Urban Sustainability
Mohammad Mehdi Azizi; samaneh khosravani nezhad
Abstract
Highlights
Analysis of the pedagogical orientation of the planning discipline towards the concept of sustainable development and its position in the academic field
Orientation of the patterns of education towards sustainable development
The predominant orientation in the teaching of ...
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Highlights
Analysis of the pedagogical orientation of the planning discipline towards the concept of sustainable development and its position in the academic field
Orientation of the patterns of education towards sustainable development
The predominant orientation in the teaching of sustainability involves the provision of an independent course on sustainability and environmental concepts and inclusion of instructions on sustainability in the procedure and materials of planning courses
Consideration of the issue of sustainability can be observed formally in the sub-disciplines of urban design and regional planning as one and two optional courses, respectively, in masters studies of educational planning in Iran.
Introduction
The change in the attitude of the urban planning discipline from the growth to the sustainability paradigm resulted from the inefficiency of the discipline and profession in response to environmental concerns around the world since the second half of the twentieth century; this shifted the substantial, procedural orientation of the discipline to the latter dominant paradigm. The result of such a change in attitude in the late twentieth century was reflected worldwide in formal and informal educational planning, and different orientations towards sustainability and sustainable development took shape according to the conditions in each country.
Theoretical Framework
The fundamental question that this article seeks to answer can be raised as follows: given the position of urban planners in plans and programs where they function as specialized managers and coordinators, what is the position of sustainable development with a focus on environmental and social issues in urban planning education, and how can urban development graduates be promoted in the field to improve the quality of professional activities? The purpose of this study is to analyze the pedagogical orientation of the urban planning discipline towards the concept of sustainable development and its position in the academic field, where professionals are trained to work in the profession.
Methodology
It is directly affected by the nature of the field how an emerging idea is addressed in any knowledge. Transition from theory to practice requires the idea to go through the scientific process of education. Education that has adopted its input from research and profession conceptualizes it and transmits it to future students and professionals as educational content–involving the knowledge, skills, and value of urban planning curricula. Thus, different feedbacks can be provided to the profession given the type of acceptance and the way education deals with emerging phenomena and ideas in the field of urban planning. At the same time, there is the missing link between education and profession, which is being moved from the channel of education to profession in the transition towards sustainable development. The specific area and research gap elaborated on in this study is the number of orientation patterns of education towards sustainable development, which are specified based on the research method.
The main tool used in this fundamental qualitative descriptive-analytical method is content analysis, enabled through the capabilities of the SPSS software.
Results and Discussion
The results of the authors’ surveys at 128 universities in 9 different countries demonstrated that the predominant orientation in the teaching of sustainability is to provide an independent course on sustainability and environmental concepts and to teach sustainability in the procedure and materials of urban planning courses. The results can be observed in the case of Iran, as a developing country that strives to move towards sustainability, contrary to the direction taken in the profession corresponding to the discipline. In Iran, the only independent course on sustainability is that entitled Sustainable Urban Development, which is an optional course presented in two theoretical credits. Among all the universities with doctorate programs in urban planning, however, this course is taught only at two, namely the University of Tehran and Tehran University of Art. For a master’s degree in urban planning, on the other hand, it is included in different sub-disciplines of the curricula. Although courses with environmental content and topics are offered in all sub-disciplines, consideration of the issue of sustainability can be observed formally in urban design and regional planning as one and two optional courses, respectively.
Conclusion
The current trend will practically slow down the process of replacing the growth paradigm with the sustainability paradigm and bring about wide gaps therein. However, the proper orientation adopted in the discipline in recent years in regard to education of sustainability and sustainable development conveys the message that the gap will be reduced greatly in the future. This means that the appropriate orientation of the discipline (in education and research) is also reflected in the profession to help responds to the requirements of the field in the right direction. This is especially important in the training of graduates who will be developing plans and programs in the future. Education of sustainability and sustainable development, one of the criteria examined in the Green Metric ranking system, can be considered as a focus of future applied research and as a step forward in its achievement.
Urban Design
Azadeh Alizadeh; samaneh khosravaninezhad; Mohammad Falahati; reza akbari
Abstract
Highlights The most important criteria in nightlife spaces is "Being" and "safety" has the least impact on creating an urban night space. Factors that affect night urban spaces design can be classified in two categories: "Creator factors" and "Supporter factors". Creator factors are related ...
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Highlights The most important criteria in nightlife spaces is "Being" and "safety" has the least impact on creating an urban night space. Factors that affect night urban spaces design can be classified in two categories: "Creator factors" and "Supporter factors". Creator factors are related to attraction and producing the night space and the Supporter factors are related to its population maintenance and how space is used and Determines the type and quality of space experience. Introduction Cities are changing in the contemporary world, and the most important tools for this transformation involve the time component and it synthesis with culture, art, and technology to reproduce urban spaces. The result is the concept of nightlife and urban night spaces. Due to the importance of time in contemporary life and changing time structures resulting from lifestyle transformation, better utilization of time in urban life can be achieved in these spaces, and the vitality of daily activities can extend into the night hours. In the city of Yazd, Iran, night spaces encourage greater presence in space, especially in hot seasons, and enhance the city vitality, which is currently one of the most important urban management concerns, temporally distributing population density and keeping them in space for longer periods of time. Given that night urban spaces require their own design considerations, this study was aimed at explaining the factors and criteria that affect urban night space design. Theoretical Framework Two dimensions were identified for night spaces through a review of the literature on the definition of nightlife and 24-hour cities and their analysis from the aspect of night urban space design. These included sociability arising from the physical space and perception of the function of space. Then, criteria and indicators were defined for the above dimensions. Methodology After the effective criteria were extracted from the literature and experience, they were prioritized using a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods and evaluated with respect to Kashani Street in Yazd. The most important advantage of this hybrid method, focused more on the qualitative aspect, involved the assessment and analysis of quantitative data in urban spaces and confirmation of the accuracy of the results through interpretation and enrichment. In order to prioritize the criteria in the quantitative method, the questionnaire tool and the Kolmogorov-Smirnov and Friedman tests were used (The reliability of the questionnaire was 0.812). In the qualitative method, these criteria were analyzed using environmental assessment techniques (field study and observation at different times in the period from 7 PM to 12 AM and open interviews) on Kashani Street. Results and Discussion The prioritization of the criteria indicated that flexibility had no effect on urban nightlife. Moreover, attendance exhibited the greatest and safety had the least impacts on the development of urban night spaces. The criteria were prioritized as attendance, security, inclusiveness, attractiveness, legibility, continuity, enclosure, spatial enticement, eventfulness, visual accessibility, and safety. A qualitative evaluation of these criteria in regard to Kashani Street demonstrated that the most important criteria, including attendance and security, provided the greatest potentials of this street for turning into an urban night space due to the density of activities and appropriate population. In contrast, criteria such as attractiveness, continuity, spatial enticement, and eventfulnessrequired plenty of design and planning to create urban night spaces. Conclusion Based on the results, the design considerations of night urban spaces were classified into two categories: creator factors and supporter factors. The former concerns attraction and construction of night spaces, while the latter pertains to their population maintenance and how space is used to specify the type and quality of space experience. The creator factors included attendance, security, inclusiveness, and attractiveness. The supporter factors included legibility, continuity, enclosure, spatial enticement, eventfulness, visual accessibility, and safety. The creator factors indicated the potentials of spaces for creation of the night space, reinforced through synthesis with the supporter factors and bringing about the correct performance of night spaces through improvement of the quality of the space experience. This proposed two-fold framework could serve to complement the other aspects of night urban spaces (economic, cultural, governance, tourism, etc.) and to function as a guide to design of such spaces. In Yazd, night spaces provide contemporary responses to the new lifestyle to meet the needs of different groups, especially the youth, who can lead cultural challenges to creative use of their abilities. Combination of nocturnal spaces with urban tourism can create a new experience of being there at historical places and presenting the contemporary assets of the city along with its historical assets. It provides a booming service economy for sustainable urban development.
