Urban Planning
Mostafa Dehghani; Gholamreza Haghighat Naeini; Esfandiar Zebardast
Abstract
Highlights
- The expression knowledge city has been considered as an umbrella term for other phrases such as place of knowledge, city of learning, and smart city.
- Knowledge-based spaces have shifted from a focus on the limited concept of science and technology to an emphasis on the broader social ...
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Highlights
- The expression knowledge city has been considered as an umbrella term for other phrases such as place of knowledge, city of learning, and smart city.
- Knowledge-based spaces have shifted from a focus on the limited concept of science and technology to an emphasis on the broader social concept of knowledge.
- The current model for planning knowledge-based spaces involves capacity-building for long-term learning and political and cultural influence.
- Knowledge-based spaces range from technology-oriented to knowledge-oriented and from non-spatial to spatial.
Introduction
Different types of concept have been formed gradually under the title of knowledge-based spaces with different goals and functions due to the need to use effective, open, participatory innovative solutions and employ ICT capabilities to create sustainable life in cities and respond to the wills and needs of citizens. An understanding of the dimensions and characteristics and a capability of differentiating these concepts will help policymakers and city managers to choose strategies and policies and invest in these areas. This is realized through prevention of mental confusion, emergence of internal contradictions, and incoherent eclecticism of the concepts. On the other hand, the sustainable development of cities has been challenged by global trends such as the increasing urbanization, transformation of cities into places of mass-energy consumption, and production of various environmental pollutants. However, there has been an increase in the need to use effective, open, participatory innovative solutions to create sustainable life in cities and the concern for knowledge-based spaces as a result of the efforts made by cities to attract skilled, entrepreneurial, creative people.
Theoretical Framework
The existence of different concepts concerning knowledge-based spaces, such as digital city, information city, smart city, wired city, learning city, and knowledge city has led to confusion in attempts to distinguish their meanings. This conceptual confusion is due to the lack of understanding of the dimensions, characteristics, and instances of these concepts, and is a major obstacle against the efforts to persuade policy-makers and city managers to invest in these areas. This ambiguity causes planning strategies and policies to be inconsistent with the institutional environment and governance system or strategies and policies to be fraught with internal contradictions and incoherent eclecticism. In the attempts to address this issue, typology and comparative studies based on specific criteria and components contribute greatly to a better understanding of different types of knowledge-based space. So far, various types of knowledge-based space have been proposed (Castells & Hall, 1994; Dodge et al., 1998; Shiud, 2001; Nam & Pardo, 2011; Nikina et al., 2016; Carvalho et al.; Wenden, 2017; and Lara et al., 2016). Moreover, some researchers have compared two or more knowledge spaces (either directly or implicitly) (Strategy, 2012; Jojaru & Peso, 2013; Yigitjanlar & Lee, 2014; Koch, 2017; Chang et al., 2018; and Yigitjanlar & Inkinen, 2019). However, no integrated comparative study has been performed so far for all concepts of knowledge-based spaces to provide a clear, comprehensive image and a deep, coherent understanding of these spaces. Therefore, the present study seeks to develop a coherent framework to provide a new typology for a better understanding of the types of knowledge-based space. Thus, the aspects and features of distinguishing concepts, trends, and paradigm shifts in knowledge-based spaces become apparent through identification and classification of the main sources pertaining to each space and examination of the definitions and the process of formation and conceptual evolution of each concept and feature and the dimensions and instances thereof.
Methodology
The present meta-combined systematic qualitative review is conducted to pursue a descriptive-exploratory purpose. In addition to creating a new theory, meta-composition can be used to develop conceptual models or expand understanding of existing knowledge, especially to discover similarities and differences concerning concepts and ideas about a phenomenon. It can involve seven steps, including examination of research questions, systematic review of texts, exploration and selection of appropriate texts, extraction of textual information, analysis and composition of qualitative findings, and quality control and presentation. In the present study, the seven stages proposed by Sandlowski and Barroso (2007) are considered.
Results and Discussion
This study comparatively examines the concepts of knowledge-based spaces based on the six components of development discourse, type of knowledge required for development, location, key stakeholders, management model, and historical period. Moreover, the typology of knowledge-based spaces is based on the two components of spatiality and type of knowledge required for development. Accordingly, four types of knowledge space are identified: 1- technology-based non-spatial, 2- technology-based spatial, 3- knowledge-based non-spatial, and 4- knowledge-based spatial. The research findings demonstrate that concepts such as smart city and knowledge city (due to semantic inclusion) have largely replaced concepts such as digital city and virtual city, and are currently used more widely in policy-making and planning knowledge-based spaces.
Conclusion
The expression knowledge city has been considered as an umbrella term for other phrases such as knowledge place, learning city, and smart city. Moreover, the findings of the present comparative study of knowledge-based spaces based on the above seven components indicate that that knowledge-based spaces have gone through paradigm changes over time, such as the transition from a focus on the limited concept of science and technology to an emphasis on the broader social concept of knowledge, the transition from the discourse of economic development to sustainable, integrated development in various economic, social, environmental, and institutional dimensions, the transition from citizens’ passive role to their active participation in the creation, development, and management of knowledge-based spaces, the transition from government and centralized management of a limited number of stakeholders with specific guidelines and frameworks to government of networks based on the interaction of a wide range of stakeholders, the transition from a hardware, capital-based perspective involving tangible infrastructure networks to a software perspective based on intangible intellectual capital and knowledge innovation systems, and the transition from management and planning models aimed at increasing livability standards and complexity management to citizen engagement grounding and capacity-building for long-term learning and political and cultural influence. These trends and paradigm shifts represent a kind of conceptual convergence among the features and components of knowledge-based spaces. In addition, the results demonstrate that the typology of knowledge-based spaces is based on the two components of location and type of knowledge required for development, given the significant roles of these components in the differentiation of various knowledge spaces,–calling for a deeper, more expressive understanding of these spaces.
Urban Transport
Esfandiar Zebardast; elnaz baghernejhad
Abstract
The analysis of the casual relationship between built environments and travel behavior has been a key issue in the literature on transportation and planning. Residential self-selection is an issue that requires greater elaboration in investigations of built environments and travel behavior. It suggests ...
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The analysis of the casual relationship between built environments and travel behavior has been a key issue in the literature on transportation and planning. Residential self-selection is an issue that requires greater elaboration in investigations of built environments and travel behavior. It suggests that people choose their neighborhoods according to their travel attitudes and preferences. In other words, people who prefer to walk more decide to reside in walkable neighborhoods. Therefore, people walk more because they like to walk. Hence, residential self-selection, which refers to people’s propensity to choose where to live, is based on their travel attitudes. It is therefore essential to explore the impacts of built environments on travel behavior given the roles of travel attitudes, neighborhood preferences, and socio-demographic characteristics in explanation of the relationship. In this paper, structural equation modeling was applied to specify the extent to which the observed patterns of travel behavior could be attributed to the residential built environment, through investigation of the relationship between the built environment and the frequency of non-work travel involving walks in three neighborhoods with different land development patterns in Tehran, Iran. With an identification of the direct and indirect impacts of the factors effective on travel behavior, the following hypotheses were made. 1) If a built-environment element affects travel behavior or another factor directly or indirectly, it has a causal relationship with travel behavior. 2) If the travel attitudes or neighborhood preferences affect the built environment, self-selection could be understood as confounding the casual relationship between the built environment and travel behavior. For testing the above hypotheses, data were collected from 273 questionnaires distributed in three neighborhoods: Moniriye (as a traditional neighborhood), Golestan (as an automobile-oriented neighborhood), and Bime (as a conventional neighborhood). Using exploratory factor analysis, the aspects of built environments were extracted as follows: residential environment characteristics, highway accessibility, public transport accessibility, destination diversity and accessibility, density, and residence preferences. The latter refers to residents’ accessibility preferences/priorities if they wish to move to a new neighborhood. Moreover, the factors effective on travel attitudes, as elicited by exploratory factor analysis, were found to include favoring means of transport other than private cars, dependent on private cars, reducing travel, and favoring private cars. After the specification of the domains of built environment, accessibility preferences/priorities, and travel attitudes, structural equation modeling was applied to identify the relative and casual relationships between the built environment and travel behavior in the three neighborhoods. The evidence from the car-oriented and conventional neighborhoods indicated the causality of the relationship between the built environment and travel behavior. In the traditional neighborhood, however, travel attitudes and neighborhood preferences were found to influence travel behavior directly and indirectly. Nevertheless, the overall comparative assessment of the direct/indirect impacts on travel behavior in the three examined neighborhoods demonstrated that the built environment elements had casual effects on the travel behavior involving walks. For instance, destination diversity and accessibility had direct and indirect impacts on travel behavior in all the three neighborhoods. It could be concluded that enhancement of diversity and public transport accessibility and reduction of highway accessibility played more prominent roles in non-motorized travel behavior. If cities adopt land use policies offering more options to utilize non-motorized means of transport, therefore, many residents would tend to welcome the idea.
Regional Planning
Motahhareh Moghiseh; Esfandyar Zebardast
Abstract
In regional planning, it is very important to adopt a spatial approach that takes into account all the settlements in the area. In Iran, there is often a one-dimensional look to urban and rural settlements so that the mutual influence between urban and rural settlements is disregarded while, in reality, ...
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In regional planning, it is very important to adopt a spatial approach that takes into account all the settlements in the area. In Iran, there is often a one-dimensional look to urban and rural settlements so that the mutual influence between urban and rural settlements is disregarded while, in reality, both of them have a direct and tangible effect on each other and generally on the regional development. Taking this point into account, the following outcomes could be expected: More realistic planning, reduction of the problems of large urban centers, strengthening peripheral settlements and paying more attention to villages as food production centers and as future cities. Mashhad metropolitan area is a place of pilgrimage in Iran. As a result, this region has accepted a considerable number of immigrants from other urban and rural settlements. It thus well demonstrates the rural-urban linkage and the effect of rural and urban regions on each other. This paper employs two types of theories: size-based and network-based hierarchical theories. Regional indexes are first defined using the first type of theories. Then, using the factor and cluster analysis method, the villages and cities will be ranked using more indexes. The second theory provides us with a different type of information that plays a role in rural-urban relationship. These indexes involve: 1- Financial flows (essential and non-essential goods, income, labor and manufacturing relations) 2- Services (educational, health care, technology and banking relations, infrastructure, transport and communication network) 3- Physical flow (distance from the city( 4- Organizational and population indexes. The data was collected by interviewing the residents of rural regions. Members of the village council generally had more complete information. Afterwards, the different layers of the flows were put together and analyzed by the GIS software. The final score of each flow was calculated. Three results were obtained in this research by analyzing the collected data: 1- The development type in Mashhad metropolitan area was determined. Consequently, the relationship between this kind of development and rural-urban linkage, present in this region, was explained. The result shows that there is often a unilateral relationship between Mashhad and other settlements, which represents the polar and central spatial structure of the area. 2- Moreover, the features of different villages were determined according to their position towards Mashhad metropolis. These positions involve: A- Located near the city of Mashhad B- Located on the main road leading to the metropolis or a small town. C- None of the above conditions This division shows that the first type of villages have the highest people, goods, services, capital, and information flows. These flows are less in the second type of villages. Immigration becomes permanent in the third type of villages. 3- Finally, this research determines the cause of efficient urban-rural relationships. These contain: A- Capacity and accepted capital B- How capacity and capital is distributed C- The amount of effort and ability settlements centers to benefit from others These factors can be useful in formulating the principles to achieve balanced regional development strategies.
Regional Planning
amirhosein abdollahzadeh; esfandiar zebardast
Abstract
There are two main approaches to housing planning on national or regional scales: first, comprehensive housing plans and, second, subject-specific housing plans. Comprehensive housing plans bear a significant flaw: their lack of economic evaluation, which only comes at the end of the planning process. ...
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There are two main approaches to housing planning on national or regional scales: first, comprehensive housing plans and, second, subject-specific housing plans. Comprehensive housing plans bear a significant flaw: their lack of economic evaluation, which only comes at the end of the planning process. This makes them quite distant from economic realities of the province or region. However, in subject-specific housing plans, the emphasis is on the most consequential and primal issues and therefore the economic and financial factors are very well reflected. Therefore, these two approaches to planning take opposite directions as the first step in one is the final step in another. One is planning-oriented and the other is implementation-oriented.In the analysis of housing in national or regional planning sectors, the main method is to calculate an appropriate coefficient in different economic sectors for input-output charts. The calculated coefficient for housing sector can be used in housing planning for estimating investment, economic efficiency, job creation, export and import demand and supply.After data collection, 30 provinces were selected using input-output charts of 2001 fiscal year to be observed in a period of 10 years. The coefficients for different economic sectors show that water supply, electricity and natural gas are the frontline sectors followed by leisure services (e.g. hotels and restaurants), public services and the construction sector with a coefficient of 1.25. The annual inflation rate was applied in each sector and then the input-output chart of 2011 was produced in which the water, electricity and gas supply were again identified as the leading sectors. Finally, the housing sector with a coefficient of 1.167 was identified as the third on the national level.The charts were recalculated for each province using the RAS method by applying the sector estimates for each province and calculating the medium consumption, production and added value of each province. The results show that housing and construction sector remains the leading sector in most provinces. The coefficient is in the range of 1.56 to 2.24. In most provinces, this sector has the second to fourth rank. In Kohkilouyeh & Boyer Ahmad and Sistan & Balouchestan though, housing ranks first. Also, in Semnan, Qazvin, Zanjan, and Markazi its rank varies from 6 to 9. In analyzing the role of housing in economy using input-output tables and quanti-connectivity method, construction and housing sectors ranked first in the economy sector within the 10-year period. Construction sector was identified as the leading one in provinces. In this sector, three basic indexes in the input-output analysis include intermediate consumption, output and added value. Output rate is 6-8%, intermediate consumption is 4-6% and added value is 3-5% in provinces. These values are very low as compared with their consumption levels. Moreover, in the provinces, housing sector has the highest output to other sectors and the lowest input from other sectors.
Urban Management
P A; M A; E Z
Volume 3, Issue 12 , November 2014, , Pages 59-72
Abstract
This research aims to explore the relationship between the length of residence and the place-identity formation in new urban development in the case of the District 22 of Tehran. Based on this, the main contribution and orientation of this article is toward the length of residence among the other important ...
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This research aims to explore the relationship between the length of residence and the place-identity formation in new urban development in the case of the District 22 of Tehran. Based on this, the main contribution and orientation of this article is toward the length of residence among the other important criteria or factors in the process of place-identity formation in new urban development. In the literature review, based on the theories, views, and researches identified and cited for the above purpose, the significant and positive correlation between the length of residence and the discussed process is emphasized. This indicates a gradual, step-by-step and continuous formation and development of the place-identity through stability, sequence and continuity of mutual connection and interaction between the resident and residency over time. In addition, at the empirical level, in reference to case studies including Dehkadeh-Olympic, Cheshmeh, Rah-Ahan, and Sadra towns, respectively with 18, 16, 11, and 9 years as the average length of residence, this relevance is confirmed by analyzing the data using the Spearman correlation coefficient. To this end, the status of place-identity was assessed by synthesis of the eight criteria in total and for each town separately. The relationship between the length of residence and the place-identity formation has a correlation coefficient of 0.84 for 638 samples, in total. Hence, identification as the identity and sense of place will be promoted and enhanced by increasing the length of residence, especially in new urban development. This finding shows that the length of residence is an essential factor in the process of place-identity formation in new urban development. The correlation coefficients in Dehkadeh-Olympic, Cheshmeh, Rah-Ahan, and Sadra towns are respectively 0.75 for 154 samples, 0.85 for 157 samples, 0.87 for 166 samples, and 0.77 for 161 samples that were considered. Thus, the correlation between the length of residence and the place-identity formation is stronger in Cheshmeh and Rah-Ahan compared to the other towns. Based on the analysis conducted, estimation of this relationship is possible by all three types of regression, linear with a coefficient of determination of 0.64, logarithmic with a coefficient of determination of 0.60, and power with a coefficient of determination of 0.62. However, the fitness of the linear regression model is better than the other two. The coefficients of determination in linear regression are 0.56, 0.64, 0.66 and 0.57 for Dehkadeh-Olympic, Cheshmeh, Rah-Ahan, and Sadra towns, respectively. Consequently, analysis of this type of relationship illustrates that there is a positive strong significant correlation, well explained by the linear regression model, between the length of residence and the place-identity formation in new urban development. Therefore, any insight and vision on the mechanism of identification as the formation of the sense and identity of place in new urban development must be founded and operationalized by simultaneous attention to this fundamental fact. Accordingly, focus can be placed on the evaluation of this process, planning, and action for accelerating and enhancing it based on all the key criteria and factors with their specific roles and effectiveness.
Urban Planning
m e; e z
Volume 3, Issue 11 , August 2014, , Pages 19-36
Abstract
In this article, factors influencing the integrity of the historic fabric of urban development projects are studied. Integration is one of the main features of the historic fabric of cities with hot and dry climates which is influenced by urban development projects. Reviewing theoretical and empirical ...
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In this article, factors influencing the integrity of the historic fabric of urban development projects are studied. Integration is one of the main features of the historic fabric of cities with hot and dry climates which is influenced by urban development projects. Reviewing theoretical and empirical literature revealed that integration criteria is classified under five categories that include unification, interconnectedness and connectivity, porosity, authenticity and vulnerability. To investigate the effects of urban development plans on these criteria, the Revitalization of Imam Ali Square project, as one of the most important projects concerning the regeneration of the integrity of the historic fabric, was selected. This project was implemented in the crowded area of central Isfahan. The square dates back to eight hundred years ago. The open space of the square has been occupied since almost two hundred years ago, and just recently authorities decided to revitalize it. After introducing and surveying the case study area, the effects of the revitalization project on Imam Ali Square were examined based on the twenty-one sub-criteria of connectivity and interconnectedness of which information existed. Linkage and connectivity of access network, linkage and connectivity of landuses and functions, linkage and connectivity through revitalization of ancient buildings and ruins, linkage and connectivity of mass and space, linkage and connectivity of urban spaces walls and linkage and connectivity through the density are the six main criteria of interconnedtedness and connectivity principle. An analytical hierarchy process (AHP) was used to evaluate the project. In this research, the way AHP was carried out differed from the general way it is carried out in urban planning. That is because in the general use of AHP, several alternative plans exist whereas in this survey only one plan or option existed. Evaluating one plan by AHP needs three hypothetical alternatives. The plan can be compared with an acceptable hypothetical alternative, a desirable hypothetical alternative and an ideal hypothetical alternative. The overall result of the evaluation shows that the regeneration of Imam Ali Square is at an acceptable level. After comparing the hypothetical state of the present plan with the various criteria, the results indicate that the main criteria of interconnectedness and connectivity is far from the ideal state. Thus, although the physical-spatial criteria of integration are reasonable, it must be revised with an emphasis on process and flexibility in order to achieve better integration. The conclusion also shows how AHP can be used as a quantitive tool for evaluating qualitative criteria by assuming other alternatives. Possible solutions for reintegration of historic fabrics through revitalization plans include active participation of local community, urban design and transportation solutions of main access paths and streets for decreasing car speed, determination of urban design guidelines regarding quantity and quality of building new paths and widening existing paths in the peripheral areas of urban spaces. In addition to these guidelines, other solutions for the reintegration of urban historic fabrics are gradual development of street networks, flexibility of revitalization plans, small scale development and avoiding large scale ruins and demolitions, and paying attention to the current community needs and desires.
Urban Planning
ظ ظ; ش ش
Volume 2, Issue 8 , December 2013, , Pages 47-58
