Urban Tourism
Mohammad Bagher Nadi; reza akbari; Mohsen Rafian
Abstract
Highlights
- Citizens, tourists, students, investors, and urban management as important beneficiaries of urban branding.
- Importance of establishing a destination management organization in Iran.
- Importance of creating an urban brand for the competitive advantage of the city.
- Identification ...
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Highlights
- Citizens, tourists, students, investors, and urban management as important beneficiaries of urban branding.
- Importance of establishing a destination management organization in Iran.
- Importance of creating an urban brand for the competitive advantage of the city.
- Identification of the various labels given to Yazd with respect to heritage and history, religion and spirituality, industry and production, and the environment.
Introduction
The choice of cities for life, tourism, education, and investment depends on their perceived images, and the process of creating a positive image of a city is called urban branding. Urban branding is one of the most important factors in the development of the tourism industry. In Iran, this issue has received less attention despite the high potentials of many cities for branding (Dinnie, 2013, p. 16). Therefore, the purpose of this article was to examine the various aspects of this issue in order to provide a model to facilitate urban branding in the development of tourism.
Theoretical Framework
A brand is a concept designed to develop a product (Chan et al., 2021, p. 331), and involves two definition categories. In the first category, a brand is defined as a set of related assets and liabilities and a brand name (Gómez et al., 2018, p. 191). In the second category, it is defined as a collection of perceptions that are there in people’s minds (Hildreth, 2012, p. 4). The brand of a city, like that of a product, is an external signal that evokes emotions, increases awareness, and influences behaviors (Gómez et al., 2018, p. 191), but it may be more complex because of ownership, stakeholder participation, and brand development (Herget et al., 2015, p. 120; Yang et al., 2018, p. 1).
Methodology
Since official branding plans are not very common in Iran, and no official branding plan was developed in the city of Yazd, a qualitative method has been used in the present study along with the grounded theory. For this purpose, the first group was selected for in-depth semi-structured interviews, which included professionals in urban management, tourism, and academics, based on criteria such as familiarity with the concepts of branding and tourism and with the city of Yazd and availability and preparedness for cooperation. The next groups were introduced for interview by the same group. Sampling continued until no more new idea was created, and the research achieved theoretical saturation and adequacy. It should be noted that the twelfth sample achieved partial saturation, but the research process continued until the fourteenth.
Result and Discussion
Many studies concerning urban branding and tourism indicate that urban branding has a positive effect on tourism prosperity–including (Feyzi et al., 2020; Herget et al., 2015; Jojic, 2018; Mousavi et al., 2017; Shutaieva et al., 2020). The present research was conducted to facilitate branding in Yazd based on the results of these studies and in line with some others–including (Ghanbari et al., 2021; Hankinson, 2007; Menvariyan et al., 2013; Mohammadifar, 2018; Setiadi et al., 2021)which have sought to provide strategies and present a model for further prosperity of tourism through creation or enhancement of branding. Thus, it can be effective in the creation or enhancement of urban branding and monitoring of its proper implementation besides formation of a special working group on branding or establishment of a destination management organization to adopt strategies such as attracting the participation of public institutions in development and implementation of branding plans, training managers and employees to better implement branding projects, holding international celebrations and events for brand development, and developing the tourism infrastructure. This will also have positive consequences from various economic, social, environmental, physical, and urban management aspects.
Conclusion
- The five groups of citizens, tourists, students, investors, and urban management are the stakeholders who benefit in the short term and in the long term from urban branding if the city is properly branded. Therefore, different cities in the world need to adopt appropriate branding and competition strategies to attract the above stakeholders for life, tourism, education, and investment.
- Despite their high potentials for branding, many cities in Iran do not have urban branding administrators, and the tourism sector is even spread in organizations such as municipalities, directorates for cultural heritage, and chambers of commerce. A destination management organization must be established to enhance integrated urban management, and its branches in different cities must undertake to create or enhance an urban brand and monitor its continuity.
- In urban branding, it is important to consider the distinctive, competitive identity of the city, so it is necessary to manage several brands that are sometimes developed unofficially and unilaterally in different cities (as in Yazd), as brand confusion in cities indicates a lack of coordination between different organizations, and creates challenges that outweigh its benefits.
Urban Design
Mahdi Montazerolhodjah; B N; mojtaba sharifnejad; Z F
Abstract
Rapid sprawl of urban areas in Iranian cities in the last few decades was the result of two population growth factors: (1) natural increase in population, and (2) migration to urban areas. These conditions are aggravated during times of transition from a pre-industrial society to an industrial one. This ...
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Rapid sprawl of urban areas in Iranian cities in the last few decades was the result of two population growth factors: (1) natural increase in population, and (2) migration to urban areas. These conditions are aggravated during times of transition from a pre-industrial society to an industrial one. This trend has led to a shortfall in many sectors, primarily housing. One of the innovative schemes in response to this problem in many cities like Yazd, which has received wide acknowledgement, has been “sites-and-services” scheme. In a sites-and-services scheme, the preparation of land and procurement of infrastructure and services are the responsibility of the project authorities. Depending on the investment made, resources available, the implementing agency or degree of organization of the beneficiaries, sites-and-services schemes were activated in a number of differing ways in Yazd. These types of schemes provide only what the households cannot easily get or afford themselves: a plot of land with basic, essential utilities (clean water, sanitation, flood protection, security lighting, etc.) and municipal services (waste collection, schools, etc.). Sites-and-services projects have formed the main pattern of urban development during the past decades in Yazd. However, many of these projects have had a planning oriented process, have just focused on land use planning, population density and transportation and have ignored the environmental qualities. These condition has created urban textures with very poor quality, image and townscape. Although there are references to the aesthetic aspect and its role in urban contexts in some of these layouts, what is witnessed in reality is discrepancies between buildings and spaces and, therefore, their lack of visual appeal. Meanwhile, the visual environment in urban contexts is composed of a sophisticated structure of physical and non-physical elements; it is the cognitive joint between humans and their environments; it can facilitate people’s perception and evaluation of their living context and boost their environmental comprehensibility. The objective of this research is to assess the physical indicators affecting the aesthetic component in contemporary urban developments formed as a result of site and services projects during the past four decades in different regions of Yazd. The related literature was reviewed to collect information and determine the study criteria regarding the physical indicators of aesthetic component in urban areas. The results from the literature review and observation survey served very well in codifying the variables and attributes for developing the questionnaire to examine the resident’s perception of the aesthetic components in their neighborhoods. The questionnaire survey was done in 3 selected regions (region 10 in Imamshahr, 92 hectare project in Azadshahr and 93 hectare Kowsar project in Safayeh) that have been formed in difference times. A sample of 100 participants was selected randomly from residents in each region. Pearson correlation and regression analyses were performed. According to this study, the effect of any physical indicator is different from a region to another. Nevertheless, the width of the road and façade continuity has been mentioned in all the three studied regions. After that, visual balance and architectural style have an important role in the aesthetic component. The findings may also be used to improve the site and services scheme strategies and design guidelines regarding future urban development in Yazd and other cities in Iran.
Urban Design
mitra beyzaie; amin shakiba; mohammad reza noghsan mohammadi
Abstract
The developments in recent decades, along with inattention to the features of a desired and efficient neighborhood in each district as well as a disregard for the views and demands of residents of such environments have caused various problems in neighborhood centers.The main objective of the present ...
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The developments in recent decades, along with inattention to the features of a desired and efficient neighborhood in each district as well as a disregard for the views and demands of residents of such environments have caused various problems in neighborhood centers.The main objective of the present research is to identify the problems with Yaghoubi and Posht Silo neighborhood centers in the historical and new texture of Yazd, respectively. The research analyzes these neighborhoods using the FMEA technique, which is mainly used to achieve the ideal level of quality.It is possible to identify and solve the problems of urban environments in a methodical and efficient way by using this technique and calibrating it with concepts in the field of urbanization.This research is an applied study which uses descriptive method and library documentation to describe its theoretical foundations. The second part of the study is related to the two neighborhood centers in Yazd. In this part, the FMEA technique is emphasized through descriptive-analytic method using field studies and surveys, interviews and questionnaires. The most significant result of the research is that for comparing the two neighborhood centers, which is obtained using the FMEA technique. While having some shortcomings in terms of the needs and conditions of its present time, the Yaghoubi neighborhood is much better than Silo due to pedestrianization and the placement of space at the level of human perception, its commercial usages, as well as the favorable combination of provocative functions of the residents.Drawing from the analytical results and prioritization issues, some strategies are recommended for improving the situation in the two neighborhood. Finally, the study summarizes the ideas taken from the Yaghoubi neighborhood center to improve the quality of the Posht Silo neighborhood center in accordance with the conditions of new urban textures. These ideas include:- Determining the space and scale of space at the level of human perception;- Relaxing the space by reducing the presence of drivers and assigning the neighborhood center to pedestrians;- Bringing together user-friendly applications for local residents for permanent presence;- Collecting users who are believed to be very important among people in Yazd and who are complementary to each other and have multilateral interactions;- Providing climatic comfort in space, considering the important points in designing according to the warm and dry climate of Yazd;- Handling the richness of visual sense in space due to the physical design of native architecture;- Handling enough enclosure and permeability for a favorable local environment;- Performing the promotion of native identity by utilizing the components of visual consistency while constructing complexes;- Handling the gathering and presence of more people by opening up space at the center of activities;- Handling security at all points using space resolution.Regarding the above ideas, it may be stated that, despite their formation in earlier times, neighborhood centers in the historical textures analyzed, Yaghoubi neighborhood center being a representative of them, are successful local spaces that fulfill “space expectations” in urban design knowledge and provide the user with a desirable space to adapt to the features required to form an ideal neighborhood center.
