Investigating Lay Outing Criteria of urban catalyst projects in Historical Areas (Case study: Region 12 of Tehran)

Improper development of city, changes in socio-economic structure, mismatch of adjacent areas and inattention of urban management to historical areas on one hand and the opportunity for proper development and investment around the city on the other hand, have led to declining quality of life in historical neighborhoods and excluding from urban development process. Versus, returning to infill development principle and revitalization of lost urban spaces by creating attractiveness in historical contexts could be a stimulus for development of these areas. In this regard, implementation of urban catalyst projects in urban historical contexts is inevitable. This applied research seeks to explain and prioritize lay outing criteria of urban catalyst project in historical contexts. For this purpose, historical context of region 12 of Tehran despite of its valuable historical potential was selected in the center of old city of Tehran.

This research is descriptive-analytical and uses Fuzzy Network Analysis (FANP) method to prioritize criteria. Thus, after studying the theoretical fundamental of research by documentary-library method, appropriate criteria for lay outing urban catalyst project were weighted by factor analysis method and entered in the Super Decisions software for evaluation.

findings show that pedestrian priority, job creation and capital attraction are the most important criterion among the criteria for lay outing urban catalyst projects in the historical context of region 12 of Tehran. Also, the least importance was given to improving public transportation, reviving cultural and historical heritage and environmental quality criteria.

 It could be concluded that facilitating pedestrian movement and creating employment play a significant role in lay outing urban catalyst project in historical context. Unlike popular belief that revitalization of cultural and historical heritage is the most important factor in stimulating the historical area, this criterion was ranked among the least important criteria.