فصلنامه اقتصاد و مدیریت شهری
پیاپی 4 (پاییز 1392)

On-the-job training in organizations is one of the methods of empowering the staff; such trainings are gradually inclined to electronic ones due to the development of technology. One of the criticisms leveled against organizational trainings is their ineffectuality and many believe that the new approach can make it much more effective. The current article aims at making an investigation into the effect of on-the-job e-training on the economic performance of municipal managers through making the training effective. The population of the study was all the managers of different districts of the municipality of Tehran from among whom 360 were randomly selected. The instrument for collecting data was a questionnaire the reliability and validity indexes of which were estimated through standard methods. Research hypotheses were tested using Spearman's correlation coefficient and Structural Equations. The results indicated that the advantages of implementing e training have significant effects on training effectuality which improve the economic performance of the very managers.

The current article aims at qualitatively evaluating of the indexes for the plans for tourism development management in Firouzkouh. The data were collected through surveys and evaluated descriptively-analytically. Research population was the tourists traveling to Firouzkouh for leisure and visits from among whom 278 tourists were selected via Cochran formula. To evaluate indexes, a questionnaire, comprising 16 close-ended and 3 openended multiple choice items, was developed wherein the factors contributing to attracting tourists were considered. SWOT model was used to evaluate opportunities and strengths as well as internal weaknesses and external threats in Firouzkouh. Through SWOT model and via hypotheses, a question was posed, “what are tourism plans in Firouzkouh and what effects do they have on Firouzkouh tourism development?” The results indicated that organizing different festivals in Firouzkouh may be one of effective factors in tourism development plans, counts to be among the strengths of the very region. Geographical location of Firouzkouh has received considerable attention in qualitative evaluation of the indexes and the plans for tourism development, the other strength of the region. Building camps alongside the mineral waters would be a successful plan in developing the tourism of the city which can be a strategy and an opportunity for overcoming the weaknesses in tourism. Identifying the exact location of natural and historical sites are not only among the indexes contributing to the development of the tourism in the region but also are among the strategy and opportunities for minimizing the threats and applying the strengths in the tourism of Firouzkouh.

Ecotourism, as a modern phenomenon, with a tourism purpose behind, involves observation of and enjoying nature as well as natural and cultural phenomena and landscapes and it can be referred to as one of the new sources of income to serve the purpose of sustainable development. Hence, identifying the capabilities and the methods of developing ecotourism is of great importance in various geographic regions. To this end, the current research investigates into the feasibility of developing ecotourism in the city of Ramsar. The required data were collected via utilizing library research and English references as well as via referring to the related literature and have been analyzed through SWOT-FANP and FUZZY Techniques. The results help identifying existing potentials and weaknesses in the city of Ramsar and showing the fact that what minimizes tourism attraction barriers and maximizes domestic and foreign investors in line with economic development are primarily qualitative and quantitative enhancement of welfare and service facilities provided concerning the location of the city in the context of the nature and then exploiting all potentials of the city, including historical, natural and etc. Also, suggestions will be made improving ecotourism in the very region.

The current article investigates into the role and effect of approaches, policies, and functions of local government (as one of the effective factors in labor demand) on the structure and status of employment in such cities as Tehran and Montreal. The research method is descriptive-analytic and data were collected through direct observations, review of deeds, reports, and the information published by official organizations and interviews with domestic and foreign experts. The results show that the differences of planning system and policies of urban management in the two countries of Iran and Canada, in general, and in the two cities of Tehran and Montreal, in particular, have significant effect on the rate of employment and unemployment. Such an effect is readily observed both in quantitative and qualitative dimensions. The results of the comparative study of local management system of the cities of Tehran and Montreal indicate that, in both cities, the issues of employment and developing business opportunities have been the focus of attention and in both of them, though differently, plans, strategies, and executive measures for providing employment opportunities and entrepreneurial activities have been done. However, from among the problems the management system of the city of Tehran encounters in employment and providing business opportunities are weak legal considerations, lack of contribution of private sections, and the discrepancy between the what municipalities have done and the plans of the ones at the top of the decision-making hierarchy. Therefore, identifying and clarifying the cultural-social structure of urban employment and the effect of local management system on the quantity and quality whereof can help policy makers and decision makers with creating, organizing, and appropriate planning for employment.

Small cities, as a link among big and middle cities and urban villages, can be influential on service giving centers in urban hierarchy and regional development; as a result, they are in many planners, focus of attention. Urban system in Iran, besides, are revealing the fact that small cities do not enjoy a great influence in giving services to their own boundaries. This also holds true in the case of Isfahan. Isfahan province included 101 cities in 2011, 85 cities of which are considered small cities (less than 50 thousand people). The current article aims at making an investigation into the role and function of small cites of Isfahan province in urban system and regional development. The research method is descriptiveanalytic in which quantitative models and statistical methods are applied. According to the surveys made through Rank-Size Model, the gradient of the line increased from 1956 to 2011. The Entropy Index of the cities of Isfahan province stands witness to the spatial imbalance. Via a survey based on L. Q. Index, the industrial and services sections in the city of Nain are economically justified as basic sections and the study of the influence factor of Nain based on developing method of Morris determines different layers of services. What has diminished the function of such cities in urban system and regional development is insufficient number of middle cities (with population of 100 to 250 thousand people) in urban hierarchy and is the intense centralization of facilities in the city of Isfahan. As a result, supporting small cites and encouraging investment in them may pave the way for achieving a balanced spatial structure in the whole province.

Development of cities and urbanization and the gradual increase in the number of large cities in the world, especially in developing countries, on the one hand, and expansion of cities, centralization and accumulation of population and the enhancement of economicand environmental burden on them, on the other hand, while brining the cities in the foreground, have resulted in the cities’ adopting numerous roles and functions. One of the important issues most large cities of the world are dealing with is the issue of natural disasters. With regard to the unexpectedness nature of such events and the necessity to make quick and proper decisions and taking the required measures, the theoretical and fundamental principles have given way to a body of knowledge entitled “Disaster Management”. Such knowledge refers to a set of actions taken prior to, during, and following disasters so that the resultant damages are reduced and the vulnerabilities are minimized. It is possible to reduce the consequences of natural disasters via observing principles and regulations for urban development and through clarifying the current concepts in the knowledge, like the structure of the city, determining the functionality of urban lands, communication networks, and the infrastructure of the city. One of the Iranian cities which is more susceptible to such a problem than the others is the city of Shahrekord. The city, due to its geographical location and its positioning among various mountain ranges, and also because of the ravines inside and around and highly vulnerable vaults surrounding the city, is very prone to natural disasters. On the other hand, due to haphazard development of the city, in case of any probable disaster, like floods, a large portion of southern city will be negatively affected. Via an analytic-descriptive method and through field study, the process of empowering disaster management to reduce natural disasters, like earthquakes and floods, is case-studied in the city of Shahrekord. The results of the study indicate that via proper management, effects and damages caused by natural disasters can be reduced. Besides, by analyzing the collected data via AHP method and by using GIS software, attempts were made to identify appropriate path to the development of the city, aiming at disaster management in upcoming years.

Improving the quality level of central areas of a city is among the major purposes of urban management and plans so that taking proper approaches could lead to revitalization of economic and social texture of such areas. Such an issue takes precedence when two factors are considered: first, the potential of such city textures in satisfying the current requirements of citizens has declined over time, resulting in deficiency in their effectuality which would make the very texture prone to abandonment, and second, the old textures are the symbol of history of a city with which the city is identified. With regard to the fact that the Complex of Hassan Padeshah of Tabriz is located in the central section of the city, it will not rule out the very claim. However, urban plans and measures with taking some policies like focusing on the suburban development have increased the imbalanced city development which threatens a city to get worn out from inside. The question posed here is whether or not the value of central quarters of the city of Tabriz has dwindled over recent decades. It is hypothesized that the development of suburban areas which is under the influence of urban management measures is a parallel factor contributing to the decrease in the value of central section of the city. Therefore, an investigation into the process of changes in the quality of central section of the city due to measures taken by the urban management and implementation of urban plans over the last 25 years has been the major cause behind the current study. To serve the objectives of the current research, mixed method (field and deeds study) was utilized and the analysis was made based on comparative-inferential method and trend analysis. The results indicate that Tabriz urban management’s taking dual stance against the central section and the suburban areas has devalued the central section of the city from social, structural, and economic aspects.

Heterogeneity between urban structure and the requirements of the population has given way to cultural and social problems which are sometimes insurmountable in a way that the range of social, economic, and cultural changes has extended to political domains. The absence of a management and planning system and of a democratic supervision, in a centralized one-way approach, affects planning and surveillance system and gets the urban management into trouble. Therefore, implementing a unified local, regional, and cooperative management would be rendered impractical and the plans for democratic and identified urban development would lose practicality and legitimacy. In other words, the structure of city management is in line with the structure of country management and there should be correspondence between the two structures. A city, as a part of national sovereignty, has a general nature which has various components. Due to such properties, the city requires macro-management at local and national levels so that the balance of city development and its correspondence with the whole structure of the country could be maintained. Therefore, the government, via rules and regulations, takes the role of a leader of macro-policies and the municipality is responsible for multilateral planning for the whole system of the city and is the supervisor for implementing the plans for neighborhoods and regions which help keeping to the structure and regulations of the city. The current managerial structure of the cities in Iran does not correspond the participation of people in managing cities. The purpose of this article is offering proper methods of increasing citizens’ participation in the structure of urban management. To this end, utilizing comparative-descriptive research method has been suggested to help actualizing public participation while observing the features of Iranian culture and following the successful structure of neighborhoods and cities, hence, to create the basis for utilizing the benefits of such participation, non-governmental companies have been introduced. Naturally, the new structure will face legal obstacles, technical regulations and standards, planning and management methods, current organizations of municipalities and some state institutions, and the absence of job-description models. With reforming current municipal regulations and structures in favor of the new structure, it is expected that the new structure, in the framework of city-, neighborhood-, expertise-, and processed-based strategies, recreate the structure of the cities in form of identified neighborhoods and regions and make them a better residential place for today’s citizens.

In order for the municipality to finance its current and developmental needs, it would resort to the internal (operational income, public budget, savings, etc.) as well as the external resources. Internal financial resources of the municipality are not usually sufficient to enable the municipality to run urban projects which are vital for the city; therefore, the municipality is forced to finance the projects via transacting with the financial system external to its routine resources. Municipalities, in order to finance its projects and plans, obtain the required credit from financial institutes which are active in financial markets, e. g. banks, to ease their financial issues. The cash thus obtained is used for current operations and development, so an income is gained or a service is provided in the city. The current research aims at investigating into the interaction between municipality and the financial system so that the role of external financing and the efficiency whereof could be probed. Due to the limitations to collect the required data, comparisons were made between Tehran municipality and those in other countries for a period of 5 years (2007-2011). The results show that Tehran municipality, comparing with its counterparts, has significantly lesser used external financing in its projects and that there are necessities and preconditions for utilizing external financing for urban projects in areas such as transportation and urban services. External financing for urban projects has long-term benefit for the municipality of Tehran.