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 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 Economy
mehdi Mododi Arkhudi; sajad ferdowsi
Abstract
Planning for development of tourism always requires concern for supply and demand. At the same time, tourism marketing relies particularly on knowledge of the characteristics of supply and demand. The significance of the present study could be explained by the issue of the changing world and its effects ...
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Planning for development of tourism always requires concern for supply and demand. At the same time, tourism marketing relies particularly on knowledge of the characteristics of supply and demand. The significance of the present study could be explained by the issue of the changing world and its effects on tourism, where important changes have long been observed in tourism form the aspects of supply and demand, which accounts for the need to review the parallel management and marketing practices. Unlike studies that have been conducted so far, this research considered the results of the developments made in capitalism to assess the supply and demand behavior in tourism. This provided a useful theoretical framework for establishment of marketing activities for tourism development. For that purpose, the supply and demand behavior patterns in tourism were assessed based on the changes made in capitalism in the city of Karaj, Iran and the surrounding villages. The tourism demand dimension was defined using three components: planning, products, and characteristics. The dimension of tourism supply was defined as a combination of four economic components: planning, products, structure, and function. In addition, criteria were considered for each of the components of tourism supply and demand. The population of this quantitative research included experts in the field, also including the local community, who were surveyed as two categories: that of residents of Karaj and surrounding villages, as travel demanders, and that of travel companies in Karaj, as travel suppliers. The experts were sampled using the targeted and convenience sampling methods, the residents were sampled using the simple random sampling method, and the travel companies were sampled using the complete enumeration method. The findings of the study were presented in two broad phases. In the first phase, the method of analytic hierarchy process was used to specify the importance and priority of the factors based on the expert opinions. In the second phase, the scale of measurement and the formulation of the items were introduced for assessment of the criteria identified in tourism destinations, and two proposed maps were then used for description and analysis of the coefficients obtained from the assessment of the criteria. The results demonstrated that the behavior patterns of travel demanders were different from the residents of Karaj to those of the surrounding villages. Accordingly, the behavior of the latter group of residents was inclined to the characteristics of Fordism- post-Fordism tourism, with a weighted mean of 0.521, while the behavior pattern of the residents of Karaj exhibited inclination to the characteristics of post-Fordism tourism, with a weighted mean of 0.711. On the other hand, the behavior pattern of travel companies in Karaj was inclined to the characteristics of post-Fordism tourism, with a weighted mean of 0.751. Overall, the behavior pattern of tourism supply and demand in Karaj was assessed as post-Fordism. According to the above findings, marketing activities can be more effective, and tourism development planning can be directed as desired through identification and analysis of the characteristics of tourism supply and demand in the study areas.
Urban Transport
masoud kadkhodaei; rouzbeh shad
Abstract
With the ever-increasing production of private cars, there has been far heavier traffic flowing through the streets of large cities, causing problems such as increased air pollution and increased travel time and latency in urban trips. Congestion pricing provides a way of managing traffic congestion ...
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With the ever-increasing production of private cars, there has been far heavier traffic flowing through the streets of large cities, causing problems such as increased air pollution and increased travel time and latency in urban trips. Congestion pricing provides a way of managing traffic congestion and the consequent problems in large cities. In the implementation of the congestion pricing policy in large cities, it is of great significance how toll rate varies by time, affecting the efficiency of the plan and citizens’ tendency to use private cars. Therefore, adoption of the most appropriate method of scheduling in congestion pricing plans requires a precise analysis of different scheduling methods and their evaluation given the traffic and social characteristics of the city. Due to the presence of tourists in large tourist destinations, there are larger numbers of trips taken for entertainment and shopping purposes than in other cities. Furthermore, many drivers are not familiar with the directions, which makes urban travel patterns different in such cities, making it more important to adopt the appropriate congestion pricing plan scheduling. In this research, three methods, including fixed tolls, scheduled tolls, and smart tolls, were adopted for scheduling congestion pricing plans in large tourist destinations and ranked using the Analytic Network Process (ANP) method, where decision elements, including evaluation criteria and options, are weighted using pairwise comparison as well as their interdependence In the pairwise comparisons, the importance of or preference for each decision element is determined by experts opinions. Each option is scored with respect to each criterion through multiplication of the option weight by the criterion value, and the final score of the option is obtained through calculation of the sum of the above scores, on which basis the evaluation options are ranked. Since the final weights thus obtained by the ANP method are not normal, more accurate comparison could be made after their normalization. Based on the results, the method of scheduled tolls for congestion pricing plans were ranked first with a normalized weight of 0.49, and the methods of fixed tolls and smart tolls were ranked second and third with normalized weights of 0.26 and 0.25, respectively. The most effective indicators in the assessment included reduction of travel time, increase in the use of public transportation, reduction of the number of drivers traveling alone, increase in operating speed, and reduction of accidents with pedestrians, motorcyclists, and cyclists, in that order. Use of the results of this research in urban management policy-making will optimize congestion pricing policies adopted in large tourist destinations such as the city of Mashhad, Iran and increase their effectiveness in reduction of traffic congestion and the consequent problems.
Regional Planning
nemat shakarami
Abstract
Globalization has basically transformed the world into a competitive market in which most companies seek to choose the appropriate economic policies and identify effective strategies to meet the emerging competitive environment, and the new challenges posed in this global competitive environment. In ...
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Globalization has basically transformed the world into a competitive market in which most companies seek to choose the appropriate economic policies and identify effective strategies to meet the emerging competitive environment, and the new challenges posed in this global competitive environment. In fact, today, tourism has become one of the most important competitive bases and competitive areas in the world in a way that each country and city is seeking a better position in this profitable and competitive area. Currently, most planners are seeking to use appropriate methods and strategies for long-term successful planning in this field, so that they can increase their success rate in tourist attraction due to the relative importance of human affairs. In the meantime, strategic planning is one of the most appropriate scientific methods for determining the weaknesses and strengths of the environment, identifying the most important sources of each region, as well as determining the most important macro-factors affecting the region. Indeed, in this type of planning, we can determine a specific program in the scientific framework for tourism in Kurdistan by identifying the set of factors mentioned above. Therefore, in the present study, we seek to achieve the following goals using the Meta-SWOT technique: identifying the most important tourism opportunities in Kurdistan, the major factors affecting tourism in Kurdistan, and the competition situation of the province with neighboring provinces until 2025. In order to achieve these goals, the required data was collected by experts from the Kurdistan Tourism Development Document. The sample includes 25 experts and researchers related to the research topic. In addition to Kurdistan province, the selected sample includes the neighboring and rival provinces. Research findings were analyzed in two steps. In the first step, tourism competition map of Kurdistan with neighboring provinces was drawn. In the second step, the tourism proportion strategic map of Kurdistan was presented considering the resources and capabilities of the province as well as the major factors affecting tourism in Kurdistan. The results of this research, drawn from the competitive map, indicate that the status of tourism in Kurdistan will be in a competitive position compared to its rivals, namely Kermanshah, Hamedan, and Azerbaijan provinces in terms of attracting foreign tourists in the target year. In order to achieve this goal in the vision document, resources and capabilities that were identified by experts to have the highest scores should be strengthened and considered as strong and forward-looking strategies. In the strategic proportion map, the results show that ecotourism and border markets have the highest level of strategic alignment with environmental factors, and, in the regional competitiveness debate, they are the most important potential of Kurdistan for taking up tourism market in the region. Also, the historical record of the province and the existence of suitable infrastructure for tourism have the highest level of strategic alignment with the goals set out in the Tourism Document of Kurdistan. Also, the most important factors affecting the development of Kurdistan tourism are the country’s macro-management, international sanctions and foreign policy of the state. Therefore, political stability in the country will improve the situation of Kurdistan in attracting foreign tourists.
Urban Planning
Fateh Habibi
Volume 5, Issue 18 , May 2016, , Pages 37-50
Abstract
In the twenty-first century, technological progress has given people more free time and wealth to spend on their leisure activities. In fact, the second half of the twentieth century should be called the era of the tourism industry. Nowadays, there is an intense competition between different countries ...
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In the twenty-first century, technological progress has given people more free time and wealth to spend on their leisure activities. In fact, the second half of the twentieth century should be called the era of the tourism industry. Nowadays, there is an intense competition between different countries to attract tourists. Furthermore, as a dynamic industry having unique features, tourism now accounts for a significant part of the economic and manufacturing activities of developed and developing countries. International tourism has developed rapidly in the last two decades and today tourism is one of the world’s largest and fastest-growing industries. The tourism industry has become a major economic sector that generates foreign exchange earnings in most countries. The number of international tourists in the world will increase to 1602 million by 2020, while revenues from tourism will reach approximately US$200 billion. The world travel and tourism council (WTTC) expects travel and tourism to continue to be one of the world’s largest industries. In 2015, the tourism industry contributed to 9.8 % of global GDP and accounted for 279 million jobs. Over the next ten years (by 2025), it is anticipated that this industry will account for 10.5% of the global GDP and 356 million jobs worldwide. Attracting tourists is one of the pillars of the tourism industry along with the elements necessary for the host society to provide the right conditions for attracting tourists. The behavior and attitude of the host society as revealed in its interaction with tourists are essential to the growth of tourism. As a business and service activity, tourism plays an important role in the economic development of a city. In terms of tourism destinations, investigating the tourism industry is important because it informs planners and policy makers about tourism destinations and their features. In this way, the management of tourism destinations will be able to equip the target market according to tourists’ needs. Due to the increasing arrivals of domestic and foreign tourists to Marivan, the main objective of this study is to evaluate the role of social capital of local residents in their tendency toward welcoming tourists. Over 90% of respondents had moderate to high tendency toward accepting tourists. An analytical-descriptive methodology has been applied in this study. The questionnaire contains 23 items on a 5-point Likert scale. 280 questionnaires were distributed among tourists in Marivan in 2015, from which 254 questionnaires were collected and analyzed. Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was used to ensure the reliability of the research tool. The questionnaire showed a very good reliability of 0.78 percent. Descriptive (frequency, percentage, mean) and inferential statistics (Pearson correlation coefficient, independent t-test, bivariate regression analysis) were applied to analyze the data using SPSS. The results indicated that there is a significant relationship between the variables of social capital (trust, cohesion and participation) and people’s education and their tendency to accept tourists. Moreover, there is a significant relationship between sex and job status of people and their tendency toward accepting tourists. Multivariate regression analysis showed that independent variables explain 13% of the dependent variable (tendency toward accepting tourists).
Urban Planning
Kyoumars Habibi; Jahede Tekyehkhah; Mohammad Azad Ahmadi
Volume 1, Issue 3 , August 2012, , Pages 13-23
Abstract
Natural tourism planning is the first step in tourism approach natural resource management in which prone areas for recreational planning is zoned. Aimed to identify the different forms of tourism zoning in Abidar natural forest park in Sanandaj City, a systematic analysis method was used. We produced ...
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Natural tourism planning is the first step in tourism approach natural resource management in which prone areas for recreational planning is zoned. Aimed to identify the different forms of tourism zoning in Abidar natural forest park in Sanandaj City, a systematic analysis method was used. We produced a recreational potential map using systematic analysis model in GIS. The results of this evaluation indicated that the study area lacks first class concentrated recreation potentiality and the maximum surface area of the study area has been consisted of the second class potentiality. To evaluate the impact of factors affecting tourists, 450 questionnaires were distributed among the tourists. The survey results indicated that most tourists have selected the area because of the access to water resources. The buffer map of water resource was prepared to promote the systematic analysis model and to assess the effect of water resources on different recreation classes of the model and it was integrated into a recreational potentiality map of system model and the final map of the recreational potentiality was prepared. The evaluation results showed that 6% of the area has first class concentrated recreational potentiality, 28 percent of the area has second class concentrated recreational potentiality, 35 percent of the area has first class discrete recreational potentiality, and the rest 31% of the area has second class discrete recreational potentiality. Comparing two recreation potentiality maps showed hat in systematic analysis model, the region does not have first class concentrated recreation place. However, scoring the water resources factor made 6% of the region earn first class concentrated recreation potentiality. The results of this survey indicated that water resources, herbal coverage, accessibility ways, and physical factors (gradient and direction) have the most effect on the evaluation process of recreation potentiality in the region as they are mentioned in order of effectiveness. While the effective parameters in recreation potentiality evaluation in systematic analysis model are gradient, soil, direction, water, plant, and climate. Based on our findings, it was found that recreational activities expected in broad zones include things like walking, trekking, visiting landscapes and snow skating, etc., which do not need to deploy and service of recreational trails, except in designing walking routes in certain circumstances. But, in areas having concentrated recreation zone, activities such as camping, family picnics, etc., require suitable facilities for establishment of tourism.
Urban Planning
Volume 1, Issue 3 , August 2012, , Pages 58-67
Abstract
According to the world tourism organization, tourism industry is one of the most important economic activities around the world. Although world tourism industry has grown considerably compared with other industries, but nowadays it is faced different touristic region competition. The objective of this ...
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According to the world tourism organization, tourism industry is one of the most important economic activities around the world. Although world tourism industry has grown considerably compared with other industries, but nowadays it is faced different touristic region competition. The objective of this study was to evaluate the attractiveness and competitiveness of Mashhad Koohsangi Touristic Park using Tourism Destination Competitiveness and Attractiveness (TDCA) model. This park has many historical and cultural heritages, where many recreational facilities have been established recently. Data required were collected by means of filling questionnaire based on TDCA model. 241 tourists were randomly selected suring September 2009 as the sample population. Validity of data was confirmed by Chronbakh alpha value, which was 0.88. Data collected were analyzed based on the model using linear regression. Our findings shows that the area has suitable conditions from the viewpoint of attractiveness but it is faced with lack of competitiveness, which is the result of low attention to this issue in tourism planning in the area. It is obvious that authorities are not so free providing more attractive services to increase the competitiveness of site. They are faced to some limitations due to urban and residential situation of site. Therefore, at the moment in addition to the protection of existing attractiveness, applying incentive factors to increase competitiveness of area is the central requirement of tourism development planning in the area.
