. The research questions inquired what factors in the spatial structure of the passage network affected the distress caused by imperviousness and how they could be examined. The above questions were addressed using a statistical method known as the logistic regression test, specifying the presence or absence of a relationship between imperviousness and space syntax indices, such as global and local integration, connection, selection, and depth. The results demonstrated that some of the spatial structure index variables could be effective on the amount of distress. According to the Wald statistic results and the relevant sig. values, the variables global integration and selection did not have a significant effect on the amount of distress in passages less than six meters wide in the distressed areas of Zanjan, because the values in the B column were positive, and the corresponding sig. values were not significant at the error level of 0.05. This indicated that there was proper global relationship and integration between the passage network in distressed areas and those in the surrounding areas. In other words, distressed area neighborhoods were not poorer than those around them in terms of global integration, and an increase in global integration would not have a considerable effect on distress in passages less than six meters wide. On the other hand, connection and local integration, in that order, had significant effects on distress in Zanjan in the present conditions, because the values in the B column were negative, and the corresponding sig. values were statistically significant at the error level of 0.05. This demonstrated that distress could be reduced with an increase in connection in successive dead ends and in local integration in passages within neighborhoods in distressed areas in Zanjan. The overall results of the analysis showed that poor internal structure (poor connection or local integration) in distressed areas in Zanjan was the main factor increasing the amount of distress, and such a weakness in interconnection in neighborhoods with several dead ends had made them difficult to access. These hardly accessible points on passages less than six meters wide within neighborhoods could be spatially isolated over time, increasing distress. Given the poor local structure, therefore, it was suggested for reduction of distress in infected areas in Zanjan that connection and local integration should be increased.
