Evaluating Space Justice in Urban Areas, Case study: Quaternary areas of Shahriar

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the spatial justice in different dimensions (physical, social, economic, and environmental) in order to have balance regarding four regions of Shahriyar city. The spatial justice approach in a city is used for controlling and reducing the physical-spatial inequalities as well as a fair distribution of municipal services and facilities in different areas of the city. In this study, the spatial justice of four areas of Shahriyar city was evaluated with 13 criteria and 27 indicators. This study was carried out through exploratory-analytical research method that used two models of the analytic hierarchy and the shortest distance. Eventually, the final map of different access levels was drawn through combining fuzzy logic with these two models. The findings and obtained results through Topsis model indicated that area 1 of Shahriyar city had the highest rank in social, economic, physical, and environmental indicators. However, the area 3 had unfavorable economic and physical conditions, and area 2 had unfavorable environmental conditions. Having integrated Topsis and Fuzzy models, it was shown that areas 1 and 2 were considered as privileged regions and areas 3 and 4 were respectively determined as the semi-privileged and nonprivileged regions. Moreover, the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) method indicated that areas 1 and 4 had better conditions and areas 3 and 2 are respectively on the lower levels. Finally, after combining the results of fuzzy and AHP models, the final map was designed. It showed that the areas 1 and 4 were privileged regions; areas 3 and 4 were respectively the semi-privileged and underprivileged regions of the Shahriyar city. Generally, the results of this study indicated that the physical-spatial development of Shahriyar city was unbalanced and did not meet the conditions of equity-based city.