Urban Sustainability
Ali Asadi; saeed Salehi Marzijrani; Hassan sajadzadeh; hosein kalantari khalil abad
Abstract
Highlights - In the residential buildings in the city of Arak, Iran, good construction quality was the first priority of the residents to achieve residential stability.- The cultural level and social homogeneity hold the residents’ second priority to achieve residential stability.- Causal conditions ...
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Highlights - In the residential buildings in the city of Arak, Iran, good construction quality was the first priority of the residents to achieve residential stability.- The cultural level and social homogeneity hold the residents’ second priority to achieve residential stability.- Causal conditions have the greatest impact on residential stability, followed by intervening and strategic conditions.- Factors involved in the creation of residential stability are stated based on facts and needs.-- The factor of tendency to move is stated based on wishes, ideals, and expectations. IntroductionToday, the study of a residential environment is important because of its effectiveness on important planning indicators such as residential relocation rate, quality of life, and housing demand forecasting, and the quality of the environment is a factor affecting urban population movements. Residential stability leads to community cohesion, the formation of social networks, and informal social monitoring, which collectively lead to the solution of community and neighborhood problems. The purpose of this research is to discover the factors affecting residential instability and the desire to move, especially with respect to the quality of the environment of residential buildings in the city of Arak, Iran. Theoretical FrameworkFrom the early 1950s, the big cities of Iran were exposed to massive migration. The immediate solution to this crisis was to build residential buildings in sparsely populated areas. The point that can be seen in the process of creating residential buildings in Iran is that they have often neglected the principles and criteria of urban planning in the planning and design of residential buildings and have failed to create desirable residential environments. They have also ignored the residents in the design of the buildings, decreasing their level of satisfaction.Moreover, the quality of the environment is considered as a factor affecting population movements within the city and attempts to leave the neighborhoods. The residents’ assessment of their residential environment is effective on the size of population attracted to and retained in the urban area, and it is an important factor influential on population mobility within the city.Studies have demonstrated in regard to the differences between planned and actual residential moves that 48 percent of those who have intended to move have left their homes after 5 years, while 14% of those who have planned to stay have also moved. Reducing residential mobility is a step towards building a stable neighborhood. MethodologyThe method of information analysis adopted in this research is based on the systematic approach of Strauss’ and Corbin’s theories in the three main steps of open coding, axial coding, and selective coding, which is based on continuous comparison.Open coding is based on general questions aimed at discovering the truth, such as why you stayed in this building, why you intend to go, and what factors make you stay or leave. Axial coding is aimed to establish a relationship between the concepts generated in the open coding step. The basis of the communication process in axial coding is to focus on and define a category as the central one and then place other categories as sub-categories below the main one.In selective coding, the utilized categories are theoretically saturated.The first and second steps are logically placed next to each other based on the coded concepts. Then, the researcher must choose the core category. Here, the major categories are related to each other in the form of a paradigm model (contextual model) around the core category.Results and Discussion The findings indicate that 23.5% of the residents tended to stay in their current homes for one to four years, while the estimated lengths of stay in their current homes included five to eight years for 17.8%, six to twelve years for 10.0%, and above sixteen years for 2.8%. The greatest impact on residential stability concerning the subject of the research is exhibited by causal conditions (such as the design and construction of a building), which are formed before its construction, and conditions other than the background ones (such as the location of the building in the city), taking shape after its construction, which include intervening and strategic conditions. Strategic conditions are exemplified by feelings of security and tranquility, congestion, and management, and intervening conditions include neighborhood relations, residents’ cultural level and social homogeneity, lack of economic capacity to move, and lack of buyers. The reasons for the poor conditions of the building (which are more personal and individual and are different for each person) include factors affecting residential stability and the desire to move.ConclusionGood building quality and cultural level and homogeneity were the first and second priorities of the residents to achieve residential stability. However, the respondents’ important reasons include the high level of reference to peace and security, high access level, proper management, and economic inability to move. Other items mentioned include proper location of the apartment and the building. Moreover, the results demonstrated that the factors that create residential stability are different from those that create the desire and tendency to move. The factors creating residential stability are stated based on facts and needs, but those for tendency to move are stated based on wishes, ideals, and expectations. Furthermore, the greater the distance between these two (real requests and wishes), the greater the desire to move.Acknowledgments This article is from the doctorate thesis of the first author with the title "Explaining the quality of the environment on residential stability and willingness to move in residential complexes using the contextual method (case example: Arak city) " In the Islamic Azad University, Arak branch under the supervision of the second and third authors and The fourth is extracted.
Urban Planning
Zahra Tamjidi; Zahra sadat saiedeh Zarabadi; Farah Habib
Abstract
Highlights:- The right to the city is a human right that concerns citizens’ possession of the city and their participation in city affairs, regardless of age, gender, race, nationality, ethnicity, or religion.- Children are a group of citizens who should be considered in urban planning due to their ...
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Highlights:- The right to the city is a human right that concerns citizens’ possession of the city and their participation in city affairs, regardless of age, gender, race, nationality, ethnicity, or religion.- Children are a group of citizens who should be considered in urban planning due to their special physical and psychological conditions.- The four-part model of “Child’s Right to the City” includes the urban governance system, social inclusion, spatial access, diversity and vitality, and relevant components.- The components of the concept of the child’s right to the city are effective in improvement of the quality of urban spaces for children. IntroductionThe right to the city is an issue of social, political, and legal nature that, based on the concept of citizenship rights, demands a set of rights for all city residents to use urban life in a transparent, fair manner. Urban spaces occupy a major part of the time and space of people’s daily lives, and they have young audiences who are much more influenced by environmental factors than adults. Therefore, a part of the function of an urban space should be assigned to children, which makes it particularly important to properly design urban spaces for children as citizens and future builders of the city. The presence of children in the public space of a city provides them with appropriate experiences, including acquaintance with urban geography, appropriate social relations with peer groups, appropriate physical mobility in a wider space than the limited space of the home, enhancement of the sense of belonging to the place, city, and neighborhood, and acquisition of identity through the sense of place. Since children have psychological needs that are much more complex than biological and physical needs, the design of urban spaces taking into account the psychology of development and children’s mental characteristics, health, and safety is effective in fostering creativity and strengthening the sense of cooperation and children’s education. Despite the global attention paid to children’s issues and useful international movements, there is less concern in our country for children’s specific issues in the urban arena, and children in cities are faced with many special problems in terms of age and physical and mental conditions, such as non-observance of basic rights, lack of security and safety, insufficient facilities and spaces for activities and games, and consequent lack of feeling of belonging to the space. As residents of the city, children’s right thereto has been neglected in many cases by decision-makers, planners, and even other citizens. Due to the dominance of the ageist culture, children are always ignored in planning and decision-making, and they are left out as isolated, unqualified people in an understanding of their priorities and needs.Theoretical FrameworkThe right to the city can be defined and claimed for all its residents. It emphasizes two main rights. The right of allocation is defined for anyone who lives in an urban space on a daily basis, regardless of their nationality, gender, and age, and the right of participation is used to apply the opinions and mental ideals of space users. Children and teenagers are also daily users of urban spaces, although the type of space use by children and teenagers is different due to their age conditions and the restrictions on their independence. However, their right to the city and urban spaces should be recognized, and methods should be provided for their participation in definition and change of the urban space.MethodologyThe purpose of this article is to examine the concept of the right to the city and to identify the factors that are effective in improvement of the appropriateness of the urban public spaces for the presence of children. For this purpose, both qualitative and quantitative research methods were used. Since both types of analysis are interpreted sequentially, the present article falls in the category of sequential-exploratory research. For analysis of the qualitative data, meta-synthesis and Grounded Theory were used, along with the NVivo software, employed to code the data. The data collection method involved documentary research and semi-structured interviews. The multiple regression test was used to investigate the relationships and the level of support between the components of the child’s right to the city and the quality of urban spaces.Results and DiscussionIn this research, the urban space quality index was considered as a dependent variable, and the components of the child’s right to the city (urban governance, social inclusion, access to spaces, and diversity and vitality) were regarded as independent variables. On that basis, the urban governance component involves 35.5% of the improvement made in the quality of the urban space in order to realize the child’s right to the city, and the other components include social inclusion, spatial accessibility, and diversity and vitality, with 31.2%, 28.9%, and 14.6%, respectively. Moreover, the influence of each of the sub-components of the child’s right to the city on the quality of urban spaces and the corresponding correlation were investigated separately.ConclusionBased on the four-part conceptual model, the four main zones of the concept of the child’s right to the city include urban governance, social inclusion, spatial accessibility, and diversity and vitality, which make up four consecutive steps to the final goal of the research based on frequency. The sub-themes exhibit a hierarchical structure. In the zone of diversity and vitality, for example, it can be inferred according to the concepts of the right to recreation, safe spaces versus security spaces, social interactions, and collective life that concern for creativity should be realized so that the environment can be considered memorable to be capable of completing the above zone.
Urban Planning
fazilat tahari; mahin nastaran; Parviz Ejlali
Abstract
Highlights
Organizing influential factors in realizing the diversity-oriented approach in the form of causal, contextual, intervening, and consequential categories and strategies.
Classification of influential factors in realizing the diversity-oriented approach in intellectual, political, instrumental, ...
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Highlights
Organizing influential factors in realizing the diversity-oriented approach in the form of causal, contextual, intervening, and consequential categories and strategies.
Classification of influential factors in realizing the diversity-oriented approach in intellectual, political, instrumental, organizational, legal, financial, educational, and social-cultural infrastructures.
Introducing grounded theory as a suitable method to understand all the influential factors in realizing the diversity-oriented approach in Rasht.
Introduction
As an Iranian city, Rasht is made up of diverse people of different ages, sexes, physical abilities, and ethnic backgrounds. Many of the world’s urban planning mechanisms have shifted to adopt diversity-oriented approaches and incorporate diversity and difference into urban planning processes by embracing the diversity of urban residents. However, the urban planning mechanism in Iran and the city of Rasht still treats citizens as the same thanks to modernist thoughts, disregarding the differences in age, sex, ethnicity, religion, and physical ability and, consequently, the differences in the citizens’ needs in the city. Planning theory and practice has recently become more conscious of the need to cater to diverse needs and preferences. Planning for diversity and difference is a social interpretation of planning for cities and an approach that considers the needs of different groups of people. This study aimed to identify the factors affecting the realization of diversity-oriented urban planning in Rasht based on the viewpoints of planning experts in the city.
Theoretical Framework
Diversity refers to the increasingly wide range of social and demographic backgrounds of people who live and work in the city. The notion of diversity is now used as a label for policies addressing the heterogeneity of local populations. Certain differences give rise to discrimination and disadvantage, while others do not. Gender, race, disability, and age are critical issues at the root of much discrimination in the society. The critical point is that differences between diverse social groups in enjoyment of the opportunities of urban planning measures are continually reproduced by a range of processes and policies, rendering a number of people mainstream and others marginal. Planning for diversity is a social interpretation of planning for cities, and is an approach that considers different groups of people. There are two conceptual frames, or ways of regarding this profoundly social interpretation of planning for cities, that need to be deployed simultaneously. Firstly, planning for diversity is planning for the diverse range of people who live in and use the city. Secondly, planning the institutional settings to encourage equality of access across places is planning to reduce difference.
Methodology
One of the most efficient qualitative research methods, the grounded theory method was used to help achieve the research purpose; since the research problem is multifaceted, complex, and procedural, grounded theory can be an excellent way to provide an understanding of all the adequate conditions and factors. A semi-structured questionnaire was developed for data collection. Then, in-depth interviews were conducted with ten of the planning experts of this city. Sampling was carried out using a nonrandom sampling method called Snowball Purposive Sampling. In this research, a systematic approach known as grounded theory was applied. The systematic approach emphasizes the adoption of data analysis steps, including open coding, axial coding, selective coding, and the development of a logical model or a visual description of the generated theory. After the collection of textual interview data, analysis and coding began along with sampling. Specialized qualitative research software called Max QDA was used for that purpose. The main tasks of this software are to categorize data and connect the categories and to enable more sophisticated data analysis. In grounded theory, the researcher extracts subcategories, main categories, and core categories from the data, and continues the analysis.
Results and Discussion
Finally, the factors effective on the realization of the diversity-oriented urban planning approach were identified, including 17 main categories and 59 subcategories and the relationships between them. These factors include 1) reflection to govern the urban planning mechanism, 2) significant urban planning policies, 3) improvement of the approach applied to develop urban development plans, 4) modification of the contents of urban development plans, 5) public demand, 6) types of urban planning system, 7) national laws protecting the rights of various social groups, 8) law enforcement, 9) citizens’ cultural and social characteristics, 10) financial strength of municipalities, 11) organizational structure of the authority implementing the plans, 12) inter-organizational coordination, 13) education of urban planning students, 14) the knowledge and experience of the producers of urban development plans, 15) city council approvals, 16) needs assessment, 17) improvement of the quality of the urban environment/diversity-oriented urban environment. In the next step, we selected the category of applying and realizing the diversity-oriented approach from the open coding stage, placed it at the center of the process studied as the central phenomenon, and then related the other categories to it. These categories include causal conditions, strategies, contextual conditions, intervening conditions, and consequences. Next, a diagram called the coding pattern was drawn, which illustrates the relationships between causal conditions, strategies, contextual conditions, intervening conditions, and consequences. In the following step, we developed a theory of the relationships between categories in the axial coding pattern. This theory provides an abstract description of the process examined in this study, namely the application and realization of the diversity-oriented urban planning approach.
Conclusion
The results demonstrate that a wide range of intellectual, procedural, instrumental, organizational, legal, financial, educational, and socio-cultural infrastructures effectively realize this approach. Identification and explanation of these factors can guide the future decisions and practices of Iran’s urban planning authorities to help recognize diverse social groups, respond to their different needs in the city, and address discrimination in urban planning practices.
Acknowledgment
This article has been extracted from the first author’s doctoral dissertation, entitled Developing a Conceptual Model of the Diversity-Oriented Urban Planning Approach: Case study of Rasht, defended at the Art University of Isfahan under the supervision of the second and third authors.
maryam farash khiabani; parvin partovi
Abstract
Highlights:Ethnography and Grounded theory methods each have weaknesses for urban studies.Hybridizing Ethnography and Grounded theory methods can cover inefficiencies of both methods.Grounded theory ethnography can take advantages of two methods to increase the quality of urban studies researches. IntroductionIn ...
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Highlights:Ethnography and Grounded theory methods each have weaknesses for urban studies.Hybridizing Ethnography and Grounded theory methods can cover inefficiencies of both methods.Grounded theory ethnography can take advantages of two methods to increase the quality of urban studies researches. IntroductionIn research conducted on the city and issues related to space and place in urban planning, it can be helpful to use both ethnography and grounded theory methods depending on the researcher’s purpose. However, the weaknesses of each of these methods lead to a number of gaps. The method of ethnography is highly useful for in-depth research and understanding of culture, but it suffers from the lack of a coherent analysis stage, and does not necessarily lead the researcher to the appropriate theory. Meanwhile, its open-ended nature fails to meet urban researchers’ expected outputs. On the other hand, one of the most important factors that justify the method of grounded theory is the lack of theories appropriate to the context under study. This method offers a coherent, systematic analysis, and the clear output is to arrive at the theory. The sociological origins of its proponents suggest that in the frequent applications of this method in academic research, individuals and the relevant social and psychological issues have often mattered rather than spaces. Moreover, the extensive use of the current systematic version has increased the possibility of converting the method to a mechanical one and reduced its depth. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to adopt a method involving a combination of the above two (ethnography and grounded theory) so that they can fill each other’s gaps and provide a suitable, efficient framework for conducting studies in the field of urban studies. Theoretical FrameworkAmong all methods of qualitative studies, ethnography is one that reveals many details (Stevenson, 2003). The term ethnography is rooted in cultural anthropology. Ethno- means people or ethnicity, and -graphy means to describe something. The American anthropologist Clifford Geertz believes that a very important part of ethnography is a complete, accurate description (Neuman, 2015, Volume II: 278-279). Ethnography facilitates broader research on individuals in different communities, both at the city or a smaller scale. As a qualitative research method, it considers the story told by the participants (Pardo & Prato, 2018: 389). Ethnographic research ends in a summary of how a group functions in everyday life, and the reader thus gains an understanding of a group with which he/she is unfamiliar (Creswell & Poth, 2018: 271). Grounded theory, on the other hand, was developed in 1967 by two sociologists, Barney Glaser and Anselm Strauss. As a low-level or middle-range theory, it emerges from a particular position, and is a competitor for grand theories (Glaser & Strauss, 1967: 34-35). Moreover, it is a tool that can prepare the researcher in the field of urban studies to develop relevant theories (Allen & Davey, 2017: 1). MethodologyScholars such as Kathy Charmaz welcome entry into a methodological conflict and call other researchers to the field (Charmaz, 2006). The purpose of this research is to design a hybrid of the two methods of ethnography and grounded theory to help to fill their gaps as a suitable, efficient tool for conducting research in the field of urban studies. This has been carried out through a systematic review of each of the two approaches and study of the methods of their combination. Finally, the grounded theory ethnography has been tested on a sample café in the center of Tehran. Results and DiscussionIn this research, various combinations of ethnography and grounded theory have been studied and classified into three categories. The first involves studies that consider one of these two methods as a subset of the other or as superior to and more complete than the other. The second group emphasizes the importance of ethnography and achievement of the constructivist grounded theory, where Kathy Charmaz is the leading figure. The third category emphasizes the simultaneous use and combination of the two methods, where ethnography is used for data collection, and grounded theory is used for analysis. In this study, a combination of the second and third approaches has been adopted. Grounded theory ethnography can be defined as a method that utilizes both approaches, and proceeds with the stages of cognition and analysis simultaneously according to both methods. The final product is a theory derived from the constructivist approach and supported by ethnographic cotextuality. The method consists of four steps: 1. initiation of the fieldwork, 2. data collection (involving observation, interview, photography, sketching, and maps), 3. analysis (involving coding and memo writing), and 4. achievement of the theory and documentation. ConclusionThis study has demonstrated that grounded theory ethnography is a method that can cover the drawbacks of both methods of ethnography and grounded theory, and can be used in conditions where both methods are required. This is the case where the issue of understanding the culture of the examined context is one of the researcher’s main concerns. Moreover, there has been no specific theory to introduce the phenomenon under study, turning it into an important aim of the research to achieve such a theory. The above hybrid approach is highly applicable particularly in the field of urban studies because of the efficiency of investigation of the city and urban space in ethnography due to the emphasis on entry into the field of research and the relevant strategies and on the observation involved in the method. However, the method suffers drawbacks including the lack of a clear analytical stage and open-endedness, which can be covered by grounded theory. Using grounded theory ethnography and going through its four stages, the researcher can conduct in-depth studies according to the cultural context of the field. AcknowledgmentThis research has been extracted from the Ph.D. thesis of Maryam Farash Khiabani, entitled Unraveling the essence of other spaces of the city of Tehran (central district) with emphasis on cultural context, defended in the Department of Urban Planning at the University of Art under the supervision of Dr. Parvin Partovi.
Urban Management
sharifeh sargolzaei; mahmoud mohamdi; Reza Mokhtari. M.A.; Gholam Reza Shiran
Abstract
HighlightsThe paper considers organizational level and managers' viewpoint in investigating technology acceptance model.This paper proposed a citizen-based conceptual model on e-government acceptance for developing countries.The results of this research explore new constructs effecting decision about ...
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HighlightsThe paper considers organizational level and managers' viewpoint in investigating technology acceptance model.This paper proposed a citizen-based conceptual model on e-government acceptance for developing countries.The results of this research explore new constructs effecting decision about technology acceptance. Introduction Following the introduction of the concept of smart city, a wide range of organizations have sought to develop the application of new technologies in urban management and planning. Numerous research projects have been conducted to identify the aspects of acceptance and application of technology. However, very few have studied technology acceptance at an organizational level. Among the research projects focused on effective factors in technology acceptance at an organizational level, very few have been concerned with the effective aspects of technology acceptance in non-governmental organizations in developing countries. Therefore, such aspects have not been identified precisely for the municipality as a non-governmental organization in Iran. This can make it difficult to apply technology in the municipality or even cause such efforts to fail. Therefore, it seems necessary to conduct a comprehensive study in the area.Theoretical FrameworkThe review of the literature reveals that technology acceptance has been proposed in various fields such as many areas of human behavior. The most important theories in the area of technology acceptance include the theory of planned behavior (Ajzen, 1991), with over 67300 citations, the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (Venkatesh et al., 2003), with over 23870 citations, the theory of reasoned action (Fishbein and Ajzen, 1975), with over 52450 citations, the diffusion of innovations theory (Rogers, 1983), with over 100700 citations, and the technology acceptance model (Davis, 1989), with over 43980 citations in Google Scholar. Each of these theories represents a number of constructs that are important in the measurement of user intention about technology acceptance.Two research categories are identified here: studies on technology acceptance at the micro level, such as those focused on private organizations, and studies on technology acceptance at the macro level, such as those concerning e-governments or public organizations. The latter group investigate citizens’ acceptance of e-governments regardless of the organizational level and managers’ viewpoints. Based on the above theories, this group of studies seek to specify e-government acceptance by modeling user behavior. This paper proposed a citizen-based conceptual model of e-government acceptance for developing countries, seeking to identify the effectiveness of constructs on technology acceptance in a public organization, namely Isfahan Municipality.MethodologyThe objective of this research was to identify the factors effective on technology acceptance in the Isfahan municipality as a non-governmental organization. Given the subject of the research and the population, the grounded theory was used, which is one of the most efficient choices in qualitative research. For this purpose, a semi-structured questionnaire was designed based on the review of the literature and used for interviewing managers and senior experts in the Isfahan municipality. The grounded theory was extracted directly from data collected systematically during the research process and analyzed. In this method, the collected and analyzed data and the final theory are closely interrelated. Moreover, the analysis involves a confrontation between the researcher’s mind and the data. The purpose of this analytical method is to organize the data in specific categories based on their characteristics and dimensions and then to describe each of the categories. The results of the interviews were recorded as textual data using the Atlas.ti software, and were analyzed using the method of finite element analysis. Coding methods were employed to identify the effective categories and dimensions and their interrelations. Results and DiscussionThe context in which a technology is to be used, including the social, cultural, and political characteristics of the society, has an important role in the extent to which the technology gains acceptance. Another effective factor is the cooperation and participation of organizations and their ways of thinking and performance in that regard. It should be noted that these dimensions have indirect as well as direct effects on decision-making for technology acceptance, applied through moderating constructs. The results of this study demonstrated that 23 categories were effective on technology acceptance in the Isfahan municipality, which could be classified further into eight major groups. These include the background, causative, technical, encouraging, deterrent, moderating, decision-making, and consequential categories.The findings also indicated that the constructs proposed in this research were significantly different from those introduced in previous research. This could be due to two fundamental differences between this study and previous ones. Firstly, the present research examined the constructs of technology acceptance at the level of the organization, which involved different dimensions from those concerning the acceptance of technology at an individual level. Secondly, there were fundamental differences between the areas in which the data were compiled in the sample tests. In other words, this research was conducted in the context of the technical, cultural, political, economic, and social infrastructures of developing countries, leading to different user attitudes and views from those concerning developed countries. ConclusionThis paper aimed to generate a conceptual model to increase urban service technology acceptance in organizations by modeling the constructs affecting managers and experts in the municipality. It clarified the relationships among these constructs. Identification of these constructs and their relationships can be useful in the attempts to correct the process of technology acceptance in organizations, especially public ones. The results of this study are particularly important to managers, urban planners, and researchers studying technology acceptance with a smart city approach. The findings can facilitate the process of developing smart cities with a focus on municipalities. Moreover, the constructs presented in this research can be tested using quantitative methods in future research projects.AcknowledgmentThis article was extracted from a PhD thesis on urban planning entitled A Novel Framework for Urban Service Technology Adoption According to the Smart City Approach: Case Study of the Urban Service Technology in the Isfahan Municipality, defended by the first author under supervision of the second and third authors in the Art University of Isfahan.
Urban Scape
Mohammad Azad Ahmadi; Mehrdad Karimimoshaver; Saeid Alitajer
Abstract
Highlights The quality of urban views leaves desirable or undesirable emotional responses on people. City is a homogeneous or heterogeneous network of diversity of urban views to upgrade or diminish citizen's emotions. Introduction The appearance of a city can influence the creation of good or ...
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Highlights The quality of urban views leaves desirable or undesirable emotional responses on people. City is a homogeneous or heterogeneous network of diversity of urban views to upgrade or diminish citizen's emotions. Introduction The appearance of a city can influence the creation of good or bad feelings to a large extent, depending on the structure and characteristics of the physical elements of the city. Citizens remember a city with an image of its urban spaces, especially the streets and squares, or of certain views, and it is their experience of the city’s physical environment that creates the image. On that basis, visual perception of the physical spaces of the city has a greater effect than other senses on the creation of different emotions in citizens. Appropriate urban views can play an effective role in the formation of clear, legible perceptions in people and in the acquisition of pleasant feelings about the city. Moreover, different perspectives can have different visual effects on the citizens of a city. A large number of studies have been carried out so far on various aspects of urban view. The present research analyzed urban views and their visual impacts on citizens, and sought to identify them along with methods of their categorization and explanation and conditions and factors that create and influence them. Urban views can have two major impacts on citizens in the form of likes and positive emotions or dislikes and negative emotions. Accordingly, attempts were made in this study to categorize the effects of urban views in general, which helped to draw the final conclusion. Theoretical framework Data collection and analysis was based in this study on an interpretive paradigm within a contextual examination of popular feedback from urban perspectives and expert views thereon. Hence, the main framework of this research was based on Jack Nasar’s definition of mental activity and emotion. He argues that the environment involves a large number of variables, and viewers go through some, pay attention to others, and evaluate what they see depending on internal and environmental factors. This assessment can include variable amounts of mental activity, and may also involve emotion, which is directly related to the structure of the form (visual environment), and requires little perception and mental activity. Methodology Due to the nature of this research, the main approach adopted in the design was a qualitative one using the grounded theory method, based on Corbin and Strauss’ approach, including open coding, axial coding, and selective coding data analysis. Other important reasons besides the comprehensive nature of the research included the nature of the research questions and the lack of an established theory on classification of urban views. Attempts were made here to step into the participants’ world and observe the subject from their point of view, to achieve new discoveries in the field, and to develop empirical knowledge in the field. The researcher first selected the sources of information and observation, and then used data from the participants for exploration and completion of the final model. The data were collected through library and field studies, interviews, and semi-structured questionnaires. The population and the participants were selected using theoretical sampling, where sampling continues until the data are saturated. The participants in this research included residents of and experts in Sanandaj. Results and discussion The results of the research showed the selective categories of observation effects and emotional responses including excitement, relaxation, pleasantness, and communication. Moreover, the causal conditions that create urban views, the contextual conditions, and the intervening conditions and their effects were obtained. The relationship between these categories and the outcome of the research was formulated and presented in a comprehensive model. The final core category was also summarized in the statement The city is a homogeneous or heterogeneous network of diverse urban views developed to upgrade or diminish citizens’ emotions. Conclusion The study demonstrated that a large number of factors are involved in identification and analysis of an urban view, in isolation and with respect to each other. Therefore, an urban view is highly complex, and is not easy to compare to another, with many factors involved to be examined and analyzed. It is better for the effects of different views on a city to be proportionate, so that their effects on citizens are desirable and balanced in the long run. For example, axial views may evoke a sense of dynamism or boredom in citizens, but broad or panoramic views may be exhilarating. According to the principle of diversity and complexity in aesthetics, these effects had better be combined, intertwined, and coexistent in a balanced manner for citizens’ different applications in response to their different emotional and spiritual states.
Urban Design
Mehrdad Karimimoshaver; hasan sajjadzadeh; hossein troosheh
Abstract
This study addressed the relationship between high-rise buildings (as part of the urban environment) and mental health (one of the three major aspects of health: physical, psychological, and social), investigating citizens’ points of view on the high-rise Saeedieh Condominium in Hamadan, Iran. ...
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This study addressed the relationship between high-rise buildings (as part of the urban environment) and mental health (one of the three major aspects of health: physical, psychological, and social), investigating citizens’ points of view on the high-rise Saeedieh Condominium in Hamadan, Iran. The research sought to capture the influence mechanism and to help reinforce the insight of designers of such buildings into and their concern for features of the built environment from citizens’ perspective that can inadvertently affect their mental health. In recent decades, construction of high-rise buildings has been appealed to widely as a method of construction, replacing the horizontal growth of cities. However, it seems that vertical urbanism has paid little attention to citizens’ psychological aspects in urban spaces. Height is an intrinsic part of high-rise buildings and their most important formal feature, with a significant impact on citizens and their eventual perceptions and emotions, which makes it significant to scrutinize its influence. One of the most important issues is the impact of high-rise buildings on citizens’ mental health. Mental stresses constantly threaten human mental health, in part due to inappropriate urban environments and residences. This increases the significance of examining the urban environment to reduce the existing stresses. The purpose of this paper was to present better ways of designing high-rise buildings considering their impact on citizens’ mental health as well as to identify how the influence works. Therefore, the main questions of the study are as follows. What relationship is there between high-rise buildings and citizens’ mental health? How can height affect citizens’ mental health? In the present study, a qualitative approach was taken using the method of Grounded Theory. After in-depth interviews made in person with citizens, the transcripts were summarized and encoded in the three open, axial, and selective stages, and the grounded model was finally extracted by the MAXQDA data analysis software. The participants in the interviews included 24 citizens, 13 men and 11 women aged 17-65 years. Theoretical consecutive purposive sampling was used, where sampling would continue until adequacy (saturation) was achieved for theorization. It should be noted that saturation was achieved as felt by the researcher with comments from 8 men and 8 women—a total of 16 participants—, but the interviews continued, amounting to 24 with 8 additional ones, which served to ensure the achievement of saturation (although no changes were made in the eventual data). The findings demonstrated that high-rise buildings cause mental pressure in citizens due to issues such as improper enclosure, physical-visual consequences, sub-climate generation, landscape restrictions, social difficulties, overlook, urban area heterogeneity, and negative environmental effects and citizens’ long-term involvement in emotional reactions resulting from the mental pressure affects their mental health. With a frequency of 73, the issue of improper enclosure was found to be the most popular among citizens in the set of situational issues, playing a major role in the emergence of the interactive issues and the consequential ones as a result. It was followed by the issues sub-climate generation (with a frequency of 57), physical-visual consequences (with a frequency of 55), landscape restrictions (with a frequency of 30), urban area heterogeneity (with a frequency of 25), overlook (with a frequency of 22), and social difficulties (with a frequency of 12), in that order.
Urban Ecology
h d
Volume 6, Issue 23 , August 2017, , Pages 3-16
Abstract
According to Tehran environmental prospect document, Tehran 1404, by 1404 Tehran will be a clean, green city in compliance with latest standards of global cities. Based on this document, in the light of divine elevated instructions, by then, citizens of Tehran will have institutionalized environmental ...
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According to Tehran environmental prospect document, Tehran 1404, by 1404 Tehran will be a clean, green city in compliance with latest standards of global cities. Based on this document, in the light of divine elevated instructions, by then, citizens of Tehran will have institutionalized environmental ethics and demand for preservation of unique natural resources. But, in the literature of sustainable cities, to have a green city as desirable as future Tehran necessitates that urban management organize responsible treatment of nature by providing physical, technological, institutional and legal infrastructure and, accordingly, lead individuals to treat nature ethically based on policies of sustainable urban development. Therefore, ethical treatment of nature is defined as obeying rules and norms that control methods of distributing and possessing natural resources. In such a case, people are regarded as law-abiding and hence respectful of ethics.
Although there is a law for protecting and expanding green space in cities which is guaranteed by all powers (judiciary, executive and legislative) as well as urban management, as the administrator within their duties and authorities, gardens are still being damaged in Tehran. It is theoretically assumed that friendly behavior of citizens with nature can be guaranteed by changing environmental governance through institutional, policy and lawful mechanisms. This study, which is ontologically based on the interpretivist paradigm, conducts deep interviews with key informants using theoretical sampling method to define the process and elements that damage gardens in Tehran within the framework of grounded theory.
The results indicate that ignoring the role of environmental laws in society and lack of credit for the law of preservation and expansion of urban green space as social norms convince individuals that the society recognizes breach of environmental laws and destruction of environment to obtain profit. The crisis of environmental ethics as an internal agent also facilitates destruction of gardens. In other words, it makes people ignore their conscience while destroying gardens and avoid feeling ethical commitment to preserve gardens.
But individuals’ strength of will to destroy gardens in order to gain profit, in spite of the law of preserving and expanding urban green space, is affected by consequences, costs and benefits they expect from destroying gardens. Regarding the lack of decisive judiciary and disciplinary institutions to stop destruction of gardens, individuals dare to destroy gardens by exerting deception, force and influence and disobeying the law of preserving and expanding green space. They expect to gain profit because urban management lacks sufficient competence and prefers urban management over the law of green space. Absence of supervision and sensitivity for executing the law of green space as well as the dependence of urban economy on profit aggravate this issue. Even if judiciary and disciplinary institutions are decisive in punishing disobedience to the law of green space and prohibition of destruction of gardens, the profit gained from destroying gardens will exceed the costs for preserving them; this is because of the confusion in related laws. Therefore, one would have a positive attitude towards profit gain as the main reason for destroying gardens.
In view of the above, it seems that treatment of environment is affected by internal and external factors. Ethical treatment of environment cannot be defined as obeying rules and norms that control methods of distributing and possessing natural resources in society. Ethical treatment of environment is rather a persuasive issue that is not confined to any place and time and is achieved by dignity of ego, but accomplishing it through legal principles and rules will not be feasible and desirable due to its restrictions in comparison with ethics.
Urban Ecology
Volume 1, Issue 3 , August 2012, , Pages 24-33
Abstract
Tehran has various environmental problems, which environmental pollution is one of the most important ones. There are numerous organizations responsible for the urban environment management and lack of coordinating and the discord among them is of the reasons for the emergence of the environmental problems ...
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Tehran has various environmental problems, which environmental pollution is one of the most important ones. There are numerous organizations responsible for the urban environment management and lack of coordinating and the discord among them is of the reasons for the emergence of the environmental problems of Tehran. In the present research, besides investigating the feasibility of giving urban environmental management to the municipality, It is tried some methods be presented for the integrated and unity of the urban environmental management. On this base with the use of grounded theory methodology, through the study of documents and interviews with authorities and experts in this affair, the Tehran environmental management issue has been discussed in the pattern of five management duties, including planning, organizing, leadership, control, and supplying of resources and the conditions, strategies, and resultant consequences of revealed phenomenon were presented in the pattern of a paradigmatic model. In this methodology, sampling was done in subjective and snowball manner, and coding method was used for analyzing results obtained. Our results showed that there is no possibility for comprehensive and complete assigning environment management to municipality. However, on the other hand, the abovementioned management duties can be assigned to municipality in a relative manner, and environmental management can be done in integrated cooperation with other related organizations. Moreover, it requires some capacities be made in three structural, lawful, and cultural scopes in municipality organization in order to make municipality able in doing assigned duties.
