https://urbstudies.uok.ac.ir/ Motaleate Shahri en daily 1 Thu, 23 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0330 Thu, 23 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0330 https://urbstudies.uok.ac.ir/article_64523.html Highlights Overall spatial transformation did not undermine the food system, but physical and socio-economic changes threatened its sustainability. The Tehran metropolitan region has experienced significant spatial transformations. Not all dimensions of spatial transformation exert the same influence on food systems. Urban and regional planning can play a strategic role in strengthening food security.   Introduction The world’s population has reached 8.2 billion and is projected to increase to 10.3 billion by the mid-2080s. Approximately 757 million people experience hunger, while 2.8 billion cannot afford a healthy diet. Iran faces rapid urban growth, the loss of fertile agricultural land, water scarcity, recurrent droughts, land subsidence, dependence on imports, and increasing food insecurity. Yet food remains largely absent from urban and regional planning agendas. This omission is particularly important in the Tehran Metropolitan Region, which has undergone profound spatial transformation. Covering 18,815 km² and containing approximately 15.98 million people, the region has experienced rapid urbanization, fragmented metropolitan governance, agricultural land conversion, environmental degradation, and socio-spatial inequalities. This study conceptualizes food security, food systems, and spatial transformation; identifies major multidecadal transformations in the region; and evaluates their effects on the regional food system. The main hypothesis is that recent spatial transformations have contributed to food-system unsustainability. Theoretical Framework The food system is conceptualized as a socio-ecological system formed through interactions between biophysical and social environments. Its principal stages comprise inputs, production, processing, transportation and distribution, consumption, and recycling and disposal. Spatial transformation is understood as multidimensional change in the organization of urban and regional systems over time. The analysis distinguishes three interrelated layers: the physical layer; the network layer; and the layer of activities and characteristics of society and employment. This framework allows the aggregate effect of metropolitan transformation to be distinguished from the contrasting effects of its constituent dimensions. Methodology This applied research adopted a pragmatic mixed-methods design combining documentary analysis with a web-based survey. Purposive sampling was used to incorporate the perspectives of actors and researchers associated with food-system issues. A 10-member expert panel evaluated the validity and reliability of the research instruments. The Content Validity Ratio was 0.74 for spatial-transformation indicators and 0.77 for food-system stages; the corresponding Content Validity Index values were 0.81 and 0.80, respectively. Cronbach’s alpha was 0.712 for spatial transformation and 0.835 for the food system. The final assessment comprised 70 indicators: 9 physicals, 19 network, and 42 related to activities and characteristics of society and employment. Descriptive and inferential statistical analyses included one-sample t tests, correlation analysis, and variance-based structural equation modeling using Partial Least Squares (PLS-SEM). Tehran and Alborz Provinces were treated as a single case representing the Tehran Metropolitan Region/foodshed because relevant official data are primarily compiled within administrative boundaries. Results and Discussion Substantial transformation occurred across all three spatial layers. In the physical layer, the region experienced declining biodiversity, reduced renewable water availability, increased water consumption, groundwater deficits, the drying of shallow wells, springs, and qanats, soil erosion, and growing pressure on agricultural land and ecological capacity. In the network layer, transportation and energy infrastructure expanded, the urban system moved toward greater polycentricity, and regional flows became denser, more multidirectional, and more evenly distributed. In the activities and characteristics of society and employment layer, major changes included population growth and density, demographic restructuring, economic and employment shifts, institutional fragmentation, rising greenhouse gas emissions, and the continued conversion of agricultural land and orchards. PLS-SEM identified a strong direct relationship between overall spatial transformation and the food system (β = 0.957; t = 11.210). However, the hypothesis that spatial transformation had an overall negative effect was rejected; the aggregate directional effect was interpreted as neither clearly positive nor negative, with a path coefficient of 0.425 and t = 1.96. Disaggregated analysis revealed sharply differentiated effects. Transformation of the physical layer had a strong negative effect on the food system (β = −0.946; t = 2.012), whereas transformation of the network layer had a strong positive effect (β = 0.805; t = 16.65). Transformation of activities and characteristics of society and employment also had a strong negative effect (β = −0.926; t = 62.04). Thus, the aggregate relationship masks opposing mechanisms: network transformation supports food-system functioning, whereas physical-environmental degradation and adverse socioeconomic and employment-related transformations threaten sustainability. Conclusion The study demonstrates that food should be treated as an integral component of urban and regional planning rather than as an issue confined to agriculture or the economy. Although spatial transformation as a whole was not found to exert a net negative effect on the food system of the Tehran Metropolitan Region, the physical layer and the activities and characteristics of society and employment generated substantial sustainability pressures. Planning priorities therefore include integrating food into urban and regional planning, establishing an integrated institutional framework at the city-region scale, protecting agricultural land through coherent zoning, strengthening urban and peri-urban agriculture, managing water, soil, and land resources sustainably, developing shorter supply chains and local and regional food-distribution hubs, recovering organic waste for safe and productive reuse, promoting sustainable consumption, and strengthening a polycentric regional spatial structure. The central contribution is to demonstrate that spatial transformation does not affect food systems uniformly; its effects are layer-specific and require differentiated interventions that distinguish transformations supporting food-system functioning from those undermining long-term sustainability. https://urbstudies.uok.ac.ir/article_64395.html Highlights In Sanandaj Traditional Bazaar, the shop window is experienced simultaneously as a functional solution and a disruptive element in the lived experience of the market. By reducing dust, improving order, protecting goods, and facilitating maintenance, shop windows respond to some of the practical needs of shopkeepers. The installation of shop windows transforms the fluid threshold between the shop and the passage into a rigid boundary, weakening direct interaction among customers, goods, and shopkeepers. Shop windows reduce the bodily presence of shopkeepers at the shopfront and, consequently, weaken informal surveillance and the sense of social security within the bazaar. By limiting touch, smell, and close engagement with goods, shop windows diminish the multisensory quality of the bazaar. The shop-window-based model is not fully compatible with the occupational structure and social composition of users in Sanandaj Traditional Bazaar.   Introduction Traditional bazaars in Iranian cities are not merely infrastructures for everyday commodity exchange; they are complex lifeworlds shaped by social relations, collective memory, and multisensory experiences. In recent decades, the gradual introduction of modern retail elements—especially glass shop windows—has posed new challenges to the spatial and social logic of these historic environments. While shop windows are commonly associated with cleanliness, order, security, and visual attraction in modern retail settings, their insertion into traditional bazaars may alter the ways in which people perceive, use, and inhabit these spaces. The traditional bazaar of Sanandaj represents a distinctive case in this regard. In this bazaar, the extension of goods into the passageway has long created a fluid threshold between the shop and the public path. This threshold is not simply a physical edge but a lived spatial condition in which movement, bodily presence, negotiation, sensory contact, and everyday sociability are intertwined. The emergence of glass shop windows, therefore, is not only a technical change in the mode of display but also a transformation in the lived experience of the bazaar. Theoretical Framework The study is grounded in hermeneutic phenomenology, particularly inspired by Gadamer’s interpretive approach. From this perspective, space is not understood merely as a physical container or functional arrangement but as a horizon of lived experience constituted through bodily presence, perception, movement, memory, and interpretation. Traditional bazaars, therefore, are approached as lived worlds in which architectural form, everyday practices, and sensory experience are deeply intertwined. Phenomenological discussions in architecture emphasize that meaning emerges through embodied engagement with space. Thinkers such as Husserl, Heidegger, and Merleau-Ponty have shown that the human relationship with the world is first and foremost sensory and bodily rather than purely conceptual. Within such a framework, the bazaar is not simply a setting for exchange but a multisensory milieu of seeing, smelling, touching, hearing, moving, pausing, and interacting. The notion of the shopfront or threshold is central here. In the traditional Iranian bazaar, the boundary between the shop and the passage is fluid and negotiable. Goods extend outward, customers encounter commodities at close range, and the shopkeeper’s bodily presence at the threshold contributes to social surveillance, trust, and everyday interaction. The glass shop window transforms this fluid threshold into a more rigid, controlled, and predominantly visual boundary. Thus, the shop window is interpreted not only as a retail device but also as a spatial and social phenomenon that reconfigures the relationship between body, commodity, perception, and public space. Methodology This research employs a hermeneutic phenomenological method to understand and interpret the lived meanings associated with shop windows in Sanandaj Traditional Bazaar. The goal is not to measure variables quantitatively but to reveal how participants experience and make sense of the phenomenon in their everyday lives. Data were collected through in-depth semi-structured interviews with 16 participants, including 8 shopkeepers and 8 long-term bazaar users. Participants were selected through purposive sampling based on their rich and sustained experience of the bazaar and their familiarity with both traditional and contemporary modes of commodity display. Interviews continued until theoretical saturation was reached. Each interview lasted between 45 and 55 minutes, and some were conducted in two sessions to avoid participant fatigue. In addition to interviews, field observations and systematic note-taking were undertaken. These observations focused on the arrangement of goods, the extent to which shops extended into the passageway, patterns of movement and pause, bodily responses to shops with and without shop windows, and the sensory conditions of the space, including sound, smell, and light. After full transcription, the interview texts were read repeatedly, and meaning units were extracted. At the first stage, 278 initial themes were identified. Through iterative reading, comparison with field notes, and interpretive synthesis, these themes were organized into broader horizons of meaning. Short follow-up interviews were also conducted with some participants to clarify ambiguous points. Finally, drawing on Gadamerian hermeneutics, a fusion of horizons between the researcher and participants was achieved, resulting in a set of final themes that informed the interpretation. Results and Discussion The findings show that shop windows in Sanandaj Bazaar are experienced as both beneficial and problematic. On the positive side, they help protect goods from dust, improve cleanliness and order, reduce the effort required for daily display arrangements, enhance security, and, in some cases, facilitate circulation by limiting the spread of merchandise into the passageway. However, participants also viewed shop windows as incompatible with the traditional character of the bazaar. By replacing the open and fluid threshold between the shop and the passage with a rigid glass boundary, shop windows weaken direct interaction among customers, goods, and shopkeepers. They also reduce the visible presence of shopkeepers at the shopfront, which in turn diminishes informal social surveillance and the sense of collective safety. In addition, shop windows reduce the bazaar’s multisensory quality by limiting touch, smell, and other forms of close engagement that are important in many local trades. Participants further noted that most occupations in Sanandaj Bazaar do not structurally require shop windows and that their use often reflects imported modern retail models rather than local needs. Finally, shop windows were perceived as socially out of place, as they introduce a sense of formality and luxury that may alienate many of the bazaar’s regular users, particularly villagers, low-income groups, and older people. Conclusion This study shows that the introduction of shop windows into Sanandaj Traditional Bazaar is not simply an architectural modification but a transformation with spatial, sensory, and social consequences. Although shop windows offer practical benefits, such as reducing dust, protecting goods, and easing some of the everyday burdens of shopkeeping, they also disrupt key qualities of the traditional bazaar. They formalize the threshold between the shop and the passage, reduce the bodily presence of shopkeepers, weaken natural surveillance, limit multisensory engagement, and conflict with both the occupational structure and the social composition of the bazaar. The findings suggest that modernization policies in historic bazaars should avoid one-size-fits-all, shop-window-centered approaches. Instead, interventions should be context-sensitive and grounded in the lived experiences of users. Three considerations are especially important: first, the mode of display should be compatible with the sensory and functional requirements of each trade; second, the living threshold between the shop and the passage should be preserved and reinterpreted rather than replaced by rigid barriers; and third, the social composition and aesthetic expectations of the bazaar’s primary users should remain central to any design or policy decision. https://urbstudies.uok.ac.ir/article_64364.html HighlightsSignificant spatial inequality in urban safety exists across Ardabil, with District 3 ranked highest and District 5 lowest.Social trust, building quality, and sense of place are the strongest determinants of urban safety.Physical and social factors exert greater influence than technological and managerial indicators.An integrated, multi-dimensional policy approach is essential to address the interplay of physical, social, economic, environmental, and governance factors in urban safety. IntroductionUrban safety and security are multidimensional and key phenomena in urban studies. A safe city is one that, while reducing physical and psychological threats, provides the basis for promoting the sustainable well-being and security of its citizens. In examining the relationship between safety and the urban environment, two basic dimensions can be considered: the social dimension, encompassing behavioral and institutional aspects, and the structural dimension, encompassing physical and spatial characteristics related to urban safety and security. From this perspective, urban safety requires the simultaneous analysis of physical, social, service-related, and perceptual indicators. Safety assessment in urban environments is also commonly conducted based on two categories of criteria: objective criteria, such as crime statistics, accident rates, and infrastructure quality, and subjective criteria, including citizens’ perceptions of safety, in which factors such as lighting, visibility, and social cohesion play important roles. In addition, indicators such as the quality of green spaces, air pollution, access to health services, employment opportunities, and the level of preparedness for natural disasters can also influence urban safety. Overall, the combination of these indicators and their comprehensive analysis provides a more accurate understanding of the state of urban safety and security.Theoretical FrameworkStudies in the field of urban social geography indicate that urban safety and the quality of the urban environment are directly related. Urban safety encompasses the reduction of violence, crime, corruption, natural disasters, and accidents. Urban safety indicators include physical-spatial dimensions (land-use mix, building quality, and street lighting), social dimensions (citizen participation and trust, and social cohesion), economic dimensions (wealth distribution and access to opportunities), environmental dimensions (green spaces, pollution, and flooding), and infrastructural and technological dimensions (CCTV cameras, digital security, and smart systems). Theories and approaches in this field address objective and subjective factors (fear of crime and the broken windows theory), environmental design (CPTED, defensible space, and crime prevention through urban design), social activities (everyday activities and participatory security), new and digital technologies (smart cities and digital security), environmental factors (risks and environmental quality), and comprehensive approaches (social order, spatial justice, third places, the right to the city, and human-centered safety). These theories emphasize that urban safety is a multidimensional phenomenon and that improving it requires the simultaneous integration of physical, social, economic, environmental, and technological indicators.MethodologyThis study employed a descriptive-analytical approach to identify key urban safety variables across physical-spatial, social, economic, environmental-infrastructural, and technological-managerial dimensions. Primary data were collected through field surveys using a structured questionnaire administered to 383 residents of Ardabil aged 15–65 years, selected through stratified random sampling. Expert evaluations (n = 10) were conducted using the snowball sampling method to assign weights to the indicators. The data were analyzed using SPSS, and a combined WASPAS and TOPSIS approach was applied to rank the five urban districts based on their levels of safety and security, allowing for a nuanced assessment of the relative influence of each variable.Results and DiscussionThe findings of this study indicate significant variations in urban safety and security across the districts of Ardabil. According to the ranking, Districts 3, 1, 2, 4, and 5 showed descending levels of urban safety. TOPSIS analysis identified the key influencing factors in order of importance as follows: social trust, building quality, sense of place, street lighting, wealth distribution, access to employment, green space quality, CCTV coverage, flood safety, civic participation, land-use mix, access to healthcare, air and noise pollution, access to online urban services, and smart traffic management. Social factors (trust, participation, and sense of place) had the greatest influence, followed by physical-environmental factors, while managerial and technological factors had the least influence. Overall, urban safety in Ardabil reflects the interplay of social capital, built-environment quality, and urban governance, highlighting the need for an integrated, multi-dimensional planning approach.ConclusionThe study revealed that urban safety in Ardabil is unevenly distributed across districts, with social factors such as trust, participation, and sense of place playing the most decisive roles, followed by physical-environmental conditions, while managerial and technological indicators showed weaker influence. These findings highlight that urban safety is not solely the outcome of policing but also results from the interaction among social capital, the built environment, and governance. Therefore, adopting an integrated and multi-dimensional approach is essential to improving urban safety and equity across the city. https://urbstudies.uok.ac.ir/article_64539.html Highlights Interaction among institutions at the local, national, and international levels is essential for establishing effective and transparent governance in sister-city relations. By moving beyond the traditional symbolism of sister-city partnerships, urban diplomacy has increasingly focused on issue-oriented network coalitions to strengthen local soft power. The sustainability of transnational urban mechanisms depends on rational decision-making, institutionalized implementation, and data-driven evaluation to enhance learning and resilience. The effectiveness of sister-city relations requires a transition from broad, non-binding agreements toward selective and limited forms of cooperation based on institutional capacity and clearly defined shared issues.   Introduction In recent decades, the city has moved beyond its traditional role as an administrative unit of national governments to become a major arena for transnational action. International relations and urban studies increasingly view cities as networks of human, knowledge-based, and institutional capital capable of participating in diplomacy, meaning-making, and the exercise of soft power. Alongside the shift from state-centered models toward multi-level governance, this transformation has contributed to the emergence of “city diplomacy” as a form of local foreign policy. Within this framework, cities act as intermediary actors, managing relations, negotiations, and transnational cooperation through intercity networks and international institutions. Theoretical Framework The theoretical framework of this study views sister-city relations as a practical mechanism of city diplomacy within a multi-level governance framework. In this context, cities operate as transnational actors and strengthen their development capacities and soft power through institutional, economic, cultural, and knowledge-based cooperation. The framework combines three approaches: the institutional-functional approach, which focuses on governance structures and operational mechanisms; the network approach, which examines interactions within international city networks; and the development-oriented approach, which emphasizes policy learning, knowledge transfer, and sustainable urban development. Together, these approaches guide the analysis of the literature and the identification of the main dimensions of sister-city relations. Conceptualizing City Diplomacy and Sister-City Relations Sister-city relations refer to international agreements established between two or more cities in different countries with the aim of promoting economic, cultural, social, educational, scientific, and environmental cooperation. These relationships are generally non-binding in nature; that is, they are primarily established through memoranda of understanding and, unlike formal intergovernmental treaties, do not impose legally enforceable obligations. Nevertheless, in practice, they may lead to stable and long-term cooperation. Historical Development of Sister Cities and Their Role in City Diplomacy The origins of sister-city relations can be traced back to the period following the Second World War, when local communities in war-affected countries, particularly in Europe, sought to rebuild trust, promote peaceful coexistence, and reduce international tensions. Some of the earliest examples of such cooperation emerged between cities in the United Kingdom and Germany and focused primarily on cultural, educational, and social exchanges aimed at fostering solidarity among local communities. Although these relationships were initially symbolic and peace-oriented, their functions gradually expanded in parallel with changes in the international system. Methodology This study employed a systematic review to collect, evaluate, and synthesize academic and policy evidence on city diplomacy and sister-city relations. Through thematic analysis, it examined the development of the literature and identified key components relevant to the governance and policymaking of intercity relations. This method was selected because the literature is dispersed across the fields of international relations, urban planning, multi-level governance, and network studies. To reduce selection bias and improve transparency, the search and screening process followed the PRISMA framework. The review covered English-language sources published between 2000 and 2025 and Persian-language sources published between 1385 and 1405 in the Solar Hijri calendar. International databases included Scopus, Web of Science, Springer, and Google Scholar, while Persian sources were retrieved from SID, Magiran, IranDoc, and Noormags. In addition to academic publications, relevant policy and strategic documents on municipal international relations, particularly those related to Tehran and national intercity cooperation, were reviewed. Their inclusion enabled an assessment of the gap between academic knowledge and practical implementation. Results and Discussion Publication trends show a steady increase in research on city diplomacy and sister-city relations, with the highest volume of publications recorded during 2020–2025. The literature is structured around three interconnected layers: governance and institutional regulation, strategic implementation, and learning and networking. “Multi-level integration” emerged as the dominant theme, supported by institutional networking, data-driven decision-making, and structured implementation. Overall, sister-city planning can be understood as a dynamic, network-based, and learning-oriented process. Conclusion The effectiveness of sister-city relations depends on institutional coherence, rational decision-making, structured implementation, and network-based cooperation rather than on symbolic agreements alone. Sustainable outcomes require long-term institutionalization, effective municipal coordination, and continuous learning. In Iranian cities, institutional fragmentation, managerial instability, and weak evaluation mechanisms remain the main barriers to effective city diplomacy. Acknowledgment This article is derived from the research project entitled “Designing a Strategic Planning Model for the Tehran Metropolis to Utilize the Capacities of Sister-City Partnerships,” supported by the Tehran Municipality Research and Studies Center. https://urbstudies.uok.ac.ir/article_64402.html Highlights An integrated framework links multilayer urban digital twin architecture with risk reduction, preparedness, response, and recovery across the crisis management cycle. Natural and human-made crises are comparatively examined to clarify how urban digital twins support effective management across distinct contexts. Urban digital twins enhance situational awareness, city visualization, simulation, prediction, and resilience within complex urban crisis management processes and decision-making. Implementation challenges are classified across data, infrastructure, modeling, cybersecurity, governance, and organizational acceptance within urban digital twin systems and practices. Localization requirements and enabling conditions for digital twins are identified for developing countries, with particular emphasis on implementation in Iran. Extended Abstract Introduction The growing frequency and complexity of natural and human-made crises, alongside concentrated populations, infrastructure, and economic activity, have made crisis management a central concern in planning and governance. This issue is particularly significant in developing countries facing deteriorating infrastructure, limited resources, institutional misalignment, and social vulnerability. Iran’s seismic exposure, climatic diversity, uneven urban expansion, and exposure to natural, industrial, and social hazards require a shift from reactive management toward anticipatory, data-driven approaches. Traditional crisis management often relies on cross-sectional data, fragmented organizations, and post-event decision-making. In complex cities, where infrastructure, communication networks, population behavior, and decision-making interact, such approaches have limited capacity to predict cascading impacts or identify effective strategies. Urban digital twins connect cities with dynamic digital representations for monitoring, prediction, scenario testing, and intervention. Yet the literature remains fragmented, architecturally inconsistent, predominantly focused on response, and lacking a framework that links technical structures to the full crisis management cycle. This study examines their effects on decision-making, coordination, and resource allocation across risk reduction, preparedness, response, and recovery in natural and human-made crises. Theoretical Framework The framework integrates crisis management, urban digital twins, and smart urban governance. Crisis management is treated as a cycle comprising risk reduction, preparedness, response, and recovery. These stages are interdependent: response should facilitate recovery, while lessons from recovery should contribute to reducing future risks and strengthening preparedness. Effective management therefore requires the preservation, transfer, and continuous updating of knowledge throughout the cycle. An urban digital twin is a dynamic, multilayered system that synchronizes physical and digital spaces, analyzes urban behavior, and simulates potential decisions and interventions. Its five layers comprise physical assets, populations, infrastructure, and sensors; virtual representations; historical, real-time, and external data; mathematical models, machine-learning algorithms, and simulations; and services such as dashboards, warnings, decision support, and infrastructure control. A bidirectional loop transfers sensor, satellite, drone, social, traffic, modeling, and historical data into the digital model. Artificial intelligence and cloud, edge, or fog computing process these inputs. Outputs are returned as models, dashboards, warnings, scenarios, and commands. Three major capacities emerge: situational awareness and visualization; simulation and predictability; and collaboration, policymaking, and resilience. Methodology This qualitative, interpretivist, fundamental–developmental study employed a structured conceptual review. Deductive reasoning was used to apply crisis-management theory and digital-twin architecture to the classification of evidence, while conceptual synthesis was employed to reconstruct relationships among system structure, data flows, analytical capabilities, and crisis-cycle stages. Web of Science, Scopus, ScienceDirect, and Google Scholar were searched for publications from 2009 to 2026 using combinations of crisis management, hazard management, digital twin, urban digital twin, digital twin city, and smart city digital twin. Most of the selected studies were published between 2020 and 2025. Direct relevance to concepts, architectures, data models, applications, hazard types, and implementation challenges guided inclusion. Recent sources were prioritized, while foundational studies were retained. Seventy-four articles were selected. The analysis standardized crisis concepts and stages, compared architectures based on layers, inputs, processes, and outputs, examined capabilities before, during, and after natural and human-made crises, and classified data-related, infrastructural, systemic, organizational, and governance challenges. The findings were synthesized into a model linking technical architecture, decision-support capacities, crisis types, management stages, and institutional requirements. Results and Discussion Findings show that urban digital twins transform fragmented information into coherent, dynamic, decision-ready representations. By integrating historical and real-time data, physical and behavioral models, and alternative scenarios, they shift crisis management from reactive activity toward a more anticipatory, adaptive, and learning-oriented process. They support rather than replace decision-makers by reducing uncertainty, comparing interventions, and accelerating coordination. During risk reduction and preparedness, digital twins identify physical, infrastructural, and social vulnerabilities, map hazards, predict cascading impacts, evaluate preventive strategies, and support training, evacuation exercises, route assessment, and public awareness. During preparedness and response, sensors, the Internet of Things, satellite and drone imagery, traffic data, and social sensing generate real-time situational awareness. This enables rapid damage assessment, identification of critical areas, prioritization of relief efforts, allocation of equipment, safe evacuation routing, active decision support, and, in some cases, infrastructure control. During recovery, comparisons of pre- and post-event conditions, analysis of damage, identification of weaknesses, and prediction of secondary hazards support reconstruction, policy revision, institutional learning, and resilient rebuilding. Natural-crisis applications emphasize physical hazard processes, spatiotemporal analysis, and infrastructure vulnerability. Flood models combine hydrological, environmental, and population data; earthquake models integrate buildings, infrastructure, seismic information, and post-event imagery; and fire models simulate fire and smoke propagation, emergency routes, and evacuation. Human-made applications emphasize operational monitoring, behavior, security, and rapid control, including failure prediction, pollutant-release simulation, threat analysis, crowd-bottleneck detection, exit optimization, and emergency coordination. Both crisis groups follow a common logic: data acquisition, situational representation, consequence simulation, intervention comparison, recommendation transfer, and model updating. Differences concern data types, processing speeds, uncertainty, and model characteristics. Natural crises generally require environmental and terrain-based models, whereas human-made crises depend more heavily on real-time behavioral, security, and operational data. Challenges include poor data quality, heterogeneity, missing information, sensor noise, the absence of standards, communication failures, and weak integration among information models and geographic information systems. Cybersecurity, privacy, data ownership, unclear governance, organizational resistance, undefined responsibilities, and weak participation may further undermine implementation. Technical models may also neglect social realities, local knowledge, and spatial inequalities. For Iran and similar contexts, implementation requires digital infrastructure, clear legal frameworks, technological capacity, and organizational acceptance. Pilot projects, interoperable spatial databases, emergency communication networks, data-sharing protocols, and institutional cooperation can support localization. Maturity depends on data synchronization, predictive validity, infrastructural resilience, organizational interoperability, and social legitimacy. Conclusion Urban digital twins can support crisis management by connecting cities, real-time data, simulation models, and decision-making processes. Their effectiveness requires reliable data, interoperable standards, robust communication systems, cybersecurity, transparent governance, collaboration, and citizen participation. They improve resilience only when developed as human-centered, learning-oriented ecosystems embedded within broader crisis governance. https://urbstudies.uok.ac.ir/article_64299.html HighlightsThis study conducts a systematic literature review and qualitative analysis to examine research on Family-Friendly Cities published between 1995 and 2025.Bibliometric analyses identify major research trends, thematic clusters, and research gaps within the Family-Friendly City literature.The qualitative analysis develops a framework comprising six principal dimensions of the Family-Friendly City.Family-Friendly City planning has evolved from a primary emphasis on physical infrastructure toward broader objectives of sustainability and urban livability.The limited body of research conducted in the Global South underscores the need for context-sensitive urban approaches that respond to local socio-spatial conditions. IntroductionThe rapid growth of urbanization and the increasing complexity of family life have encouraged scholars and urban planners to reconsider the relationship between urban environments and family well-being. The concept of the family-friendly city (FFC) emerged in the mid-1990s as an approach aimed at creating urban environments that support diverse family structures, improve quality of life, and strengthen social sustainability. Since its emergence, various cities have developed policies and planning strategies addressing issues such as housing affordability, public spaces, childcare services, transportation accessibility, and social inclusion.Despite growing attention to this concept, the literature still lacks a comprehensive theoretical understanding of what constitutes a family-friendly city and how its dimensions and indicators should be defined. Existing studies have often focused on specific aspects of family life, such as family-friendly housing, child-friendly environments, workplace policies, or social services, resulting in a fragmented understanding of the concept. Moreover, previous research has mainly concentrated on developed countries, particularly in North America and Europe, while family needs and urban challenges in developing contexts remain insufficiently explored.Therefore, this study aims to address this knowledge gap by systematically reviewing existing research on family-friendly cities and developing an integrated conceptual framework. The study seeks to answer three main questions: How has the concept of the family-friendly city evolved over time? What are the main dimensions and indicators that define this concept? And what conceptual framework can explain the characteristics of a family-friendly city?Theoretical FrameworkThe theoretical foundation of this study is based on the understanding that the family-friendly city is a multidimensional urban approach located at the intersection of family needs, urban planning, sustainability, and social justice. Unlike earlier approaches that primarily emphasized physical improvements, contemporary interpretations consider the city as a supportive environment for families across the life course, including children, working parents, older adults, single-parent households, and multigenerational families.The concept draws upon broader urban theories related to sustainable development, livability, inclusive planning, and social well-being. A family-friendly city is understood as an urban environment that provides equitable access to affordable and diverse housing, safe public spaces, accessible transportation, employment opportunities, social services, and participatory governance mechanisms.Based on the qualitative synthesis of previous studies, this research conceptualizes the family-friendly city through six interconnected dimensions: spatial, social, economic, environmental, governance and participation, and temporal dimensions. These dimensions reflect not only the physical characteristics of urban environments but also social relations, institutional arrangements, family participation, and work–life balance.MethodologyThis research adopts a systematic review and qualitative synthesis approach to examine the evolution and characteristics of family-friendly city studies. The literature search was conducted in the Scopus and Web of Science databases, covering publications from 1995 to 2025. The inclusion criteria focused on studies directly related to family-friendly urban planning and excluded studies limited to workplace family policies or non-urban family services.Following the removal of duplicates and the application of screening criteria based on the PRISMA protocol, 57 articles were selected for final analysis. The study employed bibliometric techniques, including citation analysis and keyword co-occurrence analysis, using VOSviewer software to identify research trends, conceptual networks, and major thematic clusters.In addition to the bibliometric analysis, a qualitative review of the selected studies was conducted. Through qualitative coding and thematic analysis, key concepts, dimensions, indicators, and conceptual relationships were identified. This combination of quantitative mapping and qualitative interpretation enabled the development of a comprehensive conceptual model of the family-friendly city.Results and DiscussionThe findings reveal that research on family-friendly cities has experienced a fluctuating growth pattern between 1997 and 2025, with a significant increase in publications after 2019 and a notable turning point around 2020. The United States represents the leading geographical context, accounting for the largest share of publications and citations, indicating a strong concentration of knowledge production in North America and Europe.The bibliometric analysis identifies several major thematic clusters, including social and perceptual dimensions, housing and public space, urban planning and mental health, life course and diversity, sustainability and livability, urban policies and family, and urban development. These clusters demonstrate a conceptual transition from early studies focusing mainly on physical infrastructure toward broader approaches emphasizing sustainability, social inclusion, and quality of life.The qualitative analysis indicates that the family-friendly city consists of six major dimensions. The spatial dimension emphasizes affordable housing, accessible services, safe public spaces, and sustainable transportation. The social dimension highlights social capital, community interaction, diversity, and family support networks. The economic dimension focuses on employment opportunities and economic conditions that support family stability. The environmental dimension addresses safety, sustainability, and healthy living environments. The governance and participation dimension emphasizes family involvement in decision-making processes. Finally, the temporal dimension considers work–life balance and the changing needs of families throughout different stages of life.The findings also reveal that family-friendly planning should not be interpreted merely as the creation of attractive urban spaces for middle-class families. Some studies indicate that urban renewal and family-oriented policies may reproduce social inequalities when they overlook issues such as displacement, affordability, and spatial justice. Therefore, a truly family-friendly city requires an inclusive approach that recognizes diverse family forms and varying socio-economic conditions.ConclusionThis study provides a comprehensive review of the evolution, theoretical foundations, and dimensions of the family-friendly city concept. By integrating bibliometric evidence with qualitative analysis, it develops an interdisciplinary framework that moves beyond fragmented interpretations and presents the family-friendly city as a multidimensional urban planning approach.The results demonstrate that the concept has evolved from a narrow focus on physical facilities and housing toward a broader framework integrating sustainability, livability, inclusion, governance, and social justice. The proposed framework highlights that creating family-friendly cities requires coordinated attention to spatial structures, social relationships, economic opportunities, environmental quality, participatory governance, and the temporal needs of families.However, the dominance of studies from North America and Europe and the limited attention given to cities in the Global South remain important research gaps. Future studies should investigate how cultural, economic, and institutional differences influence the implementation of family-friendly urban policies across diverse urban contexts. Overall, the family-friendly city approach provides a valuable conceptual foundation for developing more inclusive, sustainable, and livable urban environments that support families across different stages of life. https://urbstudies.uok.ac.ir/article_64564.html The multifaceted nature and interwoven structure of urban biophysical needs have caused solutions intended to improve microclimatic comfort—particularly in dense areas—to lead to unpredictable outcomes accompanied by a degree of uncertainty. In fact, environmental comfort in urban spaces is a complex function shaped by the interaction of multiple environmental parameters. This study examines the hypothesis that urban interventions aimed at optimizing a single comfort factor (such as reducing temperature) may, due to contradictory behaviors and chain effects, worsen other dimensions of comfort or even reduce overall comfort. Focusing on the behavior of common structural elements in urban blocks in relation to the three key factors — temperature, wind speed, and pressure‑related environmental effects — and their interactions within urban environments, this research shows that maximizing one comfort parameter can disrupt other comfort aspects. Thus, designs based on improving microclimatic conditions require a multi‑objective optimization approach rather than relying on minimum/maximum thresholds in order to achieve stable comfort conditions. The results of computational fluid dynamics simulations indicate that fundamental changes in the volume and primary form of urban blocks — by shaping microclimates and influencing wind‑flow dynamics and shadow distribution — can improve multi‑dimensional comfort conditions by up to 70 percent. In contrast, more limited façade‑level interventions (such as adding elements or creating openings in the volume) contribute only up to 40 percent to comprehensive comfort improvements. This disparity underscores the need for a strategic urban design approach that can resolve contradictory behaviors among factors such as temperature, wind speed, and pressure effects. https://urbstudies.uok.ac.ir/article_64598.html In many Iranian cities, the quantitative growth of outdoor advertising has been accompanied by a decline in visual environmental quality; yet how citizens actually experience this condition — in real space and in real time — remains unstudied. Shams-Abadi Street in Isfahan, with its distinctive medical-commercial identity and location within the city's UNESCO-listed historic fabric, presents a case in which accumulated billboards, banners and murals stand in apparent conflict with the area's cultural-historical character. This paper investigates the lived experience of citizens encountering outdoor advertising on this street and asks: what layers of experience emerge in this encounter, and what factors shape the relationship between visual stimulus and citizen response? A qualitative, multi-method design was adopted. The primary data-collection instrument was the go-along interview (Kusenbach, 2003), which places the researcher alongside the participant in the real environment so that lived experience can be captured in situ. Twenty participants (11 male, 9 female; aged 20–60) were recruited through purposive sampling and accompanied along an 800-metre fixed route. Data were analysed through three complementary layers using methodological triangulation: reflexive thematic analysis of interview transcripts (Braun & Clarke, 2006), thematic analysis of 113 behavioural incidents recorded during walks, and systematic visual coding of 20 purposively selected advertising images across 16 variables. Three overarching themes emerged from the interview layer: a quantity-quality contradiction leading to perceptual saturation; a sharp gap between the street's historical-cultural identity and the content of its advertising; and the dominance of negative affect (70 codes) over positive (53 codes). The key finding from the incident layer was that 41.8% of all recorded reactions (208 instances) took the form of spontaneous unprompted discourse — not message processing. Visual analysis documented critically low design quality (mean 1.95/5) and historical contextual fit (mean 1.90/5). Based on triangulation across the three data layers, the Multi-Layer Lived Experience model (MLLE) is proposed, demonstrating that lived experience operates simultaneously across embodied, affective-cognitive, and semantic-identity levels. The study introduces cultural affordance as an extension of Gibson's theory in historically rich urban settings, and identifies 'advertising as urban discourse trigger' as a previously undocumented fourth function of outdoor advertising. https://urbstudies.uok.ac.ir/article_64612.html The management of metropolitan buffer zones (peri-urban areas) faces complex conflicts arising from spatial conservation imperatives, private property rights, and urban development pressures. Prevailing planning approaches and management instruments, which primarily focus on physical control and land-use regulation, often fail to account for or manage the social, institutional, and legal dynamics governing these spaces. While certain frameworks utilize tangible indicators such as population density, economic activity, and land use as analytical benchmarks, other studies emphasize qualitative dimensions, including community, identity, and structural interdependencies. This conceptual divergence highlights a significant gap in urban and regional planning knowledge regarding the management of peri-urban spaces. Consequently, the primary objective of this research is to elucidate the mechanisms underlying the formation of spatial and property conflicts in metropolitan buffer zones and to identify effective criteria and indicators for their integrated management. Adopting a qualitative approach based on Grounded Theory (the Corbin and Strauss model), this study focuses on the buffer zone of Tehran’s District 13 as a case study. Data were gathered through an analysis of laws and regulations pertaining to buffer zone management, a review of urban planning documents, and semi-structured interviews with landowners and key stakeholders. Data analysis followed a multi-layered strategy to explain the interplay between institutional structures, planning policies, and the experiences of local actors. The findings indicate that the institutional framework for buffer zone management is primarily rooted in a logic of physical control and lacks transparent mechanisms for resolving property rights, providing compensation, or ensuring stakeholder participation in decision-making. As a result, the gap between the objectives of development plans and the institutional capacity for their implementation has led to legal ambiguities and spatial conflicts. Data analysis led to the identification of “legal uncertainty of land status” as the core category. Accordingly, by proposing criteria and indicators for integrated management, this research emphasizes the necessity of transitioning from control-oriented approaches toward participatory, transparent, and rights-based governance models in the management of metropolitan buffer zones. https://urbstudies.uok.ac.ir/article_64613.html In the sphere of contemporary urban studies, the transition from the traditional paradigm of "vulnerability reduction" to the dynamic approach of "resilience" is recognized as a strategic necessity for managing the complexities and uncertainties of urban hazards. Physical resilience, as the tangible fabric of the city, plays a determining role in absorbing shocks, sustaining life, and accelerating recovery following a crisis. District 19 of Tehran, due to its composite and heterogeneous physical nature, the stressful coexistence of dilapidated residential settlements and industrial-workshop land uses, and its location on seismic zones, represents a prominent example of a "high-risk urban ecosystem" that requires a precise investigation of its resilience indicators. The present study was conducted with the aim of modeling and spatially assessing the components and indicators of physical resilience in this district. The research approach is descriptive-analytical and based on spatial analyses within the Geographic Information System (GIS) platform. In order to manage the inherent uncertainties of urban phenomena and avoid binary approaches, fuzzy logic was employed for standardizing and integrating information layers. The conceptual framework of the study was developed across five main dimensions: "structural and population vulnerability," "critical infrastructure and lifelines," "relief spaces and temporary settlement," "hazard intensifying centers," and "socio-economic supporting infrastructure." The analytical findings indicate the existence of profound spatial inequality and structural polarization across the district; such that the northern and central sectors (such as Khanabad Nov and Sharifi) enjoy a relatively favorable status due to resilient structures, optimal access to main arteries, and an appropriate density of vital services. In contrast, the southern and southwestern belt (including Ne’matabad and Ahmad Khomeini Town) are in a critical state and possess high vulnerability due to the synergy of factors such as severe physical deterioration, impermeability of passages, severe poverty in relief and medical infrastructure, and proximity to industrial hazard centers. The results demonstrate that enhancing resilience in District 19 necessitates a transition from general interventions to place-based strategies; such that in the north of the district, the focus is on density management and maintaining infrastructure efficiency, while in the southern half, priority is assigned to physical regeneration, fabric permeability, safety measures for incompatible land uses, and the equitable distribution of relief services. https://urbstudies.uok.ac.ir/article_64620.html Urbanization in the historical context of Iran remains an understudied field within urban planning research. Understanding the internal mechanisms of this process can offer new perspectives for interpreting the sustainability and livability of contemporary cities. In this regard, the Morphospace Cube model—based on three indicators of built density, permeability, and information—provides an innovative tool for analyzing urban structures. This study applies and adapts the model to Qajar‑period Hamedan, seeking to determine the city’s position within the Morphospace Cube and its relationship to the drivers of urban formation. The research is motivated by two gaps: the absence of systematic quantitative studies on the morphology of Iran’s historic cities, and the need to align contemporary theoretical models with historical contexts where data are limited. The methodology relies on documentary analysis and the reconstruction of historical maps. Three primary data sources were used: a reconstructed 100×100‑meter grid map for calculating built density; the Russian Army map led by Colonel Cherikov for identifying key urban functions; and the Royal Geographical Society map for analyzing street networks and permeability. Findings indicate that built density is approximately 0.43, permeability 0.54, and spatial information 0.57. These values suggest that Qajar‑era Hamedan occupied or approached the equilibrium zone of the Morphospace Cube, with “commercialization,” accompanied by emerging occupational specialization, acting as the principal driver of urban development. Accordingly, this study not only proposes a methodological approach for analyzing historic cities with limited data but also contributes to the application of contemporary morphological models in the historiography of Iranian urbanism. https://urbstudies.uok.ac.ir/article_64647.html Solar radiation is one of the most significant factors affecting energy performance in cold climates, and the spatial configuration indices of urban fabric play a direct role in determining the level of solar access to building surfaces. This study aims to analyze the relationship between these indices and solar radiation absorption in the cold climate of Hamadan, Iran. To achieve this, 20 urban fabric typologies were simulated using DesignBuilder software with the EnergyPlus engine, and annual as well as seasonal solar radiation absorption values were calculated. Statistical analyses, including correlation coefficient, analysis of variance (ANOVA), multiple regression, principal component analysis (PCA), and K-means clustering, were conducted in Python. The results indicated that geometric indices have a statistically significant effect on solar radiation absorption (p < 0.05), and the regression model explained a substantial proportion of the observed variations (R²Total = 0.90, R²Winter = 0.90, R²Annual = 0.90, and R²Summer = 0.79). Three indices—S/A, Ssun/A, and H/Wanua—showed the strongest influence. PCA revealed two principal components explaining 79.35% of the total variance: the first component represented solar exposure capacity/development of physical surface areas, while the second reflected shading intensity. Cluster analysis identified three morphological typologies (shaded, solar-exposed, and open morphology), which exhibited significant differences in winter solar absorption (F = 18.227, p < 0.001). The main innovation of this study is the introduction of the Seasonal Solar Balance Index (SSBI), which evaluates the balance between maximizing winter solar gain and controlling summer solar exposure, thereby providing a quantitative tool for design decision-making. SSBI showed significant differences among the identified typologies, with the “solar-exposed” typology achieving the highest value and the best overall seasonal performance balance. This typology, through an appropriate combination of envelope surface development and controlled shaded surfaces, enhances winter solar access while relatively limiting excessive summer radiation. These findings provide a quantitative framework for guiding urban design in cold climates. It is recommended that urban designers prioritize greater solar exposure and controlled shaded surface ratios within street networks and mass–space configurations, while policymakers integrate the proposed thresholds into local design guidelines to ensure seasonal balance in solar performance at the urban fabric scale. https://urbstudies.uok.ac.ir/article_64655.html Qualitative Analysis of the Mechanisms Shaping Social Resilience in Relation to Urban Governance in the Context of BorujerdLeila Sahraei Cheshmeh Sarde¹, Alireza Sheikh al-Islami²*, Ahmad Pourahmad³, Hassan Piriaei⁴ExtendedabstractIntroductionIn recent years, social resilience has emerged as a critical component of sustainable urban development, particularly in cities facing increasing social, economic, and spatial pressures. Medium-sized cities in Iran, such as Borujerd, experience compounded challenges related to unequal access to urban services, weakened institutional trust, and limited citizen participation in decision-making processes. These challenges undermine the capacity of local communities to adapt to, recover from, and collectively respond to urban stresses and disruptions.Urban governance plays a decisive role in shaping social resilience through institutional arrangements, decision-making mechanisms, and the quality of interactions between citizens and public institutions. In particular, spatial justice and institutional trust have been identified as key determinants influencing citizens’ perceptions of fairness, legitimacy, and responsiveness of urban management. Despite growing scholarly attention to social resilience, the mechanisms through which urban governance contributes to resilience—especially in the Iranian urban context—remain insufficiently explored. This study addresses this gap by analyzing the causal mechanisms linking urban governance to social resilience, with a specific focus on spatial justice as a causal driver and institutional trust as a mediating variable in the city of Borujerd.Theoretical FrameworkThe theoretical foundation of this study integrates concepts from social resilience, urban governance, and spatial justice. Social resilience is conceptualized as a multidimensional capacity rooted in social capital, trust, collective learning, and institutional embeddedness. From a governance perspective, “good urban governance” emphasizes participation, transparency, accountability, and equity in urban decision-making processes.Spatial justice serves as a critical causal mechanism through which governance quality becomes socially perceptible. Equitable distribution of urban services, infrastructure, and public spaces shapes citizens’ everyday experiences and directly influences their trust in urban institutions. Institutional trust, in turn, functions as a mediating mechanism that transforms governance practices into collective adaptive capacity. Accordingly, the study proposes a causal pathway in which urban governance influences social resilience primarily through spatial justice and institutional trust, rather than through direct effects alone.MethodologyThis research adopts a sequential exploratory mixed-methods design (qualitative → quantitative) with an applied research orientation. In the qualitative phase, in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with 40 experts, including urban planners, municipal managers, sociologists, local activists, and community representatives in Borujerd. The qualitative data were analyzed using thematic content analysis, leading to the identification of key constructs and the development of a context-sensitive conceptual model.Based on the qualitative findings, a researcher-designed questionnaire was developed for the quantitative phase. Data were collected from 384 residents of Borujerd using multi-stage cluster sampling to ensure spatial representation across different urban zones. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was employed to test the proposed model using AMOS software.Measurement validity and reliability were confirmed through multiple indicators. Convergent validity was verified with a Content Validity Ratio (CVR = 0.81), and internal consistency reliability was confirmed with a Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of 0.92. Sampling adequacy was supported by a Kaiser–Meyer–Olkin (KMO) value of 0.89. Model fit indices demonstrated satisfactory fit (RMSEA = 0.053, GFI = 0.91, AGFI = 0.87).Results and DiscussionThe results indicate that urban governance has a positive and statistically significant effect on social resilience in Borujerd. However, this effect is substantially strengthened through indirect pathways. Spatial justice emerged as a strong causal mechanism linking governance quality to institutional trust, while institutional trust played a decisive mediating role in enhancing social resilience.The findings confirm that citizens’ perceptions of fair distribution of services and opportunities are foundational to building trust in urban institutions. Governance practices that fail to address spatial inequalities weaken institutional legitimacy and, consequently, reduce social resilience capacity. Conversely, governance that prioritizes equitable access, transparency, and accountability fosters trust, collective engagement, and adaptive capacity at the neighborhood level.These results highlight the importance of indirect governance mechanisms and suggest that resilience-oriented urban management must move beyond formal administrative efficiency toward socially embedded and distributive governance practices.ConclusionThis study demonstrates that social resilience in Borujerd is not merely an outcome of economic or physical conditions but is fundamentally shaped by governance-related social mechanisms. Spatial justice functions as a causal driver, and institutional trust acts as a key mediating mechanism through which urban governance influences social resilience. The proposed model offers a context-specific framework for understanding resilience in medium-sized Iranian cities and underscores the need for participatory, transparent, and equity-oriented governance approaches to enhance urban resilience.KeywordsSocial Resilience; Institutional Trust; Spatial Justice; Neighborhood Networks; Borujerd https://urbstudies.uok.ac.ir/article_64656.html Climate change and accelerated urbanization have made the redefinition of public space design patterns with a climate-oriented approach inevitable. Despite numerous studies in hot climates emphasizing increased enclosure and shading, a significant knowledge gap exists in explaining optimal massing and spatial enclosure patterns for thermal comfort in cold and semi-arid climates. This research aims to fill this gap by quantitatively investigating the impact of physical indicators—including height-to-width ratio (H/W), shadow angle, and spatial openness—on pedestrians' perception of thermal comfort in Shahid Noubahaar Street, Kermanshah. The methodological approach of this study integrates three complementary strategies: first, field microclimatic measurements conducted on February 15, 2016, using instruments for temperature, humidity, wind speed, and radiation at 1.5 meters above ground level; second, microclimate simulation using ENVI-met software version 5.5 with 1-meter grid resolution, validated against field data; and third, shadow mask analysis using a protractor tool to calculate shadow angles of eastern and western building fronts at different times of day. Noubahaar Street was selected as the case study due to its enclosure diversity across four distinct sections (A, B, C, D), active land use with high pedestrian traffic, and suitable access for field measurements. Kermanshah, located at 34°19' north latitude and 1,322 meters above sea level, has a cold mountainous climate. The findings demonstrate that reduced enclosure (lower H/W ratio) during the cold season significantly increases the relationship between mean radiant temperature (Tmrt) and the Predicted Mean Vote (PMV) index. Linear regression analysis confirms a strong correlation (R² = 0.77) between these two variables, meaning that approximately 77% of the variation in pedestrians thermal perception on winter days is explained by received solar radiation. Conversely, high enclosure with stable shadows leads to reduced Tmrt and intensified cold sensation. Shadow angle analysis across the four street sections revealed that the western front (29° angle) and eastern front (23° angle) create significant thermal asymmetry in the existing condition. Based on these analyses, contextual and quantitative design strategies have been proposed. In Section A, reducing the western front's shadow angle from 29° to 20° through stepped setbacks (second-layer buildings up to 18 meters height followed by 9-meter deep setbacks) along with controlled increase of the eastern front's angle to 30° using strategic evergreen tree planting is recommended. In Section B, permitted height increase in future developments conditional on maintaining 26° shadow angles for both fronts is proposed. Section C, which has the most unbalanced conditions (eastern front 8°, western front 35°), would benefit from reducing the western angle to 32° and increasing the eastern angle to 15°, resulting in significant reduction of shadow coverage at street level by noon and shifting thermal conditions from "cold" to "neutral-comfortable." In Section D, creating spatial openings 7.2 meters deep within building masses, planting deciduous trees with horizontal canopies in the median strip, and installing a horizontal lattice canopy at 4 meters height are proposed. The discussion reveals that the findings are significantly aligned with existing theoretical and empirical literature while extending and localizing prior knowledge. Unlike hot climates where increased enclosure is the primary strategy, in Kermanshah's cold climate, reduced enclosure and increased spatial openness play a more determining role in winter thermal comfort. This finding fully aligns with Guo et al. (2024) in China's cold climate, confirming the necessity of redefining "optimal enclosure" independently for each climate. Furthermore, the strong correlation between Tmrt and PMV (R² = 0.77) emphasizes the vital role of solar radiation in outdoor thermal comfort, consistent with Ji et al. (2022) and the foundational theories of Höppe (1999) and Matzarakis (1999). The design strategies demonstrate a multi-seasonal and dynamic approach, not only optimizing winter radiation but also addressing the inherent contradiction of thermal needs across seasons through summer shading. This aligns with Taleghani et al. (2015), who identified semi-open forms as providing the best radiation-shade balance. The creation of spatial openings and small plazas (as proposed for Section D) extends beyond purely climatic solutions to create collective spaces and enhance social life, directly corresponding to Paale and Ginge (2025), who emphasize the link between urban form, thermal comfort, and public space dynamics, considering thermal comfort a necessary condition for civil life and citizen presence in the public realm. This research, by providing a quantitative and contextual model for intelligent enclosure management in urban streets within cold climates, not only contributes to the development of climate-responsive design knowledge but also provides operational tools for urban designers and planners to enhance environmental quality and public space vitality. The findings conclusively demonstrate that massing and spatial enclosure have direct and significant effects on pedestrians' thermal comfort perception. In cold climates, street design must ensure pedestrian comfort through maximum solar radiation absorption in winter and appropriate shading in summer. The use of deciduous trees, high thermal mass materials, and stepped building setbacks at higher elevations are among the effective strategies in this context. The research concludes that in north-south oriented streets within cold climates, the height of eastern building fronts affects morning radiation reception, while western front heights influence late-afternoon reception. Through physical modifications and passive solar design strategies—even modest increases in solar radiation—thermal comfort can be meaningfully enhanced. The innovation of this research lies in three levels: methodologically, integrating field measurements, microclimate simulation, and shadow mask analysis; analytically, separately analyzing eastern and western fronts to explain thermal asymmetry; and strategically, extracting quantitative, contextual setback patterns with specific angles (reducing western shadow angle from 29° to 20°, increasing eastern angle from 23° to 30°) that maximize winter radiation while maintaining building density. https://urbstudies.uok.ac.ir/article_64661.html Purpose: This study aimed to propose a comprehensive theoretical model using the Grounded Theory method to ascertain the factors affecting the residence-weakening process of Yazd city's historical fabric during the last four decades. Design: The research resulted in highlighting both the process model and the storyline of this phenomenon, indicating the weakening agent of social life and behavioral systems in the historical fabric of Yazd as the central and core phenomenon in the model. The causal conditions included a lack of participatory management, the absence of social mixing and diversity, the worsening socioeconomic balance of the fabric, the government's inattention to the successful experiences of other countries in reviving settlement, dwindling government support measures, and the incompatibility of the predominant housing pattern with the changing needs of today’s urban life. Findings: The emergence of the core phenomenon has led to three interconnected strategies, including reduced investment in housing, business recession in the urban fabric, and waste of accumulated social capital. However, the combination of these factors has gradually produced consequences such as the reduction of social status, the weakening of authenticity, and the erosion of sense of belonging, security, and identity in the fabric, eventually leading to the continuous outflow of a part of the population from the historical districts. Originality: The time has come for urban planners and policymakers to pay serious attention to the social dimension of regeneration. The development of tourism and the protection of valuable buildings is not the ultimate goal of regeneration but should be transformed into a cohesive tool for sustainable social development, the revival of neighborhood vitality, and facilitating the long-term settlement of residents in the historical fabric. https://urbstudies.uok.ac.ir/article_64706.html Highlights • Homelessness in Iran is shaped by a dual policy gap in definition and policy targeting. • The dominance of a supply-oriented housing approach has marginalized low-income groups. • Lack of formal data systems has rendered homelessness invisible in housing policymaking. • Housing policies have reinforced structural inequalities through financialization processes. • Policy evaluation (process and effectiveness) reveals a disconnect between development plans and lived housing realities. Extended Abstract Introduction Housing is widely recognized as a fundamental human right; however, global evidence indicates an escalating housing crisis, with millions experiencing inadequate housing or homelessness. Although homelessness is a multidimensional phenomenon rooted in economic, social, and institutional structures, its strong linkage with housing systems makes it a central concern in urban policy and planning. In Iran, despite the visible expansion of various forms of homelessness ranging from street homelessness to hidden housing insecurity this phenomenon remains largely absent from formal housing policy discourse. The lack of an official definition, combined with criminalization-oriented approaches and insufficient data systems, has contributed to its marginalization. This study evaluates the position of homelessness within Iranian housing policies and examines how housing policies have contributed to the reproduction or prevention of homelessness through their goals, interventions, and outcomes. Theoretical Framework This study is grounded in Clapham’s tripartite framework of housing policy analysis, encompassing rational, political, and structural approaches. These perspectives enable a multi-dimensional understanding of policy processes, including goal attainment, power relations, and the broader structural conditions shaping housing outcomes. The framework facilitates linking policy evaluation with the dynamics of homelessness within the housing system. Methodology The research adopts a qualitative approach based on a policy evaluation strategy, encompassing process evaluation and effectiveness evaluation. The study relies on documentary analysis across three analytical levels: (1) conceptualization of homelessness, (2) analysis of policy documents and development programs, and (3) assessment of policy outcomes and impacts. At the first and second levels, a process evaluation is conducted using political and rational lenses to identify implementation barriers and the gap between discursive goals and actual outputs. At the third level, an effectiveness evaluation is applied through a structural lens to analyze the causal relationship between macroeconomic housing policies and the long-term socio-economic impacts on vulnerable groups and the phenomenon of homelessness. Results and Discussion Findings reveal a systematic disjunction between stated policy objectives and actual outcomes. While the process evaluation identifies significant deviations in resource allocation, quantitative targets for housing production have often been met, yet indicators such as housing poverty and affordability have deteriorated. The analysis shows that housing policy in Iran is dominated by a supply-oriented paradigm, where housing production serves as an economic driver rather than a social right. The evaluation of policy effectiveness indicates that the absence of reliable data and the criminalization of certain forms of homelessness have led to its exclusion from policy priorities. Structural factors, including housing financialization, have further intensified inequality, pushing vulnerable groups into persistent rental dependency and chronic housing insecurity. Conclusion The study demonstrates that homelessness in Iran is the outcome of a dual policy gap: the absence of clear definitions and the misalignment between interventions and target groups. Unlike previous studies that have mainly examined homelessness or housing policies separately, this study evaluates the place of homelessness within Iranian housing policy across three analytical levels: conceptualization of the phenomenon, policy content, and policy outcomes. The overall evaluation of policy process and effectiveness suggests that housing policies have shifted from addressing social needs toward supporting economic objectives, particularly the expansion of the construction sector. Furthermore, the disconnect between development programs and the lived realities of low-income populations remains a key barrier. The findings indicate that without a shift toward recognizing homelessness as a policy priority and ensuring the effectiveness of social housing interventions, the current supply-oriented strategies will continue to reproduce structural inequalities in the housing market. https://urbstudies.uok.ac.ir/article_64707.html The contemporary world is experiencing rapid urbanization, with approximately half of the global population now residing in urban areas. However, if urbanization and urban development are not adequately managed, they can engender profound challenges, including inequality, social exclusion, and widening social divides within cities. In response to these challenges, this study addresses the lack of a systematic, ethically grounded framework for the concept of the "inclusive city" in urban studies. The primary objective of this research is to establish an ethical foundation for understanding the position and dimensions of an inclusive city. This is achieved by providing a multidimensional definition of urban inclusivity through a systematic literature review and an ethical evaluation based on four normative ethical theories: consequentialist (teleological), deontological, virtue, and contractarian ethics. The present study employs a qualitative research design, utilizing a systematic literature review (SLR) framework coupled with an inductive thematic analysis strategy for data analysis. The systematic review was conducted using the Web of Science database. Following a three-stage screening process based on the PRISMA guidelines, 48 peer-reviewed articles were selected for the final analysis. Subsequently, the core themes of the inclusive city were extracted from the selected literature using inductive thematic analysis. Finally, these extracted themes were analyzed as the underlying dimensions of the inclusive city through the lens of normative ethical theories. The thematic analysis reveals that the inclusive city possesses a multidimensional structure comprising four overarching themes: (1) socio-political justice; (2) physical form, accessibility, and urban infrastructure; (3) governance, participation, and planning processes; and (4) sustainability, environment, and quality of life. The ethical evaluation demonstrates that these dimensions are not merely technical or tactical planning objectives; rather, they constitute profound and strategic ethical imperatives. Consequentialist ethics frames inclusivity as the maximization of collective welfare subject to prioritizing constraints; deontological ethics grounds it in the inalienable rights and inherent dignity of every citizen; virtue ethics posits it as the manifestation of good governance and civic virtue; and contractarian ethics interprets it as the realization of a just social contract. This research offers an innovative synthesis of contemporary urban studies and normative ethics. By systematically bridging the "what" (dimensions) and the "why" (ethical foundations) of inclusive cities, this study provides a coherent, multidimensional conceptual framework for urban planners, designers, policymakers, and researchers to foster more equitable and inclusive cities for the future. https://urbstudies.uok.ac.ir/article_64711.html Modern cities have become increasingly vulnerable to human-induced threats such as warfare, as they have become increasingly reliant on centralized and complex networks for the delivery of infrastructural services. The present study aims at re-interpreting the garden-city model as a traditional and historical pattern of settlement to enhance the city’s resilience against wartime threats. The city of Khansar in Iran has been chosen as a case study. The research is based on a future-oriented paradigm and uses a descriptive-analytical method with structural analysis. Data were collected using a systematic literature review and the Delphi technique, with 15 experts in the fields of urban planning, disaster management and passive defense. Cross-impact analysis and MICMAC software were used to analyze the data and to investigate the relations of 23 variables affecting urban resilience under wartime conditions. The results show that among the research variables, 8 key variables of city scale, spatial dispersion and deconcentration, water resource security, biodiversity and natural infrastructure, ecosystem services of green spaces, public participation, economic diversity and community self-organization are the main driving and two-fold variables of the resilience system of Khansar and maintain a critical position in both direct and indirect analysis. The analysis of three alternative scenarios suggests that Khansar, with its natural and spatial assets (springs and qanats, extensive orchards, small urban scale, and dispersed structure) and social capital (active mosques, vibrant religious ceremonies, and kinship ties in historical neighborhoods), has great potential to be a “model city” for wartime resilience, provided that urban planning and crisis management consider the simultaneous activation of these drivers, especially the strengthening of social capital and the local economy. Otherwise, the continuation of the current trends including the extensive destruction of orchards, contamination of groundwater resources through traditional wastewater disposal and weakening of social interactions in new neighborhoods will lead to increasing dependency on external networks and the collapse of the city’s resilience in future crises. The findings indicate the necessity of preparing integrated plans and operational scenarios based on the identified key drivers, including the quantitative and qualitative protection of water resources, the increase of food self-sufficiency through the development of organic agriculture and local cooperatives, multifunctional use of orchards as green corridors, the empowerment of neighborhoods through the establishment of local crisis management councils, the dual-purpose equipping of mosques as emergency bases, the economic diversification through agro-processing industries and sustainable tourism, to enhance the adaptability of garden-city patterned settlements to complex human-induced threats. https://urbstudies.uok.ac.ir/article_64715.html Multisensory perception of urban spaces, particularly the role of non-visual senses such as olfaction, remains an underexplored area within urban studies. The present study aims to conduct a systematic analysis of smellscape perception in the historic Vakil Bazaar of Shiraz and to elucidate its role in shaping users' sensory experience. Grounded in the theoretical framework of smellscape and adopting a mixed-method approach, this research seeks to address the following questions: How is the smellscape perceived within this bazaar? Which odor sources exert the most significant influence on user experience? And what relationships exist among olfactory perception, subjective perception, and overall spatial perception? The research employs a descriptive-analytical methodology based on field data collection. The identification and classification of dominant odors within the study area were carried out using the novel scent-walk technique. Perceptual data were gathered through structured questionnaires administered to a randomly selected sample of 120 space users. Key indicators assessed included odor intensity, pleasantness, spatial extent of diffusion, and odor harmony. Data analysis was performed using correlation tests in SPSS software. The findings reveal that odors associated with traditional land uses—particularly herbal medicine shops (attari) and carpet workshops—exert the greatest impact on users' olfactory perception and function as identity-defining elements of the space. In contrast, odors emanating from newer commercial uses exhibit significantly lower levels of pleasantness and harmonic integration. Furthermore, a statistically significant correlation was observed among olfactory perception indicators, subjective perception, and overall spatial perception. The study concludes that acknowledging smellscape as an integral component of urban intangible heritage can effectively contribute to enhancing the experiential quality of historic spaces and strengthening the sense of place.