Urban Sustainability
Farshad Noorian; reza ghazi; seyed sajad abdullahpur
Abstract
Concern for happiness and its strategic dimensions plays a key role in provision of desirable environment quality in urban neighborhoods, ignorance of which is an issue with which cities, metropolises such as Mashhad, Iran in particular, are faced as a requirement for man to achieve sustainable urban ...
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Concern for happiness and its strategic dimensions plays a key role in provision of desirable environment quality in urban neighborhoods, ignorance of which is an issue with which cities, metropolises such as Mashhad, Iran in particular, are faced as a requirement for man to achieve sustainable urban life. In recent decades, new and old developments have been made in Mashhad, and neighborhoods have been created that do not meet the desired level of quality, and suffer many problems such as lack of public areas, insecurity, lack of visual beauty, lack of local facilities, poor sense of belonging, environmental pollution, and inappropriate conditions for neighborhood relations. This has actually lowered the level of happiness and vitality as a missing, neglected factor in the citizens’ lives, highlighting the need for proper, happy environmental design. Among the newly-developed neighborhoods is the Fareghottahsilan neighborhood, and Tabarsi is one that has been developed long ago. The purpose of this study was to assess the dimensions and indicators of happiness in old and new areas of Mashhad with different characteristics, to identify the dimensions and indicators of a happy city to solve the problems in urban neighborhoods fundamentally and efficiently towards achievement of greater sustainability in local communities. The present applied-developmental, quantitative, descriptive-analytical research was based on library studies. 320 citizens were randomly selected from among the residents of the Tabarsi and Fareghottahsilan neighborhoods to fill out the questionnaires. Data analysis was made in SPSS using statistical tests including Friedman, Mann-Whitney, Spearman, Chi-square and Cramér’s coefficient. According to the results of the analysis, it was only the physical dimension among those of happiness that exhibited relatively favorable conditions only in the Fareghottahsilan neighborhood (3.22), and both neighborhoods had unfavorable conditions in the other dimensions. Moreover, a significant difference was found between the indicators of happiness in the old and new neighborhoods. Another finding was that the average rate of happiness in the Fareghottahsilan neighborhood (167.90) was higher than that in Tabarsi (135.45), which demonstrated that the residents of the new neighborhood were happier than those of the old neighborhood, but the difference between the two in terms of happiness was not big. Happiness was positively related to income, residence ownership, ethnicity, employment, marital status, and family size, and it was negatively related to age. Finally, the greatest correlations with happiness and vitality were observed for job security in both neighborhoods from an economic perspective, level of safety and quality of lighting in the old neighborhood and access to green spaces and quality of water spaces in the new neighborhood from a physical perspective, level of security in the old neighborhood and participation in local celebrations and participation in solving the problems in the new neighborhood from a social perspective.
Urban Planning
Farshad Noorian; seyed sajad abdullahpur Razkenari; reza ghazi
Abstract
Mashhad megalopolis has experienced a rapid and dispersed physical development over the past decades. It has also witnessed problems such as environmental degradation, lack of attention to traditional patterns of the main urban fabric, ignorance of urban identity, etc. Meanwhile, there are abundant internal ...
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Mashhad megalopolis has experienced a rapid and dispersed physical development over the past decades. It has also witnessed problems such as environmental degradation, lack of attention to traditional patterns of the main urban fabric, ignorance of urban identity, etc. Meanwhile, there are abundant internal capacities and potentials in the city such as worn-out, less developed and undeveloped lands (including empty, abandoned, desolate ones, etc.) in the form of single lot and extensive zones, which could serve as appropriate opportunities for development and growth within the borders of the city of Mashhad. Among the districts with a high potential for development from within is District 6 of Mashhad, which about 20% of its total area is gross urban lands (such as agricultural, barren and ruinous lands). According to the Mashhad Master Plan, most of the neighborhoods in District 6 are considered to be worn-out. However, in most cases, there is room for development within the city boundaries. One of the most appropriate options for development is utilizing the infill development approach. Infill development, i.e. development from within, or endogenous development is a sort of urban development which forms on desolate, abandoned and unused lands within the limits of existing urban fabric. One of the main factors supporting infill development is urban zoning. Zoning should support infill development programs. Among the methods used in urban zoning is transect zoning which is generally one of the tools for implementing smart codes of development. In the meantime, it is important to consider the factors which support infill development strategies and policies. Due to its nature, transect zoning is considered as one of the zoning methods which can support the infill development approach. Therefore, the following article aims to provide a discussion on transect zones and to prioritize infill development strategies in these zones in District 6 of Mashhad. The study method is analytical. Documentation, field observation and survey (which includes completing questionnaires by the experts) are used for collecting data. The final weight of each criterion was calculated using the AHP method in the Expert Choice. The transect zoning of the scope was proposed after overlapping thematic maps and adding weights related to the criteria to the maps using the WOI method. SWOT analysis was been used to provide strategies. Subsequently, based on experts’ opinions, the strategies were weighed and prioritized using the Friedman test in SPSS. According to the analysis carried out in the form of AHP method in the Expert Choice, the criteria of density (0.482), texture feature (0.219), accessibility (0.114), and distance from the land use (0.064) gained the most weight among the transect zoning criteria. The case study was classified into four T-zones (T1, T2, T3, T4) and two special zones (agricultural and power station zones). Also, the most important infill development strategies for T-zones of the city core were respectively identified to be restoring unused lands to the cycle of city activity (S4O3: 0.107), reduction of activity incompatibility (W3T3: 0.103) and strengthening public participation (W2T3: 0.1).
