نشریه جغرافیا و توسعه فضای شهری
سال چهارم شماره 2 (پیاپی 7، پاییز و زمستان 1396)

Walking is one of the most basic means of moving throughout cities. Since the emergence of modernist urbanism, there has been an emphasis on developing cities to facilitate automobile rides which has led to paying little attention to providing suitable urban spaces for walking. However, such an approach has changed during the recent decades and streets are taken into consideration once more as a public urban space. New urbanism is one of the common approaches to modernize the cities. Given the transition from vehicle-oriented to human-oriented approach, it is of substantial importance to promote the pedestrian-oriented streets.
The general purpose of the present study is to investigate, assess, and improve the pedestrian-oriented approach on Sajjad Boulevard, Mashhad, in light of the new urbanism approach. This district was selected with respect to its demographic attraction along with its functions as a place for spending leisure time. The present study seeks to provide answers to the following questions: What are the main indices in assessing urban routes with respect to the new urbanism approach? What are the problems regarding the pedestrian-orientation approach on Sajjad Boulevard? What strategies can be proposed to improve the pedestrian-oriented aspect on Sajjad Boulevard?
The following hypotheses guided the present investigation.
First- The effective indices on the pedestrian-oriented aspect are in compliance with the entire ten-fold principles of the new urbanism approach.
Second- Due to a set of obstacles such as the absence of walking facilities, inaccessibility to the public transport, etc., the pedestrian-oriented features of Sajjad Boulevard have been weakened.
Methology: The present study was conducted through the descriptive-analytical approach using case samples. Given the purpose of the study, this inquiry consists of two main parts: Introducing indices and criteria of assessing the pedestrian-oriented aspect with respect to the new urbanism approach using library studies and assessing the indices using questionnaires, documentary studies, observations, analyzing the present maps, and softwares including GIS and SPSS.
In this study, the pedestrian-oriented indices were assessed with respect to the new urbanism approach on Sajjad Boulevard, Mashhad. Using tools such as observations, questionnaires, documentary studies, and map analysis, the following results were reached regarding each principle: 1. Walkability: Only the two indices sidewalk width and lighting have been positive, while flooring quality, urban furniture, W.Cs, and facilities for the disabled were considered as negative.
2. Connectivity: Both of the indices in this principle were positive.
3. Mixed use (land use system): As the indices including the presence of mixed use, attractive urban applications, and the block size index have been relatively positive, the principle was taken as positive.
4. Presence of valuable elements (attraction): As the indices including human scale and visual attractions were observed as relatively negative and positive, respectively, the principle is assessed as average.
5. Conventional structure: Depending on the maps regarding the historical process of the physical development of Mashhad’s metropolitan area, there is no particular historical or architectural element representative of the special identity of this district. Consequently, the principle is assessed as relatively negative.
6. Diversity: While the first index was relatively negative, the two indices including diversity in bodies and diversity in buildings were observed as moderately positive, thus, the diversity principle on Sajjad Boulevard was taken as positive.
7. Density: The density principle was assessed as relatively positive as it was the case for the indices of residential and commercial densities.
8. Green transportation: The principle was assessed as average, given the fact that three indices were relatively positive, one index was relatively negative, and the other was negative.
9. Environmental sustainability principle: With two relatively positive indices and a relatively negative index, the principle is considered as relatively negative.
10. Quality of life (Social): As the number of pedestrians and safety were positive, and the walking culture was average, the principle is assessed as relatively positive.
Evaluating the pedestrian-oriented aspect of Sajjad Boulevard, the connectivity principle was assessed as positive indicating a more desirable status among the ten principles of the new urbanism approach. As the area of study was devoid of historical texture as well as special identity, the principle of historical structure can be considered as being in the most undesirable condition compared to the other principles of the new urbanism approach revealing that the district requires identity empowerment.
In order to improve the pedestrian-oriented aspect on Sajjad Boulevard, Mashhad, 17 strategies were laid out, among which six were offensive, four were adaptive, three were contingent, and four were defensive. As the pedestrian-oriented aspects on Sajjad Boulevard were assessed as relatively positive, the route happened to be at an offensive state; consequently, priorities must be given to the strategies that can exploit the positive aspects. Six offensive strategies among the total of 17 are listed below in order of priorities: 1. Continuity in assigning purposeful roles for the route concerning urban applications
2. Attempts to promote investments and participations from Astan Quds Razavi
3. Strengthening and restoring social and physical values to conserve the identity of the route
4. Planning and designing walking spaces in order to strengthen social interactions as well as the pedestrian-oriented aspects
5. Organizing marginal green environments to provide urban spaces
6. Employing encouraging policies to establish applications with no time limits

Megaprojects as extensive investment projects are increasing recently in large and metropolitan cities in Iran. The projects, mostly based on public-private partnership, are defined to stimulate urban development or provide necessary facilities and infrastructure. They are considered as tools to promote the city conditions at national and international levels. However, some theorists argue the negative consequences of the projects while explaining the risky, problematic, and deceiving side of the megaprojects. Many megaprojects have been constructed in Mashhad. The city, as a destination for many pilgrims and tourists, and a hub for commercial and industrial activities in the east of Iran, has considerable potentials for development and competitiveness. Mashhad’s municipality encourages the urban projects based on public-private partnership in various ways due to its dependence on the revenues of construction work. While the projects are considered to provide better and modern services to facilitate, it seems that they have had a reverse effect by the saturation of built-up areas and commercial spaces in Mashhad. This paper tries to assess the effectiveness of megaprojects in Mashhad and their compatibility with urban context through sustainability assessment of the projects.
Megaprojects are considered as urban catalysts according to the neoliberalism ideology. The recent generation of the projects is mostly brownfield developments related to tourism and sport facilities based on the public-private partnership approach. The globalization, regional competitiveness, and privatization along with the technological improvement have led to the boom of mega and large-scale projects in cities.
Megaprojects may result in the provision of public spaces, services or infrastructure improvement. However, the economic prosperity which the projects usually seek are incompatible with the local economy and may hurt it. They also change the physical identity and the existing urban structure while damaging the social capital with social segregation and exclusion. In addition, compared to the normal projects, the projects have considerable environmental footprints.
Focusing on megaprojects in Mashhad, the present study analyzes the effectiveness of megaprojects through the concept of sustainability circles. The concept assesses the sustainability through four dimensions: economic prosperity, social improvement, physical and cultural vitality, and environmental resiliency. The main approaches to the research are case study and survey. The case studies include large-scale renewal projects (Great Project of Shohada Square and Majd Project) and brownfield development (Sepad Tourism Zone). The survey which was administered to 387 persons including the experts, residents, and businesses in or surrounding the projects. Alpha Cronbach was used to test the reliability of the questionnaire. Based on the result of the coefficient (0.94), the questionnaire proved to be reliable.
The results show the megaprojects in Mashhad are far from the sustainability concept in almost all aspects. All projects have not been satisfactory which it can be related to opposites of these projects with previous owners, residents and tenants of their fields. Majd and Shohada projects have been shaped in distressed areas. Thus, they destroyed the buildings, and they changed the urban structure, the place identity, and the urban spaces in order to build modern areas. Also, the projects led to a lot of commercial and office areas which are more than the city demands, so many of which are not strong enough to result in economic prosperity. Sepad, in its reproduction has created some picturesque architecture, commercial and recreational complexes, and related public spaces. It has also addressed the demands of general pilgrims and tourists of Mashhad through widespread advertisements to attract the people’s attention. Thus, Sepad has been more successful than other megaprojects regarding the economic and physical aspects.
Megaprojects in Mashhad are built to solve the challenges of distressed areas, mitigate traffic problems and provide modern services and infrastructure while they bring new challenges to the cities. The challenges could be related to the nature of megaprojects and their conflict with sustainable development to some extent. As the projects inherently seek for the place promotion and social improvement through the creation of new urban spaces and the attraction of the more affluent citizens, they may damage the historical identity and the social capitals as well. The projects include extensive environmental footprints and change in the urban ecological system. In addition, although the projects may promote some economic indexes of competitiveness, they may result in the degradation of the local economy which is relied on the urban assets and the residents’ skills.
Generally, megaprojects in Mashhad have not taken appropriate steps to economic prosperity, social improvement, place promotion, and environmental improvement. But, their wrong orientation and the lack of long-term vision in economic development have led to the saturation of commercial spaces and intensification of the building recession in Mashhad. The projects, also, delimit the probable trend of investment in other industries and entrepreneurship activities. In addition, although the projects have provided transit station, public parking, and streets, they put multiple pressure on urban networks, infrastructure including power, water, and sewage systems by overloading the built-up area.
In conclusion, megaprojects are inherently in conflict with sustainability and context-oriented development, especially, if they are defined based on an up-down decision-making process and lobbying exclusively between developers and urban managers.
There are forces in urban development arena that cause the continuation of megaprojects in large and even smaller cities in Iran. Therefore, the practical way to control and limit the forces and eliminate the negative impacts of megaprojects, would be the empowerment and legalization of the system of control along with supervising mega and large-scale urban projects. Using the sustainability factors, economic prosperity, physical and cultural vitality, social improvement, and environmental resiliency are recommended as the conditions for the approval of megaprojects.

The appropriate allocation of space and optimal location of the urban services and physical elements, especially the cultural centers along with paying enough attention to effective factors in locating these centers have a significant role in improving the quality and quantity of services in such centers. Therefore, in distributing public facilities, libraries should be considered in terms of resident's access to the best location. They should be economically and socially justifiable. Therefore, the creation and expansion of libraries- basically, the creation of suitable facilities for studying- is considered as the necessary factor for the perfect life of the knowledgeable people.
Theoretical Framework: From the sub-criteria of urban development, one may refer to the appropriate location of public services, especially the establishment of library centers, which has a positive role in providing citizens with public services. Therefore, locating appropriate libraries and accessing them represents a chain of educational, guidance, and awareness-raising systems that can improve the general level of citizen's awareness. Among the main goals of libraries, we can refer to the internal and external aspects that can show how people use the facilities. This is associated with rich resources, good employee behavior, having diverse sections, and the high level of services. Among the external aspects affecting the rate of referring and using the library, one can refer to the way in which libraries are geographically located and distributed at the urban level. Thus, the location of libraries and how they are distributed directly or indirectly affect how people use and refer to the libraries (Mokhtarpour, 2009).
The current applied research has a descriptive-analytic approach. The library and field method (observation & questionnaire) were used to collect the required data. Hence, in the first step, the criteria affecting on locating of libraries, including 50 main criteria and sub-criteria were determined. Subsequently, based on the identified criteria, a questionnaire was designed to weighting these criteria. The questionnaire was designed using Hierarchical Analysis (AHP) and the views of experts. In the next step, by using Geographic Information System - GIS software) version 10.3(and spatial functions, and by applying the weight to the layers and combining the layers, the situation was investigated and the zones were determined.
In recent years, access to the public services has become a very common concept and has attracted the attention of planners and scholars. Therefore, access to the public services and the provision of their needs are a multidimensional influential concept in the social sciences and in many other disciplines. Thus, it has attained a special attention in the relevant literature and some believe that it is a missing piece in the citizen's livelihood requirements. In Iran, due to the urbanization and its related issues, access to the public services, including library centers in urban neighborhoods has led to the development of awareness and intellectual development in the urban areas over the recent decades. The study area of this research is located in Mashhad, a city in the east of Iran, with a history of more than a hundred years. It has undergone many changes in terms of urban and cultural development. Like all other cities of the country, in the last three decades, with the commencement of land provision in Iran, there has been a significant increase in taking the public services such as the growth of culture and education into account. Therefore, on the one hand promoting public services and raising awareness have been addressed in these urban neighborhoods and on the other hand, having access to the library services has attracted the urban managers and planners. Thus, it has led to improvements in locating libraries in the urban centers. As a result, the adaptability of Astan Quds Razavi libraries to the centrality and compatibility is considered in the current study.
The findings of the research showed that a number of the libraries located in the areas are completely incompatible. Therefore, in determining the degree of adaptability of the libraries to the centrality, it was found that 24% of the libraries are in perfect locations, 33% are in the proper locations, 22% are in a relatively good location, and 17% are in the wrong locations. In general, 24% of all affiliate libraries were in a perfect location. Also, the findings show that in order to achieve proper productivity, prior to any planning for the establishment of a library, adequate studies should be done on the correct location from the point of view of centrality and compatibility. Therefore, according to the results of field studies and the research on the establishment of Astan Quds libraries, much work is needed to improve the quality and quantity of services in these areas compared to more compatible and appropriate areas. This should be among the very concerns of the official managers and organizations.

In today’s world, the economic and social inequalities are an increasing issue. Accordingly, one of the features of developing countries is the intense concentration and inequality. This common feature is due to the results of polar growth policies, therefore, the whole power and services are concentrated in one or some regions and other regions are functioning as marginal. Regional planning has been introduced to balance and form appropriate and standard spaces. The first step in regional planning is to recognize the economic, social, and cultural inequalities. In Iran, such inequalities have grown and one of the specific features of spatial development is the regional inequality because the arrangement and organization of geographical spaces have been designed according to the capitalism. Therefore, different regions of our country have developed unequally. While some of the significant cities have the maximum services, the other parts have not developed socially and economically. The inappropriate distribution of infrastructures and services is one of the important and fundamental deficiencies that is observable in tourism plans and researches within the Iranian context. The desirable tourism services and its optimum distribution to tourists and consumers can help balance the other functions of tourism. Therefore, based on this fact it is very essential to pay attention to equal distribution of services. Besides, because the correlation between supply (service providers) and demand (tourists) depends on the access to services, this matter has special complications. In this regard, the distribution of tourism services is more critical than the other services because it has a significant role in the mental well being of the tourists. Fars is one the most important centers of tourism in Iran and has numerous tourist attractions at regional, national, and international levels such as Pasargad, Perspolis, Naghshe Rostam, Naghshe Rajab, Hafiziyeh, Sadeyeh, etc. that attract a large population of tourists annually. Therefore, it is important to pay attention to the balanced and optimum distribution of services in all the regions of the province. The balanced spatial distribution of services is one the most important indications of spatial justice, so, the tourism planners have the serious responsibility of bringing spatial balance to services and facilities. Thus, the goal of this research is firstly to apply the indicies of spatial statistics along with the analyses of geographical information systems to recognize the spatial inequality of tourism facilities in the province and, secondly, to provide the appropriate planning to balance the access to services. Finally, the present study aims to attain the social and spatial justice throughout Fars.
Methology: The research was an applied and descriptive-analytic research. In this study, we have used two spatial base units: the official unit (political districts of Fars) and the conventional unit (Fishnet) or Modifiable Areal Unit Problem (MAUP). To analyze the data as well as the extensive use of geographical information system techniques such as combination of maps, adjoining the layers to base units, spatial statistics such as spatial correlation technique, Moran index, G statistic, average center, and standard deviation curve have been used.
To analyze the spatial distribution of tourism services in Fars, at first, the tourism services criteria and indexes were specified and then the required data were collected from the relevant organizations. The criteria and indexes that were used in this study consist of commercial services (fast food restaurants & supermarkets), reception services (welfare services complexes), accessory services (petrol stations & car washes), human infrastructures (police stations, cultural, & religious centers of a town or village), and tourism attractions (historical, natural, and religious). Finally, the data of base layers were added and thematic maps, distribution of services, and the tourist attractions of the province and the amount of spatial statistics and their results were sketched.
The findings of this research demonstrate that the tourism services in Fars are totally distributed unfairly and the sketched maps confirm this matter, too. The results of spatial statistics show that the commercial, reception, and accessory services have weak correlation and also have followed the cluster pattern. The maximum density of these services is located in central parts of the province and in Shiraz, Marvdasht, Zaraghan, and Arjan. Also, the human infrastructures have excessive density in the northern parts of the province. The tourism attractions are concentrated in central parts of the province. Therefore, the tourism services are located in the central parts such as the Shiraz and its surroundings but the south and southwest parts of the province have the minimum facilities. Besides, it is necessary to be mentioned that the elongation of the standard deviation curve of services is northwest- southeast. In this study the official and conventional base units have been applied. The application of conventional base units is more suitable than the official ones because our information has homogeneous spatial patterns that reduce the geographical distortions. Moreover, the use of spatial statistics and the features of geographical information system in distribution of services in the areas can help the planners to eliminate the spatial inequalities.

In order to reach welfare and get rid of basic lifestyle's problems, human beings took actions for architectural and urban problems in different eras of modernism, new urbanization and post-modernism; even though the changes brought comforts in some aspects, they caused humanity to experience disasters, which led to cultural and religious losses. Living in apartments in high densities as well as high-rise towers are among such disasters and religious cities are not exceptions in this regard. The religious city of Mashhad follows this modern lifestyle and urban managers must arrange plans through which religious ideals are followed in the urban structure.
The aim of this study is to familiarize urban managers of Islamic cities, especially municipalities, with jurisprudential principles in managing urban affairs, architecture and urbanism, and other urban affairs. That is, those important issues that if consider jurisprudential teachings, the citizens will be capable of enjoying peace in addition to comfort.
Since the subject has two aspects, which studies both jurisprudential principles and conformity of such principles in Mashhad religious metropolis, the first section of this study focuses on a descriptive and explanatory research method through using library resources, quotations, narratives and valid jurisprudential books and jurist's opinions. In the second section, a field study approach is used through using statistics provided by the municipality, department of mosques affairs, department of sports and youths, Astan Quds Razavi's libraries and ministry of guidance. The statistical society consists of thirteen areas of Mashhad.
The present study is a supplementary for the previous studies in the field of architectural jurisprudence and urban planning or specific parts of jurisprudence which take urban requirements, namely roads, neighboring rights, the distance between cities and homes into consideration even though some unspoken angles are left which require more studies in the field.
Shia Jurisprudence (Fiqh), for the Islamic countries to get out of modern problems of urban communities has proposed some solutions such as specific Islamic construction principles (privacy and high buildings), governance over construction issues, observing justice in distribution of urban facilities, and disseminating Islamic culture. Besides, the present research studies the degree to which the city of Mashhad has conformed to these principles and the findings are as follows.
In construction principles, in order to respect individuals’ privacy, the distance between any two buildings, having determined the confines of the two passageways, is set to 5 cubits (equal to 2.31 meters); however, in the city of Mashhad, no specific rule except for “seamless disconnection”, which is a negligible distance, has been formulated. Regarding high-rise buildings in Shia jurisprudence, in line with accepted quotes, the basis is to construct structures horizontally, with stipulated heights of 7, 8, or 9 cubits (equal to 3.23 meters, 3.68 meters, 4.15 meters, respectively) which is the distance from the ceiling to the roof, and in the city of Mashhad, it is 7 cubits for every story. However, constructing other flours, unless necessary, is not lawful. According to the principle of Islamic rulers’ governance, an Islamic ruler can issue a verdict for construction violations or even demolish buildings with such violations. In the city of Mashhad, construction violations in 2015 were 31% lower than they were in 2014.
Regarding upholding justice in distribution of urban facilities, Islamic Jurisprudence (Fiqh) highly emphasizes on the fact that management might be even impaired if justice is not upheld. Investigations concerning public places with asphalt mat revealed that, in Mashhad, in poor neighborhoods, the ratio of asphalt-paved streets in the outskirt of the city to the entire city was 67% in the year 2014 and 53% in the year 2013, which is a considerable leap and seems that justice in this regard has been upheld, although the figures of the year 2015 are moderated. As for the urban fleet, the number of stations and the length of the city-bus routes have increased by 2.5% and 3.4% respectively, indicating a better distribution of resources.
In Islamic jurisprudence, dissemination of Islamic culture is an inseparable requirement of an Islamic city and in the city of Mashhad, considering the number of mosques per capita, 242 more mosques are required and city municipality's 110-mosque plan can, to some extent, close the gap. Similarly, in the case of libraries, taking all the libraries of the city into account, city's per capita library space is 2 square meters, which is a far from the objectives set in the Fifth Development Plan. An important point to bear in mind concerns urban elements and statues which are indicative of Islamic culture’s dissemination. City managers, in Mashhad, have been able to take effective steps toward religious culture, sacrifice, martyrdom and resistive economy; however human statues, are not fully compatible with Islamic jurisprudence.
Considering the importance and necessity of jurisprudence principles in architecture and urban spaces, it is suggested that the city municipality hold some sessions regarding urban architecture and planning, invite experts from universities and Hawzas(Islamic school of theology) so that new districts of the city are built in agreement with Islamic considerations and based on knowledge, with all necessities such as mosques and schools. It is also suggested that a division called “the division for tracking architectural jurisprudence principles and planning” is created in the municipality, and that their opinion is adopted in construction projects and in issuing certificates of construction completion.
Considering the breadth of the issue and other potential unobserved aspects, it is suggested that the present research is expanded in future studies, dissertations, and group works.

The role of green spaces in urban development is highly significant, to the extent that it is considered as an index of sustainable development. Through the perspective of urbanism, an urban green space is regarded as a part of cities’ anatomy and morphology. In other words, green spaces along with the physical structure of the city indicate its overall body and appearance (Hosseinzadeh Dalir, 1992). The physical and natural impacts of these spaces in urban systems as well as their ecological, social, and economic efficiencies in the structure of societies are undeniable. As a part of cities’ overall appearance, green spaces are considered as natural phenomena and a subject to which humans are constantly exposed. The ever-growing population has led to the extension of cities and excessive population density, intensifying the need to increase functional services, especially green spaces (Saeedinia, A. 2000).
Having an urban green area of 774.5 acres, Yazd city has a population of 582682 people. This city consists of three regions in which many districts from regions 1 and 2 are a part of the primary and old core of the city. During the past few decades, the city has witnessed a rather rapid growth toward industrialization. The study and investigation of vegetation require conducting extensive field operations and often involve a set of limitations including costs, time, facilities, and equipment; subsequently, the most suitable method would be remote evaluation and its useful techniques for assessing urban environments such as green spaces. Therefore, many researchers have employed data collected from remote evaluations in order to examine vegetation, making the technique a proper approach for conducting these types of studies (Huete, 2004). As a matter of fact, the use of remote evaluation indices is the new, prevalent view in the area of examining vegetation (Drysdale & Metternicht, 2003). To demonstrate the changes in Yazd city’s green spaces, the information collected from TM and ETM sensors of landsat satellite bands in the years 1987, 1999, and 2015 were used; then, the NDVI index was calculated for the aforementioned years in all three regions of the city. Following the indication of NDVI index on images, the total area of green spaces in Yazd was calculated twice, whilst taking into account the gardens, and vice versa. In order to conduct an accurate analysis, five parks including The Great City Park, Qadir Park, Daneshjou Park, Haft-e-Tir Park, and Azadegan Park were selected as the field data for sampling, once by points (four corners and the center of the park) and once as a whole (park’s area). In order to identify and separate the gardens, areas with such functions were found in each region using Yazd’s zoning map as well as considering the 1987 image as the basis; then, garden zones in all three regions were identified and separated using Google Earth.
The results of the study showed that regions 3 and 2 encompassed the smallest and largest green areas in 1987, respectively. Given such results, changes in green spaces of region 3 have been positive as the growth of green areas mostly included urban green spaces rather than gardens. Furthermore, the extents of urban green space area, changes in use, transformation of gardens into residential regions, and other urban uses were reduced by 271.71 acres during the past thirty years; meanwhile, 332124 people have been added to the population of Yazd during such time. The highest reduction in green spaces during these years is 205 acres which has occurred in region 2. According to the results, the green spaces in regions 1 and 2 have been decreasing during these years. Meanwhile, the development of such spaces in region 1 has been growing since 2005. There has been fewer changes in green spaces of region 2, in which gardens and green environments are of considerable importance due to their old age. In region 3 however, green spaces have been growing with the highest increase of green environments per capita taking place in 2015.
Given their considerable importance, gardens should be unrestricted and a set of budgets and policies should be assigned for their maintenance and conservation; this way, gardens are revived and become more effective in the organization of urban landscape. The presence of correct planning and policies is necessary for the development and conservation of urban green spaces. In general, adherence to a set of principles such as improving the public’s role through education, the society’s use of urban green environments, their ecological efficiency, and refining legal policy making and financial frameworks could guarantee the success of urban green environment management mechanism. As a result, it is necessary to increase green areas in addition to a proper distribution and developmental planning in line with conserving gardens while increasing green space per capita, especially in regions 1 and 3.

Focus on the studies of the environmental quality goes back to the 1960s (Connerly & Marans, 1985). The importance of the studies of the environmental quality stems from the measurement and comparison of different housing environmental potentials (Sive & Chertok, 2013), because the measurement and comparison of environmental quality between different areas, not only for researchers but also for residents, workers, managers and policy makers in the public and private sectors are important (Blomquist, Berger & Hoehn, 2001). Although quite detailed studies on environmental quality assessment have been done, the criteria are not developed in the operational programs.
To check the environmental quality of housing, researchers have focused on three main issues. The first issue is to review the relationship between environmental quality of residential areas, welfare and comfort of the inhabitants. The latter focuses on the sense of the inhabitant's satisfaction of the house and its surroundings. Finally, the third issue is related to the environmental quality as a factor in structure of housing price. The literature of this paper is organized according to these three themes. Different researches have used several different methods and indicators for measuring environmental quality and gathered some instances for heterogeneous areas of cities in different time periods (Kamp, Leidelmeijer, Marsman & Hollander, 2003). It is expected proposing new topics for Tabriz metropolis helps to clarify the issue.
Several studies have been conducted regarding to the impact of environmental features on housing prices. Almost all studies in this field were exploratory and focused on the impact of environmental quality on housing prices. Rosiers,Theriault, Kestens & Villeneuve (2007) have defined environmental quality as one of characteristics of neighborhood units and evaluated the impact of these components on housing prices. They found that all the characteristics of neighborhood units are important and make a positive effect on housing prices. In the analysis of distribution of spatial inequalities of access and environmental quality in the metropolitan area of Paris, Palma, Kiarash, Picard & Waddell, (2007) recognized major investments of local-welfare facilities in the housing market. The importance of different environmental attributes associated with housing prices was assessed by Chau, Yung, Leung & Law, (2006) through exploring resident's environmental sense. Also Potepan (1994) concluded that the sale price of housing depends on the amenities associated with the residential area of neighborhood units and despite the high cost of housing, prosperous areas are selected in migration to cities. In a more general perspective, Rogerson (1999) has investigated the impact of absorbing new investments on environmental quality in urban development patterns.
Obviously, the components of the promotion of environmental quality section are of particular importance, which have a positive impact on both housing prices and rental prices. Instead of determining the effect of the price of environmental quality on housing prices, this exploratory study addresses the relationship between the level of environmental quality and housing prices. In this paper, environmental quality is assessed on the basis of environmental and housing characteristics and subsequently a consistent relationship between the level of environmental quality and housing prices is reviewed. The geographical scale of the study area covers 29 neighborhoods in the city of Tabriz. The range of indicators is the level of environmental quality for residential areas that includes both objective and subjective-perceptual indicators. It also ranks the level of environmental quality for residential areas based on geographic levels.
Tabriz metropolitan indicators are a set of multidimensional data over time included the objective and subjective characteristics of the residential environments. In this paper, we selected 28 indicators of environmental quality. These indicators have been classified into six main groups: 1) social indicators, 2) economic indicators, 3) indicators of access, 4) perceptual problems of housing environment, 5) satisfaction of the housing environment and 6) housing characteristics. Social indicators describe the number of persons per household, educational level, population increase and crime rates in residential areas.
Three distinct groups in the metropolitan areas of Tabriz are introduced through the level of environmental quality indicator. In 4 of 29 neighborhoods, the level of environmental quality indicator is greater than 1 and in other sets, the level of 14 neighborhoods is below zero. Also in 11 districts, the environmental quality indicator is between 0-1.
Despite some exceptions, compatibility between environmental quality indicator and sale price of housing in the metropolitan area of Tabriz is remarkable. The three dispersion diagrams provide the evidences of positive linear relationship (slope = 1402/0). However, this analysis is exploratory. To test the intensity of linear relationship between housing prices and the level of the environmental quality indicator, the test of correlation coefficient was used. The test proves that there is a strong and positive correlation between the level of environmental quality indicator and the sale price of housing (The Pearson correlation coefficient is 0.596 and is significant at 0.01). This means that the rising level of environmental quality indicator refers to the increasing prices of housing and vice versa.
Although the correlation coefficient confirms the linear and positive relationship between two variables, it does not reflect the dependency between them. To test the dependency between the level of environmental quality indicator and housing sales prices, the chi-square test was used. The null hypothesis is that the two variables are independent and the variable to be tested against these two variables is dependent. The results of the test proves that these two variables are related to each other (chi-square = 19,432, sig = 0,008); as a result, any change in the level of environmental quality indicator means a change in the price of housing. In addition, the level of probability coefficient is close to 1, which confirms the high dependency between two variables.
The results are: 1. there is a strong and positive correlation between the level of environmental quality indicator and sale price of housing in the metropolitan area of Tabriz 2. The level of environmental quality indicator and the average sales price of the housing are dependent variables.
In this study, the relationship between the level of environmental quality and sale price of housing in metropolis of Tabriz was investigated. The study was conducted in two stages. Firstly, the environmental quality indicator was developed using principal component analysis. Secondly, the relationship between environmental quality indicator and sale price of housing was investigated. Therefore, the correlation coefficient and chi-square tests were used. The results show that there is a strong and positive linear relationship between the environmental quality indicator and the sale price of housing in the metropolitan area of Tabriz and the environmental quality indicator and the sale price of housing are dependent variables.
The results of the study are important for several reasons. The results increase the understanding of the resident's environmental sense and the assessment of the environmental characteristics associated with the residential environment and can be used by decision makers in the public and private sectors, including planners, allowing them to obtain environmental quality indicator at the district level through a comprehensive view. Also, the results indicate that the environmental quality of residential areas can be part of the metropolitan area's competition, because the higher the level of environmental quality indicator in a given area is, the more the housing price in that area will be.
The main limitation of this study is the lack of time series data. The analysis is based on limited data that doesnt provide an opportunity to control and monitor periodically. Therefore, improving the environmental quality indicator based on criteria such as the number of family members, stage of life cycle and duration of residence can be the subject of subsequent studies.

As providers of general goods and economic development infrastructures, governments may face periodical crises caused by surplus accumulation or they could be placed under sanctions, preventing them from playing their common role. Large cities and metropolitans can be considered as geographical fields that play the significant role of pioneers in national development as well as interacting with the world economy (Piri, 2012). Given the presence of social, economic, cultural, and political complexities in such fields, the entire national and transnational developments are reflected in socioeconomic relations among metropolitans. Similar to metropolitans, social macrostructures have always involved dialectical relations. Circulation of capital inside the regional geography of metropolitans (Harvey, 1987; Piri, 2012) has surpassed local and national borders to reproduce itself, occupying vast fields considered as consumer markets for the products of its factories and manufacturers. Consequently, the nature of the capital and various economic sections become subject to a set of extensive developments. Social capital is the result of relationship among actors in frequent games (Piri, 2011). The central theme here involves the fact that through participating in a collective life, people could become members to various groups that reflect their own identity, norms, beliefs, and priorities, while shaping such norms themselves (Macinko & Starfield, 2011).
The present inquiry is a descriptive-analytical research using field studies. Questionnaires were used as the research instrument with a sample population that included entrepreneurs and industrial managers in Tabriz. Using the Cochran formula, approximately 200 people were selected for the sample population. One-sample t-test was used in order to demonstrate the relationship between the study’s independent (social capital) and dependent (entrepreneurship and economic development) variables. Economic sanctions act as a change of context and the items corresponding to variables can be specified given how they act under sanctions.
The nature of economic development in post-Keynesian metropolitans has been changed from the dominance of production atmospheres to consumer environments. Meanwhile, mass consumerism has been transformed into private consumerism. Through the perspective of post-modernist political economy, the evolution toward post-Fordism accumulation system is a turn from mass production and consumerism to flexible production and private consumerism.
The platform for mass, collective entrepreneurship is preceded by the participation of major stakeholders and shareholders of the city including the state, private sector, market, civil society, and local communities.
The following factors should be taken into account in providing the context for collective entrepreneurship:• Legal requirements of sharing the benefits among members and shareholders
• Constant rehabilitation of skills and ongoing education (as creativity and entrepreneurship entails a creative destruction process, the continuous rehabilitation of the members’ skills is essential)
• Private and public consumption marketing (in order to continue their activities, social entrepreneurs require marketing in private consumer markets within geographical and cultural boundaries. Private consumerism is mostly the product of transition from Fordism to post-Fordism systems.)
Corporate and spatial branding (given the cultural and socioeconomic developments occurred through transition to post-Fordism, the activity success and the continuous profitability of collective entrepreneurship is preceded by the quality of the goods as well as the ability to compete in the market. One of the main approaches of marketing is corporate branding.)
Collective entrepreneurship could begin using location-based goods. Brands such as Tabriz Carpet, Rafsanjan Pistachio, Liqwan Cheese, Sar-daroud Pictorial Carpet, etc. have become famous due to their geographical titles. As a result, they could be utilized by collective entrepreneurs at the same geographical location.
Under economic sanctions, governments would rely on domestic socioeconomic, political, institutional, cultural, and geographical resources so that the damages caused by sanctions could be avoided by producing and circulating capitals. Sanctions could bring about problems such as economic collapse, threats against social solidarity, political tyranny, etc. which would lead to a more complicated, challenging economic condition; nonetheless, reliance on pioneering metropolitans in leading the national economy and offering the context to reproduce regional capitals is another approach which could provide dynamic resources inside the region along with increasing governments’ activism against sanctions and reducing the aforementioned damages. Metropolitans are highly capable of significant production, supply, and services to domestic and international consumer markets as well as offering a vast supply and demand market to manufacturers and entrepreneurs. Given the restrictions caused by sanctions, both the state and society would rely on their own local properties; here, social capital is one of the important elements of extracting and utilizing such properties in line with the economic development of metropolitans.
The results of the study show that connective, relevant social capital plays a role of utmost importance in entrepreneurship and economic development under sanction conditions; these capitals could act in flowing national capitals in metropolitan areas within a cultural framework of Iranian products and brands.

When cities have the two virtual and real spaces, it is an urban population movement managing to provide peace and security to its citizens through rationalizing urban population movement. In an electronic city, information services are given with no temporal or spatial limit (Safari & Kanaani, 2007). The use of new technology and communications in municipality as a service-providing organ leads to the establishment of an extensive, integrated, and secure structure to provide urban services. Urban services include assessing all the needs of the people in the city in terms of providing urban services and increasing the welfare of citizens (Mousazadeh, Bazzi, Mirkatouli, & Farrokhzad, 2015). Gorgan, city is the capital of Golestan, is one of the most populated cities within the region. Every day, there is a massive movement of people across the city. Living in an electronic city will be time and money saving for both citizens and the government. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine the feasibility of implementing an electronic city in the urban area of Gorgan.
This research is descriptive-analytical using survey method. Delphi method is used for the use of urban experts’ opinions. The statistical population of the present study includes experts in the field of urban management and information technology in Gorgan. Since the correct number of the study population is not available, an estimated number of 70 people were selected. Finally, the data were collected through a questionnaire and analyzed using SPSS software in an attempt to find the best solution to implement an electronic city in Gorgan.
Regarding the feasibility of the implementation of an electronic city in Gorgan, 20 factors influencing the development of the electronic city have been considered. In fact, the impact of these factors has been measured by experts. In addition, the Chi-Square test has been used to examine the components which were used to measure the use of information technology in Gorgan from the viewpoint of experts and managers. With regard to the results, it can be said that in relation to most of the components of information and communication technology, the infrastructure has been launched from the viewpoint of experts and managers. The findings of the multivariate regression coefficient show the impact of the components of creating a suitable environment for encouraging investors in the information technology sector, expanding computer and internet education to all classes of society, helping protect the privacy of the individuals, making the commitment of urban macro management to building an electronic city, having suitable control, monitoring the system, long-term strategic thinking at the macro level of the country, the most important factors are the creation and formation of electronic city in Gorgan.
Gorgan, the capital of Golestan, is one of the densely populated cities of the region with many offices throughout the province which has a massive population movement from all over the city every day. Thus, if the electronic city is established, it will save time and money for citizens and the government. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to examine the feasibility of implementing an electronic city in the urban area of Gorgan. The statistical population of the present study includes experts and managers of urban management and information technology in Gorgan. However, since the correct number of the study population is not available, an estimated number of 70 were selected to administer the researchers’ made questionnaire. Finally, the data were analyzed using SPSS software and the best solution to establish the electronic city in Gorgan was presented. The results of the regression test indicate that there is a significant relationship between the component of computer and internet education in all sectors of society and the long-term strategic thinking at the macro level of the country with the formation of the electronic city. The Beta coefficient explicitly demonstrates the above relationship.
Depending on the Beta coefficient the following suggestions are made in order to establish an electronic city in Gorgan.
• Creating the culture of using computers and the internet among all classes of Gorgan
• Compulsory payment of bills and installments via the internet and information technology
• Have a comprehensive and strategic plan for the development of the electronic city in the long run
• Establishment of working groups in Gorgan governorate and municipality for the development of information and communication technology
• Establishing appropriate infrastructure for the development of information and communication technology in the city

The main aim of this research is to study the relationship between the variable of land price and building density in the first zone of Tabriz megalopolis so that a proper understanding of the study of building density, recognizing the potentials of development, height increase and determining the final potential of the neighborhood and areas of the first zone of Tabriz municipality and the most important point of building density, that is economical facet with land is acquired The hypothesis was that having in mind that there is a relationship between building density with the most important subject of density, that is economical facet with land price, it seems that there is a direct and positive relationship between land price and building density in the studied area.
In the principles of the research, the concepts of building density and land property have been studied. Building density is one of the most important subjects in urban planning, in such a way that, in every work done on urban management, we can see a hint on density. Building density is the ratio of the building foundation to the area of the land.
Land and housing as an asset. Or in some instances as an investing asset, are heavily influences by the economical characteristics of a city and the influences of the different factors affecting the city economics are reflected in land and housing prices.
The research is functional regarding the aim and is analytical, explorative and based on field study regarding the essence. Secondary data has been acquired using library methods and primary data has been acquired from real estate agents. The research equipment is based on Pierson method. After gathering data from library and field methods, these data will be organized using a GIS base and will be classified according to the need and byusing these bases, the map of the area will be produced and for drawing the tables Excel.13 software has been used.
The results showed that there is a significant and direct positive correlation between price and building density in every time and place. This coefficient is .697 for the first period (2006-2011) and .724 for the second one (2011-2015). So, the increase of land price in the areas studied will increase the height of buildings and will also boost buildinf sky-scrapers.
If we look at the review of the related literature, in spite of the fact that the researchers have not had grappled with this subject directly, all the results of them are quite the same and they show that there is a direct relationship between land price and building density. That is, the higher the price of the land, the more the building density will be. Of course, it is possible to have a reversal relationship in other areas which is need of comparative study.
According to the studies and collected information in this study, the lack of balanced urban facilities among the neighborhoods in the first region of Tabriz is visible, which causes a large difference in land prices and housing between the neighborhoods of this area. This is contrary to urban justice.
In Tabriz, as one of the metropolises in Iran, the cost of buying land or so-called dilapidated has been close to 50% of the whole cost of building housing, which means that land is considered as the main building component. According to this, the average price per square meter of land in Tabriz 1, especially in the eastern part, reaches 7 million tomans, while the share of land price in construction and per square meter of residential construction is almost equal With one million USD; Therefore, Taking into account the level of land occupancy in each building, the level of density in each building construction and the fact that the price of the land is calculated based on all the foundation, the price of per square meter of land reaches about one fifth in each square meter of residential construction. This fact clearly indicates the full correlation between land prices and construction density even when the cost of land price is prorated in the number of construction floors.
According to Researchers of the current research approved the hypothesis but because of the probability of inverse conclusions in other areas, we are in need of further comparative research. Some suggestions, in two areas, are proposed for the use of urban managers and academics:• It is a necessity that urban facilities and services be distributed in an equal and balanced way so that sharp increase in land and house price can be prohibited.
• -Forming of a commission for setting land and house price in each area to prevent sharp increase in land price in some of the neighborhoods.
• Urban organizations’, like municipality, monitoring on land transactions and building construction for preventing land dealing.
• -Proposing a functional method in calculating the maximum building density and at the same time, respecting the characteristics of housing blocks.
• Studying comparatively the relationship between the variable of land price and building density in other areas.

Citizenship represents a set of rights and obligations between people in the society and to the society administrators. Urban law, specifically, regulates the relationship between citizens and urban management. Awareness of this law causes the people to have better monitoring of urban management, to better claim their rights, and to know their tasks towards the others and urban management and to do them. Thus, awareness of the urban rights could lead to active citizenship. The aim of this study is to investigate and analyze the impact of urban right awareness on the active citizenship in Sabzevar. The hypothesis of the present study is that citizen's awareness of urban rights has a significant effect on their active citizenship.
This study takes the descriptive-analytical approach. It is a correlational study in which the correlation between awareness of the urban law and active citizenship is concerned. Data collection is conducted through library and field. To collect the data a questionnaire was designed for the field study. The geographical scope of the research is Sabzevar in Khorasan Razavi province and the North East of Iran. The target population include the citizens of the city (about 243000 people) from which the sample size of 384 people were randomly selected. The statistical test includes simple-sample t-test and Pearson correlation.
To measure variables of awareness of urban law and active citizenship, items have been introduced to be asked from the residents in 5-point Likert scale. To test the levels of these variables, one-sample t-test has been used. The research revealed that awareness of urban law is low.
Citizens of Sabzevar have little awareness about the administrative structure of urban management, municipal revenue sources, electoral laws such as elections of city council, awareness of Article 100 of municipal act (related to urban constructions), rules of sidewalks, laws of maintenance, repair, and construction of public places, the responsibilities of urban management (municipality, city council) to the citizens and also the citizens’ duties for urban management.
This research also revealed that, some of the components of active citizenship are at a low level and some of them have high level .In general the level of active citizenship is higher than average.
The main hypothesis of this study is related to the effect of legal awareness on active citizenship. According to Pearson analysis, the correlation coefficient between the effect of awareness of citizenship rights and active citizenship is about 0.409. The significance level (sig = .00) approves the significance of the relationship between the variables at a significance level of 99 percent. Accordingly, the people who have more knowledge of urban rights have more active intervention in the urban affairs.
An important conclusion of the study is that the citizen's awareness of urban rights has significant impact on active citizenship, so, increasing this awareness can increase the active participation of the citizens and active citizenship. Therefore, it is suggested to municipalities and other urban management institutions to have massive effort to train citizens to improve their legal awareness. This increase in awareness makes people have a better understanding of the legal framework of the duties of municipality and the urban management institutions which can help them not to have high expectations. Instead, with the correct understanding of the responsibilities of the institutions, they can better monitor their performance in case of violation or the failure of duty. Citizens who were aware of their responsibilities attempt to help the urban development. However, this active intervention cannot be achieved only through awareness and other criteria are required for the active participation. Including the fact that the structure of decision making and urban management must be participatory.

Historical districts in Iran have been the primary source of Iranian cities coming into existence. These districts are of artistic and historical values as they bear various principles and features of ancient Iranian-Islamic architecture and urbanism. Among these features, coherence is one of the most significant characteristics which is the result of connections between the various components that form different works of architecture and cities. Regardless of their exuberance inside, our cities in the past involved a coherent form. There are two trends regarding the factors that offer coherence in the cities of the past; some scholars consider such a unity as a result of the unitary perspective of Muslim architects while others have pointed out general principles governing physical-spatial organization as the main factors forming this concept.
Population growth along with the emergence of modern technologies has led to the development of city structures, in which unity and coherence as well as other principles of architecture and urbanism of the past are absent. Such developments in cities have brought about shapes that not only broke apart their previous coherence, but also failed to provide unity and consistency in their new forms. Subsequently, cities and districts became a set of buildings and spaces as independent, distinctive structures with no clear connection to their adjacent elements. Therefore, in order to preserve the structure of historical districts as well as revive neighborhoods in which certain interferences have taken place, paying attention to the coherence aspect is of substantial importance.
Methology: Space Syntax is a theory and a tool for analysis in architecture and urbanism which is based on studying how social and spatial forms are connected. This theory asserts that to gain a profound understanding of urban spaces, the individual role of each single space in a micro scale is of less significance compared to its roles in combination with other urban elements, i.e., in a macro scale considering the whole urban system. The main idea in this theory involves the notion of space configuration, the purpose of which is to describe how constructed places such as buildings, networks and urban streets are formed. In particular, the concept also deals with how such components are articulated and linked together. Given the aforementioned definitions, the concept of coherence entails connections among various elements. As a result, the most important part of coherence in historical districts that is connections between spatial structures as well as how a social or cultural meaning is expressed, is evaluated using space syntax. Spatial structure is the main organizing force that governs cities and districts. Hence, there exists a bidirectional connection between spatial structures and social organizations. In the present study, the integration index was selected for analyzing coherence in the intended spaces using the axial system in the space syntax method. The integration index marks connections or disconnections between a part and the whole or a second degree system. A space with higher accretions to other spaces involve high integration.
The Aghajani Beig district involves the highest mean extent of coherence as it is more integrated with its adjacent districts and there are less streets and interferences in this neighborhood. However, it is confirmed in various studies that there is a direct relationship between integration and the extent of people’s presence in the environment. In this regard, a higher comprehensive integration as well as a higher number of connections between spaces in each passage has a positive impact on the number of pedestrians. Consequently, people are present more in this district and more social interactions are formed as a result. On the other hand, Kolapa district entails the lowest mean extent of coherence as it is located far from the congested areas of the city. Nonetheless, numerous interferences have taken place for its development, the consequences of which involve less separation between private and public fields along with insignificant presence of population in public areas. the minimum extent of coherence in four main districts is the same which denotes the similarity between their structures. Constructions in historical districts were carried out in a way as to avoid spatial fractures more than usual; as mentioned, it was attempted to offer coherence and unity in cities by adhering to the principles that govern urbanism. To this end, the maximum extent of coherence lied within the center of districts; the center of Kababian district is more coherent compared to other neighborhoods which has led to the more significant presence of the community along with social interactions forming among them. Kolapa district involves the least extent of coherence at its center due to inactive applications in the area as well as excessive developmental interferences leading to insignificant presence of the population and fewer social interactions.
The analysis of the findings shows that one of the effective features in coherence between spatial structures of historical districts is the presence of a single centrality for the district that has always been a proper environment for forming social interactions among citizens. Another feature includes the hierarchical structure of allies and passageways that indicate the private and public areas of the neighborhood as well as the extent of people`s presence in those fields. Historical cities and districts were coherent as they featured such characteristics, yet there are physical-spatial forms emerging in contemporary urbanism which are the result of neglecting the process of coherence in historical districts along with failing to learn from them; shortcomings are district growth in macro scale in the form of checkered networks with no centers, the absence of spatial integrations between various elements and their surrounding urban textures, increase in the number of missing spaces, development of vehicle transportation networks, the absence of hierarchy between realms, and contradictions among different patterns of space and mass combination having formed cities and districts as separate areas. These factors have diminished hierarchies regarding private and public areas and led to insignificant presence of people and frail social interactions among them in public fields.
If the central, hierarchical structure of a district and its passages are conserved, the coherence between spatial structures and their resulting social constructs would not be eliminated. In general, the less there are destructions of historical contexts and new construction projects in a neighborhood, the more coherent their structures are. All in all, paying attention to the principles of local architecture and urbanism and adhering to them can play a significant role in inhibiting and organizing developments in urban districts. Though some may believe that the role of local architecture and urbanism within the modern urbanism process is declining, the instances of historical cities and their values for people can be an appropriate indicator for committing to those local features.

According to United Nations forecasts, almost all of the world's population growth will take place in the urban areas, especially in the Third World Urban areas (Raphael & Dafna, 2006), and by 2030, roughly 60% of the world's population will live in urban areas (Gharakhlou & Hosseini, 2006). Due to the high volume of investment and the deployment of many facilities and economic instruments, and most importantly the large number of inhabitants, cities are always exposed to numerous threats and dangers. Whether these are natural threats, such as flood and earthquakes, or non-natural ones such as wars and terrorist attacks, etc., the only means is establishing defensive and security considerations and the adoption of necessary measures in urban plans using multifunctional spaces, which can play a significant role and have a significant impact on reducing the vulnerability of urban residents to threats. Therefore, this research has been carried out with the aim of studying and identifying the multi-purpose uses of religious practices (mosques and Husseinieh) in Miandoab city. With regard to the data and information available, it seeks to answer the following questions: How are religious uses (mosques, Husseinieh and rebellion) in the city of Miandoab distributed according to the principles of non-operating defense? And do all the residents of Miandoab have access to religious access (mosques and Husseinieh) in times of crisis and threats?
This applied research is descriptive and analytical. Field data and documentation have been used to collect data. Also, for analyzing the data, the network analysis method of the GIS software was used to determine the accessibility of residents of each urban district to the facilities and the nearest neighbor index to determine the distribution of uses in the environment.
The result of the analysis of data regarding the nearest neighbor approach was 1.058. This indicates the random distribution of this application in the city of Miandoab. The results of the network analysis also showed for a 10-minute walk, the whole city was not covered by religious applications, while within a 15-minute walk, the whole city was covered by this service. Also, the results of the Buffering command (according to the mean running speed of men which is 6 km/h, people can only walk 955 meters in 573 seconds to reach the shelter), all residents of the city have access to these applications in the shortest possible time. Finally, the results of the dispersion coefficient method in Miandoab was 5.5, which indicates inequality in the distribution of religious application among six city districts.
Cities and urban spaces are also mainly exposed to damage from military strikes and natural disasters, such as earthquake flood or landslides. Damage caused by these human and natural phenomena in residential areas is more than other urban environments. One of the most important protective programs (in this area) and in the area of urban civil engineering and construction is the provision of shelters that are considered as non-operational defense targets. Miandoab city is one of the plain towns in the southern part of Lake Urmia, which due to its natural location and position in the country's divisions, is exposed to many human and natural disasters. The findings of the research show that religious uses (as a multi-use shelter) in the city have not been systematically programmed. But they have been established by the land devoted to and financed by local people. And the residents of the city do not have full access to these uses within 10 minutes, and most residents of the city have no access to these applications. Also, by using a buffering technique in the GIS environment, it was also found that a normal human being had access to these uses fully on foot within 15-minute walk. The difference between the results of the network and buffer analysis method is in terms of the type of communication network. In the buffer method, without considering the type of communication path or barriers available for accessing these uses, the service range is determined, while in the network analysis, the estimations have been more accurate and according to the type of communication network and the speed of the calculation, and the results are more accurate than the buffer method. Considering these results, an important issue was also addressed, which is the capacity of these centers. With the mere access to these uses, it cannot be said that all residents of the city can easily benefit from this. According to the results of the study, the per capita religious density was found to be very high (5.50) in the six areas of the city, indicating the instability and inequality of the per capita level in urban areas. Therefore, in order to use the religious service in Miandoab as a multipurpose use (shelter), first the mosques are to be renovated, and second the capacity of this use should be considered with regard to the population in urban areas.

Today, in the studies of housing sector, the quality dimensions of housing, along with investigating the aspects of quantity provision of housing needs should become one of the essential components of housing programs because housing is a fundamental component of quality of life as well as sustainable development. Housing indicators are used to study the housing sector because housing policies in different societies are based on these indicators. Indicators are a proper tool for evaluating government policies and programs in the field of housing. Given the qualitative attitude of the housing sector in recent years, the importance of housing quality indicators covering quantitative indicators has also great importance and value. Nazarabad city has major problems due to the rapid growth in recent decades in the housing sector. Therefore, it has been selected as a case study.
The method of this research is descriptive-analytic and it is an applied research objectively. In this research, two library and field methods have been used. In the library method, by referring to books and articles related to the subject under discussion, theoretical foundations and the experiences of the subject have been developed. Regarding field method, the data is collected by regulating, distributing and completing a questionnaire. Distributing the questionnaire and gathering data were done using stratified random sampling. The statistical population is the residential units of Nazarabad city in its six areas. The total sample size is determined using the Cochran formula of 378 residential units. For the extraction of indicators, the study background as well as new theories in the housing sector, such as healthy housing, green housing, sustainable housing and flexible housing were used. Subsequently, with the emphasis on the hypotheses, the status of housing quality indicators in Nazarabad urban areas was investigated.
- It seems that the general status of housing indicators in Nazarabad is not desirable.
- The status of housing quality indicators in urban areas of Nazarabad is different.
In order to evaluate the respondent's opinions about the housing quality indicators in Nazarabad city, including social, environmental and physical indicators, a single sample t-test is used. To prove or reject the first hypothesis, the desirability and undesirability of these indicators are first measured using a single sample T test. According to the existing tables, the single sample t-test in social indicators, environmental index, and the physical index is 88.654, 68.590, and 70.263, with significance levels of 0.05, respectively. The total indicator of Nazarabad city is 83.268 and the significance level is 0,05. So our null hypothesis is rejected. Therefore, the status of the social housing index in Nazarabad is not desirable. Regarding level of housing quality indicators in urban areas of Nazarabad using VIKOR model and according to the ranking based on Q value, in terms of quality indicators, area 2 of Nazarabad has a better status than other areas and can be considered moderately developed in terms of housing quality indicators. Areas 4 and 1 also have moderate status in terms of housing quality indicators. Areas 3 and 5 not have a desirable status in terms of qualitative indicators, and in terms of these indicators, they are in a less developed status.
Achieving desirable housing status is considered as one of the indicators of social economic development in the countries of the world. Because of the widespread and complexity in housing studies, housing indicators should be used. Housing indicators also have two types, they are either quantitative or qualitative. Nowadays, given the importance and prevalence of debates such as quality of life and quality of housing, the dominant view in housing studies can be a qualitative look. To achieve appropriate and new qualitative indicators in the housing sector, given the theoretical framework of the research as well as new theories in the discussion of housing, the quality indicators extracted and regulated cover the housing quality status in Nazarabad. Regarding investigating status of Nazarabad city with the combination of physical, social, and environmental indicators and achieving a final indicator, the single sample t-test statistics equal to 83.268 and a significant level of 0.05, the lack of desirability of the general index of housing quality in Nazarabad is confirmed. Regarding the second hypothesis, i.e., the level of urban areas of Nazarabad based on the housing quality indices, VIKOR model was used. The results of the model show that the area 2 (0.40616), area 4 (0.490123), area 1 (0.588758), area 3 (0.641734) and area 5 (0.643027) are ranked 1 to 5, respectively. i.e., area 2 has more desirable status than other areas and is semi-developed in terms of quality indicators. And areas 3 and 5 are less developed and have relatively undesirable status in terms of quality indicators.
According to the findings, the following suggestions are recommended to improve the housing quality status.
- Providing a strategic plan for Nazarabad housing.
- Improving the access of residential units to urban services with new locations in urban facilities and equipment
- Using the potential and capabilities of urban population to organize and plan in residential districts
- The use of new technologies in building housing to enhance safety, including warning systems
- Restoration and improvement of worn-out tissues and strengthening of old residential units with the approach of empowerment and popular participation