Urban Sustainability
mehrab mehrabi; Majid Ansari; MOHSEN RAFIEAN
Abstract
Highlights
The foresight is very important in the preservation of the valuable heritage of a city and its transfer to the next generation.
The connection of the TOPSIS method and the fuzzy model is a realistic composition, which analyzes complex issues and relationships correctly and simply at the ...
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Highlights
The foresight is very important in the preservation of the valuable heritage of a city and its transfer to the next generation.
The connection of the TOPSIS method and the fuzzy model is a realistic composition, which analyzes complex issues and relationships correctly and simply at the same time.
Scenarios and scenario planning make up an essential part of the future research process.
The world heritage of the city of Yazd, Iran is a unique testimony of a cultural tradition or a living or lost civilization of human-environment interaction.
Up-to-date tourism services, development of identity-oriented employment, and balance in the migration process are very important in the sustainable development of the world heritage area.
Introduction
Various issues have threatened the stability of cities. The application of the concept of sustainable development in the modern urban environment can be very effective in the solution of these problems. In the meantime, the study of the sustainability of cities with cultural and historical heritage such as Yazd is different from that of other cities. The presence of precious historical and cultural heritage has made this city unique, and it has also made its studies and management more sensitive. Therefore, given that the Yazd contains a valuable heritage that has been inherited from generation to generation and based on the perspective of sustainable development, it is necessary for the present generation to make efforts to preserve and transfer it to the next generation. Thus, the ever-increasing changes in the historical areas of the city make it necessary to be aware of the future of this valuable area and overcome its future transformations based on this knowledge. Therefore, the purpose of this research is to identify the driving forces affecting the process of sustainable development and to provide the future scenarios of the world-heritage area of Yazd with an emphasis on sustainable development.
Theoretical Framework
Urban planning and future studies are both primarily future-oriented. They both deal with ambiguous, multifaceted, controversial issues with uncertain outcomes. Their common goal is to provide a better future. The responsibility of future researchers is to help people express beautiful dreams, and the responsibility of planners is to help make these dreams come true. The previous studies and observations of the process of formation and construction of the world heritage of Yazd and the stability of this valuable treasure from the past up to now indicate the conscious connection made by the people of that age between efficient and futuristic urban planning. By learning from our predecessors, developing plans and future research techniques, and understanding the importance of connecting these two fields, we must preserve this lasting heritage by understanding future changes and planning intelligently.
Methodology
The current research is practical in terms of purpose and a document survey in terms of data collection. An initial study of the relevant documents helped to identify the drivers of the process of sustainable development of the world-heritage site of Yazd. Then, the key drivers were identified and ranked based on experts’ opinions using the fuzzy method of TOPSIS. Finally, optimistic, intermediate, and critical scenarios were provided for the studied area based on the different states of the engines in the Scenario Wizard software.
Results and Discussion
The findings of the research demonstrate that of the 24 variables affecting the process of sustainable development of the historical area of Yazd, 7 drivers play leading roles in the future state of the area population, participation of residents, migration, competitiveness, tourism services, protection of the area (physical-functional), and employment. Moreover, the findings indicate the prominent role of social indicators compared to others in the process of sustainable development of this area, which shows the importance of these indicators in regard to preservation and sustainable development. In the interpretation of the thematic layering of the seven identified drivers, the three drivers of population, migration, and employment are defined as the components of the concept of sustainable development of the historical area. This means that changes made in these drivers considerably affect the area. Eight powerful scenarios were developed based on the results of the analysis matrix of the mutual effects of the assumptions made in the three optimistic, intermediate, and critical situations for each of the identified drivers. One ideal scenario, two optimistic scenarios, three pessimistic scenarios, and two critical scenarios were evaluated.
Conclusion
In the analysis of the scenarios, it can be pointed out that the existing historical conditions of Yazd are far from the ideal scenario, and the city is heading towards a critical scenario, facing ups and downs in order to maintain the stability of operation. Let us assume the planning scene as a spectrum from critical conditions to full optimality and consider the former as the longest distance from the ideals and the latter as the shortest. It should be stated that the historical context is currently not in the right direction, and there are not proper conditions. Therefore, in order to become closer to the ideal scenario based on the identified drivers, it is suggested that service conditions should be considered based on the needs of today’s residents and fair distribution in line with the increase in the population along with the preservation of the original and native population. Moreover, priority should be given to the enhancement and revitalization of the area with an emphasis on tradition, culture, and the use of local materials. In the meantime, particular attention should be paid to the prosperity and diversity of compatible jobs due to the important role of economic issues in development.
Urban Planning
majid rousta; mohamad Soleimani; mozafar sarafi; mojtaba rafiyan
Abstract
Highlights
- Improvement of residents’ quality of life
- Scale in urban regeneration programs and plans
- Unorganized, poor urban neighborhoods
- Statuses of urban regeneration projects in Iran and impact of project efficiency and residents’ quality of life
Introduction
One ...
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Highlights
- Improvement of residents’ quality of life
- Scale in urban regeneration programs and plans
- Unorganized, poor urban neighborhoods
- Statuses of urban regeneration projects in Iran and impact of project efficiency and residents’ quality of life
Introduction
One of the most important challenges in today’s metropolises is the existence of unhealthy, poor urban neighborhoods in the peripheries. A series of regeneration policies and plans have sought to meet such a challenge over the twentieth century to provide a better quality of life for residents of such impoverished urban spaces. Such measures have hardly been successful, however. This study has assumed that a major reason for such failures has been the lack of concern for scale in urban regeneration plans and schemes. Accordingly, two main questions have been raised here. The first pertains to the reason why the concept of scale should lie at the heart of an urban regeneration plan and to the way in which such a focus can improve plans and upgrade the quality of life in an urban residence. The second question concerns the status of urban regeneration based on the criteria and indicators considered in this study and the effects it can have on project efficiency and target residents’ quality of life.
Theoretical Framework
The theoretical framework of this study has been set only to extract the indicators and criteria of the survey (questionnaire) and to measure the quality of life in the target samples. Therefore, the intellectual approaches of sustainable urban regeneration, right scale theory, expectation-efficiency model, sustainable place-making, and collision effectiveness theory have been considered in this research simply as theoretical approaches supporting the survey. However, the arguments made in these approaches and the set of controversies that can arise about each along with the relationships between them go far beyond the references cited in this article. After all, the main components of the questionnaire for assessment of the quality of life in the target samples include the theoretical approach of the right scale, providing the required coordination between the elements, the theoretical approach of collision effectiveness, providing effectiveness, the theoretical approach of sustainable place-making, affecting target residents’ quality of life, and the theoretical approach of expectation-efficiency, affecting satisfaction.
Methodology
The present applied research has been designed as a systematic logical plan seeking to maximize scientific validity in the definitions, criteria, indicators, procedures, and methods of data collection and analysis and in the information and extraction and inference of the findings. Two contextual methodologies have been adopted to analyze the concept of scale, along with a survey-data methodology used to measure the quality of life. The data and information sources include censuses and questionnaires, library documents, programs and designs, and techniques of analysis, including correlation and regression (used to measure the quality of life), and meta-analysis (used to identify the scale). A set of qualitative (subjective) and quantitative (objective) criteria has been extracted in accordance with the theoretical framework of the research. The indicators and variables extracted from theoretical approaches and global and Iranian experiences have finally been used to compile a questionnaire, the descriptive and inferential results of which have been presented in the next step of the research.
Results and Discussion
The results obtained for the first question of the research demonstrate that the approaches should be implemented as local small-scale regeneration projects operated in regional integration, unlike previous approaches, in which national (government) programs and projects have been implemented as large-scale renovation projects. In addition, the concept of scale is generally used today to refer to the spatial, temporal, quantitative, or analytical dimension. Scale is also a determining factor in pattern recognition, phenomenon explanation, result generation, and program and plan optimization for regeneration and achievement of satisfaction and efficiency.
The results obtained for the second research question indicate the significance of the correlations between the number, initial energy, and locations of urban regeneration projects in all the sample cities and their impacts on target residents’ quality of life. Given the importance of this relationship (correlation) and fulfillment of the requirements for presentation of the prediction model in this field, a multivariate regression model has been proposed. The obtained model indicates that the factors of projects, initial energy and orientation can predict how target urban residents’ quality of life is affected in the present study.
Conclusion
Finally, what distinguishes this research from similar studies in the literature is the distinct practical outputs that it has presented in the field of urban planning as well as the focus beyond the concept of scale in its traditional sense, which has disturbed its meaning. The research findings challenge the current attitudes of urban planners and designers towards sustainable urban regeneration policies, emphasizing the significance of holistic approaches in the definition of urban place-making projects. The need has been defined not only from a physical point of view, as in Makower (2014), in the recognition of the urban scale but also from a multidisciplinary perspective, with an emphasis on socio-economic and physical approaches in the three layers of project relationships, level, and size for improvement of citizens’ quality of life and realization of their satisfaction with life in places. It seems that expansion and enrichment of the findings of this research in the field of urban planning and design requires further research, refining, for example, the concept of scale at the place level and effective socio-cultural relationships on the place formation continuum and identifying the appropriate level and effective economic relationships on the continuum.
Urban Sustainability
mojde erfani; Hossein Bahrainy; Manouchehr Tabibian
Abstract
Abstract Lack of attention to the “dynamic” concept of the landscape, the “holistic” approach to it, and the use of conventional methods in the study of urban development projects has shaped an urban landscape that is unable to meet the demands of its inhabitants over time. Therefore, ...
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Abstract Lack of attention to the “dynamic” concept of the landscape, the “holistic” approach to it, and the use of conventional methods in the study of urban development projects has shaped an urban landscape that is unable to meet the demands of its inhabitants over time. Therefore, considering the ineffectiveness and divergence of the study method in the urban development plans of Iran and given the variability of today’s city, it is necessary to adopt an appropriate approach to today’s urban conditions. Landscape Urbanism theory, with a general approach to the concept of landscape and accepting the uncertainty of the evolving city, has raised a new field in the global literature. This theory, with an approach to confronting the complexities of the contemporary city, sees the “landscape” as an active phenomenon over time and emphasizes functional dimensions beyond its purely aesthetic aspects. At present, there are criticisms about putting the theoretical aspects of this approach to practice. Since the highest application of this theory is in the field of landscape architecture, most of its criticisms relate to the field of urbanism knowledge, the application of its theoretical framework to the city scale and the lack of executive instances. In this regard, the correct understanding and analysis of the theoretical issues of urban planning and its adaptation to the concept of sustainability, as a basis for thinking, can reveal its hidden dimensions. It is clear that further research on the application of this theory, along with the formulation of design principles, is an important factor in reducing the gap between theory and practice, solving structural problems and identifying the potential of this new approach to urban planning. The purpose of this research is to describe the theoretical framework of “landscape urbanism” theory as a new approach in urban design that aims at achieving a sustainable landscape. This study tries to emphasize the “procedure” and “substantive” dimensions in the design of sustainable urban landscape while developing the theoretical framework of this approach based on sustainability concepts. In this regard, the present paper seeks to confirm the following statements: - Understanding the dynamic concept of landscape and its “holistic approach” in today’s urban conditions leads to the formation of a landscape that can be “sustained” on a time scale. - The “stability” of the city’s main structure, along with the “flexibility” of open urban areas and urban neighborhoods against the changing conditions and needs of the community, can provide the ground for the formation of a sustainable landscape in the present situation. - The approach of “landscape urbanism”, as an efficient approach in the studies of urban development projects in Iran, in addition to “substantive dimensions”, needs a “infrastructure” for realizing its theoretical framework in the field of action. Based on the results of the research, the concept of sustainability in the theory of landscape urbanism includes the “stability” of the main structure of the city and the “change” of activities and programs proportionate to the changing conditions over time. Thus, the theoretical framework of landscape urbanization, with the features of “uncertainty” and “change”, can be used to design “open spaces” within and around the city as well as “urban neighborhoods” that are more “adaptable” and “flexible”. In this regard, the emphasis is on participatory planning from the bottom up, the design of the process-oriented with an integrated approach from regional to local scale in the urban landscape, and on the local identity.
