خلیل حاجی پور

Environmental stress is one of the most significant consequences of physical, environmental, traffic-related, and social pressures in urban spaces, and the perception of this stress can directly affect the quality of urban experience and the mental health of citizens. This study was conducted with the aim of identifying the dimensions influencing the perception of environmental stress and explaining the mechanism of its formation across three types of urban fabric in the metropolitan city of Shiraz. To this end, 1,600 citizens were surveyed along Hazrati Street (historic fabric), Zand and Afif-Abad Streets (intermediate fabric), and Maali-Abad Street (new fabric). The research instrument was designed based on nine main dimensions: physical–functional, visual–aesthetic, functional performance and population attraction, transportation and traffic, environmental–ecological, safety and resilience, perceptual–cognitive, socio-cultural, and economic. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Spearman correlation, and stepwise regression analysis.The findings indicate that five dimensions—economic, visual–aesthetic, environmental–ecological, socio-cultural, and functional—remained in the final model and accounted for the greatest contribution to the formation of perceived environmental stress, with varying levels of intensity across different urban fabrics. The results provide a multilayered representation of the interaction among environmental factors and demonstrate that environmental stress is a multidimensional phenomenon arising from the synergistic effects of physical, perceptual, and social factors. Finally, a set of urban management and design strategies is proposed to reduce stress in urban streets.

 Housing is a critical decision and a major investment for households, characterized by heterogeneity and the complex interaction of multiple intrinsic characteristics. Its value arises from a set of structural, spatial, and environmental characteristics. In developing countries such as Iran, rapid urbanization and policy challenges exacerbate housing issues and make it essential to understand the determinants of housing prices. This study addresses a research gap in Shiraz by quantitatively analyzing the impact of spatial variables on housing prices in Valiasr neighborhood using the Hedonic Pricing Method (HPM). The research classifies the variables into internal (physical-structural) and external (accessibility and environmental-spatial) indicators to build a reliable pricing model.

This applied research has a descriptive-analytical and correlational approach. Data were collected from 117 housing transactions in Valiasr neighborhood from April to October 2022. Primary data collection included structured questionnaires and semi-structured interviews with real estate agents. From an initial set of 38 spatial variables, 27 variables were selected for the final analysis after applying scientific criteria.

Dependent Variable: 

Price per square meter (MPrice and its log form LnMPrice).Independent Variables: Physical-structural indicators (e.g., usable area, year of construction, type of structure), accessibility (e.g., distance to metro, bus, parks), and environmental-spatial indicators (e.g., road width, security).Spatial analysis was performed using GIS and Open Street Map (OSM)-based network analysis to calculate walkable distances to urban services. Statistical analysis and HPM estimation were performed in SPSS 26 software, and both linear and semi-logarithmic forms were tested through Enter and Stepwise regression methods.

The comparison of the estimated models revealed that the semi-logarithmic model developed using the stepwise method (Model 4) was the most effective in explaining housing price variations. Out of the 27 independent variables, only 6 were statistically significant in the best-fitted model (Model 4). The final estimated semi-logarithmic regression equation is as follows:Ln(MPrice) = -6.954 + 0.018*(Build_age) + 0.012*(Width) + 0.155*(Security) + 0.002*(N_Area) - 0.649*(H_Typo) - 0.079*(Structure)The results indicate:

Positive and Direct Effects:

 The variables floor area ratio(N_Area), year of construction (Build_age), road width (Width), and security (Security) have a positive and significant relationship with housing prices. This means newer buildings, larger usable areas, wider roads, and more security (e.g., alley guards) increase property values.Negative Effects: The variables housing type (H_Typo) and structure type (Structure) have a negative and significant effect. Specifically, apartments (H_Typo) and concrete structures (Structure) were associated with lower prices per square meter compared to other types.

The results highlight the important role of spatial variables in housing prices. The superiority of the semi-logarithmic model is consistent with some previous studies but contradicts others, highlighting the suitability of the model for any context. The positive effects of usable area and building age reflect preferences for spacious, modern houses. Road width and security emphasize the value of spatial and environmental quality. The negative associations with apartment type and concrete structures may reflect local market preferences or perceptions of quality and safety. The integration of HPM with GIS-based spatial analysis effectively decomposes housing value, with stepwise regression effectively identifying key predictors.

This study provides a measurable model that identifies key spatial drivers of housing prices in Valiasr, Shiraz. The most influential factor is the building's construction year. The findings are valuable for:Urban Planners: Informing evidence-based policies and development priorities.Investors: Identifying opportunities and understanding market dynamics.Policymakers: Designing targeted interventions and effective housing regulations.Future research should expand the geographical scope, consider more detailed environmental variables, and apply spatial econometric techniques to address potential autocorrelation.

Ports, as key hubs in trade and transportation networks, are not only considered national and regional economic gateways but also have dynamic and reciprocal interactions with the social, economic, and environmental structures of their host cities. The development of ports can enhance the economic growth of these cities; however, globalization and technological advancements have made this relationship more complex. This research, using a quantitative descriptive-analytical approach, examines the intricate relationships between ports and their host cities in the Caspian Sea region. To achieve this goal, multi-criteria decision-making methods (FUCOM and MARCOS), Spearman correlation, and the relative centrality index were employed. The results indicate a positive correlation between port development and urban growth, but the nature of this relationship varies across different cities. In some cities, port activities dominate urban activities, making the city dependent on the port for development (e.g., Anzali, Nowshahr, Turkmenbashi, Aktau, and Makhachkala). In contrast, other cities (such as Baku) have maintained their economic independence, where urban activities outweigh port operations. These findings suggest that planning and investment strategies for ports and port cities should be tailored to the specific characteristics of each region. Finally, the research recommends that governments focus on mitigating the negative environmental impacts of port activities, strengthening collaboration between urban and port managers, and diversifying the economies of port cities to ensure sustainable development

Colored concrete can be an effective tool for improving visual readability in urban design projects. The present study aims to conduct a comparative study of the effect of chemical, mineral, and composite pigments on the mechanical properties of concrete, including compressive strength and slump, to utilize colored concrete in urban design and landscape. In this regard, experiments were conducted on concrete samples with chemical pigments (in red, yellow, green, and blue), composite pigments (turquoise), and mineral pigments (limonite). The results of the experiments show that adding pigments significantly affects the flowability (slump) and compressive strength of concrete. In particular, the use of chemical pigments reduces the flowability and compressive strength of concrete, with the reduction more evident at higher pigment percentages. The yellow pigment had the least negative effect on flowability and compressive strength among the colors. In contrast, limonite mineral pigment increased the compressive strength of concrete, especially at 5 and 10 % percentages.

In the global supply chain, a seaport plays a pivotal role in linking exporters and importers, facilitating trade, and developing the city and hinterland areas as a crucial part of the multimodal network. The aim of this research was to evaluate the level of development of ports in the Caspian Sea coastal strip and to examine the position of countries in this region in terms of facilitating trade and developing hinterland areas. After general studies and comparison of factors and sub-criteria, 12 prominent ports of Caspian Sea were selected. In the first stage, a questionnaire was designed to obtain the opinions of 8 experts to understand the importance of each factor and its sub-criteria in evaluating the level of port development using the FUCOM method. According to the conducted survey, external land factors with a weight of 0.404 had the most impact on port selection. In the second stage, using the results of the questionnaire and based on the Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MARCOS) method, the Caspian Sea ports were ranked based on their level of development. The results showed that Astrakhan Port with a score of (0.737) ranked first, Baku Port with a score of (0.714) ranked second, and the Russian port of Makhachkala and the Turkmenbashi port of Turkmenistan are in third and fourth place with scores of (0.531 and 0.522), respectively. Among the Iranian ports, Amir Abad Port with a score of (0.508) was recognized as the most developed port in northern Iran, Anzali Port with a score of (0.321) and Nowshahr Port with a score of (0.297) ranked fifth, eighth and tenth.

In the context of contemporary urbanization, residential complexes are an integral part of meeting the housing needs of citizens. However, many affordable housing complexes often require more recreational and social facilities as a result of cost-cutting measures, which has a negative impact on the social vitality of residents. This reduction in social interaction, particularly between neighbors, has led to a decline in community involvement, making community spirit a crucial element in studies of urban quality of life. The sense of community encompasses various aspects such as life satisfaction, belonging to a group, social dynamics and shared concerns among members of society. Enhancing this sense of community in housing estates requires careful attention to design, particularly the improvement of public spaces that encourage positive interactions between residents.

This research aims to identify key design indicators that influence sense of community, combining theoretical insights from the literature with real-world data collected through behavioral assessments and surveys. By considering residents' opinions and behaviors in the public spaces of apartment complexes, this study aims to propose design interventions to improve the sense of community.

Strengthening this sense of community, which is influenced by environmental conditions and the urban design of public spaces, can significantly increase social interactions and improve the quality of life in affordable housing estates.

The findings of this research will inform urban design strategies that promote a more connected and vibrant community, ultimately leading to better living conditions for residents of affordable housing.

Urbanization is a widespread phenomenon worldwide, especially in developing countries, and it has an irreversible effect on the environment and land use. Therefore, it is necessary to identify and understand urban growth patterns to guide future urban growth patterns toward sustainable development through appropriate spatial policies. According to this need, the present study aims to calculate the urban growth rate and identify the growth patterns and the resulting changes in the urban landscape pattern in Shiraz metropolitan in the period from 2001 to 2023. Using Landsat satellite images, satellite image classification maps were obtained in 2001, 2013, and 2023. After that, to increase the accuracy of measuring the growth patterns of Shiraz metropolitan, from the combination of 4 spatial criteria of urban expansion intensity index, Shannon entropy, landscape indices, and landscape expansion index, in general, and sub-scales (in 8 geographical directions and 2 km distances from the center) was used. The results showed that the growth pattern of Shiraz metropolitan is scattered and has intensified over time. It was also found that the growth rate and pattern of Shiraz metropolitan areas are different in each direction and distance. The urban expansion intensity index showed that the highest speed of expansion in these 22 years was related to the south, southwest, and northwest regions. Shannon's entropy and landscape indices showed that the northwest and south regions have the highest amount of dispersion. Finally, the landscape expansion index identified the dominant pattern of urban growth in Shiraz metropolitan as the edge expansion pattern. It was found that the highest percentage of outlying expansion also occurred in the south and northwest regions.

Urban planning in developing countries is limited to providing strategies and policies which are seldom efficient. The lack of preparation in facing crises will lead to an increase of material and moral damages, and the process of recovery from the crisis will take time. Since one of the basic human needs affected by the crisis is having access to a shelter and receiving services in the first hours of the crisis, crisis management support shelters become very effective in providing relief to the survivors. Accordingly, this study investigates the role of urban planning in post-disaster recovery and the site selection of crisis management support shelters in District 3 of Shiraz Municipality. This research is of descriptive-analytical type done through library method to collect the required data. Use of theoretical foundations and research literature as well as the majority of experiences in site selection of crisis management support shelters or temporary settlements would lead to 11 components including population density, land value, type of land use, building quality, neighborhood, building density, multipurpose usage, distance from dangerous activities, access to open spaces, site accessibility and efficiency of infrastructure related to urban transportation in three main criteria, including demographic and economic characteristics, physical and functional characteristics, as well as transportation, accessibility, and urban infrastructures, with the study being evaluated based on these components. In this process, experts' opinions about the components have been obtained by a researcher-made questionnaire and the components have been valued using the ANP method. Then, in the ARC GIS software, base maps have been prepared and integrated. The final output was presented with eight susceptible areas. These areas can be presented in three prioritizations. The priority is allocated to the plannable lands of the Shiraz University of Technology, the plannable lands of the Natural History Museum, and the plannable lands located in the middle of the site. The second priority is Jahannam Garden, Shiraz Central Library, and National Park, and the third priority is Hafiziyah Stadium and the University of Science and Literature.

Regional transportation, especially between port-hinterland, plays an important role in the economic prosperity of the country and the efficiency of the supply chain of commudities. Due to the functional and geographical differences between the hinterlands, the impact of the performance of each port on the post-coastal regional development is different leading to the diversity of different types of spatial structure in the port areas. Due to this fact, many researchers who are working in various scientific fields focus on the analyzing the relations between ports and hinterland areas and explaining the changes occurred in the spatial structure of these areas. The purpose of this research is to systematic review of researches in this field and to classify the structure and content analysis of prominent articles during period of 1997 to 2022. All of articles downloaded from Scopus database and analyzed by VOSviewer software. A comparison of the results of this research shows that in terms of specialization and distribution of journals, “The Journal of Transport Geography” is one of the main attractive journals for the researchers of spatial geography of ports. In terms of the geographical scale of the studies, most of the researches in this field have investigated the spatial structure of port-hinterland as a national scale. In addition, the geographical areas are mostly focused on the East and Southeast Asia.In terms of spatial structure typology, two types of analysis have been proposed and used in the selected articles. The first type is morphological analysis of the port-hinterland structure. The components used in this type of analysis include the objective components of the spatial structure (center, corridor, and land use area); the second type is the functional analysis of the port-hinterland structure, in which it often includes the intangible components of space (interaction, regularity and spatial territory). The results of this research show that the set of theories of port-hinterlandcan be summarized in seven thematic axes: Relations between the hinterland, port and foreland; Regional development of ports; Dry and inland ports; Port-city interface; Connections between ports and corridors; Competition between ports and forelands; and Function of ports. Finally, by reviewing the methods and techniques used in the articles, we can find four approaches of positivism, neo-positivism, relationalism and criticism in the philosophical-historical evolution of the port-hinterlamd articles.

During the last century, ports of Persian Gulf become the most important storage, refining and transportation of crude oil, oil derivation, petrochemical products and also, business activities. Nowadays, due to functional diversity between ports, the impact of port activities on the development of urban spaces will be different, and this issue leads to structural differences of port cities. The purpose of this research is to identify the key variables affecting the relations and spatial structure of port-city in Dubai as the most thriving and successful port-city in the Persian Gulf. This research is based on deductive reasoning and carried out by analysis of cross effects with secondary data (results of other prominent articles) and also primary data (questionnaire). sampling method is based on purposive sampling and Micmac software was used to analyze the data. Output of Micmac software shows the position of the instability of the system. Therefore, the position of each variables in the conceptual model can be categorized to driver, linkage, dependent, and autonomous factors. The research findings indicate 4 variables (like as “income, cost and investmnets in port-city”) can be introduced as a driver factor, 5 variables (like as “advanced multimodal transportation in the port”) can be introduced as a linkage factor, 6 variables (like as “quality of living environment and desirable city”) can be introduced as a dependent factor, 3 variables (like as “environmental protection and sustainable development of the city-port”) can be introduced as an autonomous factor. The rapid development of Dubai can be explained by the purposeful distribution of revenues from trade and tourism

Cities undergo a gradual transformation over time, and this is a time-based process. If the basic definition of the urban fabric is considered a criterion for including the building blocks of the city, beyond the issues related to architectural style and historical background, the arrangement and composition of blocks have a significant impact on the development of the fabric. In some cases, this combination gives the texture so much that it can make a difference. The shape of each city can be analyzed not only in terms of space but also in time, so to emphasize the relationship between the elements and how they communicate and interact over time; they can be examined in a typo-morphological framework. This approach can include a hierarchy of scales, development cycles, and a set of target objects, or the ‘block types’ and areas in successive historical maps. Obviously, because of the noticeable functional differences, it is futile to expect contemporary cities to be physically the same as old ones. Still, it is likely that in the current situation and by considering the functions and physical conditions of contemporary cities, it will be conceivable that physical actions lead to a logical relationship between the old and new, in a way that preserves the city’s integrity and identity. In this regard, this research tries to answer the study’s central question - how to determine the morphological types of urban texture elements with emphasis on urban blocks in a particular area and the process of change of each element. This study aims to present a morphological model of urban blocks as one of the main elements of urban development. The case study of the old city of Lar is one of the examples that have been less studied so far, and a comprehensive survey of the historic fabric and its developments has not been fulfilled. In addition to having a coherent structure of interconnected neighborhoods, old Lar has a fabric in which a pure sample of the architecture of hot and arid regions of Iran, intertwined with one another, formed blocks that, in terms of composition, It is a unique case of the evolution of the physical structure amid Iran’s historic cities. In addition, the 1960 earthquake caused sudden changes in parts of the urban fabric, and the resulting damage destroyed parts of the physical structure. Thus, the investigation of the case of the old Lar’s historic fabric, as a suitable representative of the fabrics in which both the course of historical development and the effects of natural disasters and subsequent intrusions and seizures affect urban blocks, has been considered in this research. In this regard, after extracting the types and clustering them using the basic algorithm of grouping analysis based on the ‘k-means clustering’ method, the course of changes of each of them has been investigated. As a result, with a descriptive-analytical approach and methodological framework, while re-reading the historical-deliberate process of historical fabric’s blocks metamorphosis from a combined morphological process perspective in the historic fabric of the old city of Lar, a model for the development and continuity of original morphological features has been developed.

Urban regeneration seeks to uncover and recrystallize the essence of the functional and physical genesis of the city. By exploring, listing, stabilizing, reviving, and updating events based on culture and ritual backgrounds, event-led regeneration establishes an inclusive approach that leads to the continuance of celestial life and the improvement of physical quality. The historical process of Shiraz’s spatial structure development has always been based on ritual-religious territoriality, in which the physical substrate as an independent variable has hosted a dependent variable of various events of eclectic natures. Recognizing the spatial structure and ritual structure of the city, together with the review of the background of the ritual that will be accompanied by a list of complementary cultural events in today’s conditions, aims to regenerate the ritual structure of the city and repair the physical-spatial ruptures through the continuity and consolidation of the historical-content richness. Formulating and presenting solutions related to this process are the goals of this research. The conceptual framework of the research was compiled through an overview of previous studies. The public realm’s historical role and the continuum of ritual places in the event-led main structure of the city were reviewed. Then, by applying the SOAR strategic model and the ANSOFF matrix, a list of eventfulness strategies based on the historical-cultural context was formulated. Analyzing and evaluating the dual conditions of context and content, including a retrospect on the interconnected structure of historical Shiraz and the ritual-religious events flowing through the structure, resulted in a set of strategies that subsequently led to the proposition of relevant policies to achieve the event-led regeneration objectives.

In recent decades, the increasing growth of cities has transformed agricultural lands and increased the costs of urban services, leading to urban expansion. Moreover, the cities are faced with problems such as the deterioration of urban neighborhoods and suburbs due to people’s lack of willingness to live in these neighborhoods, decline in investment in old neighborhoods, reduction of capacity, and decline in the quality of life. With 1,700 hectares of distressed areas, the city of Shiraz, Iran is no exception, and suffers the same problem. It is possible to solve such issues through urban growth management policies. One of these policies is Land Readjustment (LR). It is necessary to identify and classify the legal, institutional, economic, social, and local factors influencing land readjustment in order to provide effective, sufficient urban generation. Thus, this study aimed to identify the key factors influencing the land readjustment process in distressed areas and to examine the cause-and-effect relations through Interpretative Structural Model in order to identify the most important variables in the implementation process. This could be a guide for urban management to achieve infill development by stimulating and implementing the most important variables and, consequently, increasing the possibility of the entire land readjustment project.

Theoretical Framework

Land readjustment is a technique used for management of urban development, according to which a number of irregular plots of land are divided into more regular plots after consolidation with proper planning, and sections including ones used for provision of public services are also divided between the original owners for construction purposes. In this method, the lines of ownership are changed for consolidation, division, and replacement of land areas for the purpose of creation or improvement of urban facilities and public services. Rather than forced to provide the required land, the owners are invited to negotiations for consolidation of their lands to provide land for services.

The present research could be categorized as an applied descriptive-analytical study. Due to the complexity of the relationships, the MicMac software was used to analyze the driving and dependent forces. In this method, the factors are placed in an n * n matrix and filled with numbers 0, 1, 2, and 3 based on expert opinions, and are considered as the basis for further analysis. For this purpose, indicators were extracted from the theoretical framework of the research as a 22 * ​​22 matrix and provided to seventeen urban experts in Shiraz as a two-stage Delphi questionnaire.

In the case of unwillingness to participate, two variables were considered as increasing system risk: definition of the laws concerning the residents and owners’ protests pertaining to the urban design before, during, and after its implementation and enactment of the laws concerning the payment of the probable indemnity to the residents. This was because any legislation could be an obstacle in the system, decreasing the owners’ and residents’ partnership tendency, without fair consideration of their interests.The major organizational-institutional variables played an important role in the implementation of land readjustment, and influenced the other variables.  These included partnership of the local government through intermediary and facilitating institutions, law-abiding local governments, and concern for individual and social justice. This is because these variables actually link the social variables to the executable ones, and function as an interface to provide a framework for correct implementation to meet people’s needs.Furthermore, partnership of the local government through intermediary and facilitating institutions is one of the most effective, most impressive variables, which plays a key, strategic role.

The findings reveal that the key to implementation of land readjustment in distressed areas and to solve their problems is to create an intermediary institution to listen to the people’s demands and opinions. Other strategic variables involved in land readjustment in distressed areas include concern for individual and social justice in the local government, strategic perspective and flexibility of the local government, definition of the tangible, approachable objectives, and appropriate assessment of land price before and after the execution.Therefore, it is necessary to constantly examine the variables during both design and implementation of land readjustment in a distressed area. All these variables are either directly related to or applied by the local government, indicating the importance of city authorities’ policy-making and employment of experienced workforce.It is also important for the basic requirements according to the existing facts to select appropriate sites and set tangible goals, because the process would stop as a result of a lack of concern for the facts.

Despite the passing of more than a century from the first use of the term "cultural landscape," The World Heritage Center became the first international legal instrument to recognize and to protect cultural landscapes at the sixteenth session of the UNESCO in 1992. Investigating the interplay between people and nature over time in order to strengthen and protect them, and the recognition of the diversity of cultural landscapes, is an effective way of recording these valuable works. This paper examines the concept of cultural landscape and its criteria in the documents published by the World Heritage Center, examining the meetings held and the evolution of the concept and examining the diversity of human and environmental interactions between 1992 and 2017.The present study is descriptive-analytic. In this research, the documents of the UNESCO and related articles and books have been reviewed and its evolution has been investigated.Changing criteria for inscribing cultural landscapes, adopting cultural landscape categories and revising expert meetings are findings of this research. For example, in the section of regional meetings, cultural landscapes of various continents are explored or in the thematic section, the cultural landscape of routs, mountains, deserts, plantation systems, rice terraces have been considered. The World Heritage Convention recognize and to protect cultural landscapes of outstanding universal value. This opened the Convention to regions underrepresented on the World Heritage List and gave new drive to the interpretation of heritage.The inscription of properties in the six defined areas is not appropriate, and the European region accounts for about 50% of the properties.

In the recent age of globalization and by the increasing importance of cities and the competition between them, cities seek to ensure their sustainable development and establish their competitive position by finding or creating new resources and competitive advantages. One of these competitive resources and advantages is the creation of cultural and entertainment facilities or organizing special events and festivals. This topic is crucial because the role of events in the development and promotion of their hosts' competitive position as a catalyst for event-led development to provide event facilities and backup infrastructure is proven. In this article, considering the existing issues and problems, as well as the capabilities and facilities of Shiraz to become an eventful city identified by a focus group, the goals of enhancing its competitiveness as a tourism destination have been outlined using the AIDA (Analysis of Interconnected Decision Areas) technique. There is a set of planning goals on the subset of five areas of strategic decisions for an eventful city embracing the city vision, stakeholder relationships, event programming, marketing strategies, and monitoring outcomes and overall sustainability of a local event program. Consequently, strategies are presented in four areas as follows: a) modification of the events' executive and management structures, b) tailoring the events' status and legal structures, c) growing the public awareness, and strengthening the spirit of participation in events, and d) developing and improving the situation of city's resources related to events as well.

The subject of cultural landscape has found a special place in the global research literature over the past three decades. Iranian scholars from various fields such as architecture, landscape architecture, restoration, etc. also have generated research on this topic during the last two decades. The variety of published articles, the diversity of the authors’ research areas, and consequently, the different perspectives of the researchers necessitate the review and analysis of published articles, so we can get a clear picture of the current knowledge and by using the existing experiences, we can avoid repeating previous actions. Moreover, categorizing research into similar topics facilitates their use for future researchers. For this, the theoretical fields of research conducted on the subject of the cultural landscape are analyzed in this paper. Employing the qualitative method and the meta-study strategy, 37 cultural landscape research papers published during 2007-2020 were studied. Next, in two structural and content analysis sections, all articles were reviewed and a comprehensive table was prepared wherein the information of each research work was extracted and summarized. The results of the current research indicate the lack of strong theoretical foundations in many studies. Also, the significance and position of the cultural landscape in Iran's urban scale is unclear and despite having valuable features and criteria, it has not been put into practice in urban management and protection programs.

Many urban communities are conflicting different social issues including crime and in a general statement, lack of security. The issue can be related to socio-demographics, on the other hand, there is an undeniable relationship between crime incidence and geography. The study of urban crime is part of criminology discipline named “the environmental criminology”, in which crime patterns are explained by the characteristics of built environments. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the correlations between key aspects of urban form (i.e. density and land use mix) and the perceived level of security for residents at the scale of urban block in seven neighborhoods of metropolitan Shiraz. The data required for this study have been collected from the national census database, Geographic Information System (GIS) datasets and household questionnaire survey. The urban physical indicators are measured objectively. The perceived security is defined by five variables, extracted from the literature, including fear of crime, experience of crime occurrence, having reliable neighbors, social cohesion and incivilities. According to the one-way ANOVA analysis outcomes, there is a significant relationship among different blocks developed in three different historic eras (i.e. lower median for newly developed neighborhoods) in terms of the fear of crime and crime occurrence. The results from correlation analysis show that more crimes are associated with the blocks having higher amounts of residential density. The results also reveal that higher levels of crime occurrence and the perceived fear of crime are correlated with the higher share of non-residential land uses across the investigated block.

Rapid population growth in metropolises has led to the expansion of urban sprawl; this results in urban expansion which is in contrast to Smart Growth and Infill Development. The city of Shiraz has 1700 hectares of worn and inefficient texture and about 450 hectares of Brownfield inside the city. The extent of this amount of land requires using Infill Development and its means of achieving it. Accordingly, the purpose of this research is adaptively to investigate urban growth management policies for introducing appropriate growth management policies and identify the best internal urban growth management policy in Shiraz. To this end, aAHP-TOPSIS model has been used and the scores were determined using a Sequential sampling method in a two-step Delphi model using the views of 17 experts and managers of Shiraz city. The results show that the generally external urban growth management policies due to the immense impact and extension of the affected area has a higher priority for urban management, such as Urban Green Belt (0.69), Urban Growth Boundary (0.69)Which both ranked second and Urban Service Areas with third ranked in priority. In the next step, there are internal external urban growth management policies, the most influential of which is Land Readjustment (0.75) and ranking first, Followed by other growth internal management policies such as, Mandatory Comprehensive Plans, Transfer/Purchase of Development Rights, Density Bonuses and Inclusionary Housing Provisions, Inter-Local and Joint-Planning Agreement, Concurrency Provisions and Development Impact Fees and Special Tax/Financing Tools in the fourth place onwards.

 Rapid population growth in metropolises has led to the expansion of unplanned urban sprawl. This expansion that is in contrast to Smart Growth and Infill Development usually emerges as separate development and low density in suburban areas. The importance of preventing urban sprawl and reaching infill development leds to examining the growth management policies. In Iran, growth management policies are not known well despite the problems associated with the unnecessary expansion of cities. Indeed, a line has been drawn as the boundary line whilst its definition is not clear. Shiraz has 1700 hectares of worn-out urban texture and about 450 hectares of vacant lands within the city. This amount reveal the need to employ infill development and the tools to achieve it. Accordingly, the purpose of this study is to compare the urban growth management policies (external growth management policies and internal growth management policies) to identify the best internal growth management policies in Shiraz in order to examine if “Land Readjustment is the most effective internal growth management policy for Shiraz city”.

 The present descriptive-survey study is applied in terms of purpose. The theoretical data were collected using documentary and library method; the field data were also obtained through Delphi Model of assessing questionnaire. Indeed, a AHP-TOPSIS model has been used and the scores were determined using a Sequential sampling method in a two-step Delphi model using the views of 17 experts and managers of Shiraz city having B. Sc.; M. Sc. and PhD in Urban Planning.

Based on the research findings, four urban policies including urban green belt, urban growth boundaries, urban services areas and extra-territorial jurisdiction are exterior growth management policies; mandatory comprehensive plans, concurrency provisions and development impact fees, Inter-local and joint-planning agreement, transfer/purchase of development rights, density bonuses and inclusionary housing provisions, special tax/financing tools and land readjustment are internal growth management policies. Furtheremore, among the four criteria of measuring growth management policies, environmental protection and sprawl control showed the highest importance (weigh=0.427). It  followed by infill development and utilization of internal capacity of cities (weigh=0.256), institutions and executive infrastructure (weight=0.16) and the flexibility of growth management policy (weigh=0.108).

 A comparative examination of growth management policies showed that the external policies have a higher priority for urban management due to the large impact and the expansion of the affected area. For instance, urban green belt (0.69) and urban growth boundaries (0.69) are in the second level, and the urban services areas (0.63) ranked third. The reason can be attributed to the enormity of these policies and affevting a large area around the city. The disadvantage of these policies, however, is that although they are successful in controlling external growth, preventing sprawel, and achieving infill development goals, but they have no suggestion for how to utilize the city's internal capacities. These policies were close to the negative ideal in terms of implementation (the two criteria for the existence of institutions and infrastructures - ease and flexibility). Indeed, it is concluded that no entity or organization manage the metropolitan integratedly in practice. Moreover, there is not a coherent law to support these policies. Among the policies to control growth, in general, and internal growth, in spesific, the most effective policy is land readjustment (with a score of 0.75). It indicats that this policy is appropriate to the management structure and executive system of urban planning of Iran especially Shiraz. Controlling sprawl is not very successful in external management policies in contrast to internal ones due to the smaller scale of projects. But these policies doing better in achieving infill development. these policies have different conditions in the two implementing criteria. The criterion for the existence of legal institutions and infrastructures is moderate due to its new policies and its mismatch with the common methods of urban management in Iran as well as the prevailing social, economic and institutional features. This criterion enjoys a good condition in joint-planning agreement and density bonuses (due to their mechanism in facilitation offices), mandatory comprehensive plans (due to their approval in the Iranian urban planning system), and transfer/purchase of development rights (exchange of land or municipalities toll exemptions). Due to the small scale of implementation of these policies and the ability to accurately identify the target group as well as the financial issues and value added of the policy implementation, the criterion of ease and flexibility has an intermediate position in these policies, and in some policies, the distance from the ideal positive and negative is the same. It should be noted that due to the inconsistency of urban growth management policies some of these policies can be implemented simultaneously in order to synchronize their strengths. For instance, to use positive environmental advantages, the policy of “urban green belt” can be used with "land readjustent" in vacant lands and worn-out textures. There have been few studies in identifying and exploring growth management policies in Iran and numerous studies in global experience; however, most studies have focused on describing or expressing the experiences of a particular policy in a specific neighborhood or city. Indeed, they have not been compared altogether. The innovative aspect of this research was actually the comparative examination of different policies with each other in order to apply the appropriate policies to the Iranian metropolitan conditions in general and the city of Shiraz in particular

One of the most important goals of urbanization is providing safety and security for its inhabitants. So, the safety of the city to protect citizens as well as public and private property against natural and abnormal disasters by adopting new methods, is necessary at all levels. Cities as gathering centers of physical and human capitals are often the target of enemies.  Due to the presence of vital land uses in the city, each region is important hence, the planning to reduce damages, create safety and related sustainability there, is one of the most important actions. Accordingly, passive defense is important in policy making as well. In many cases, converting the crisis of war and disasters into tragedy is the inefficiency of urbanism condition from the defensive point of view. Therefore, it is essential to assess the vulnerability and create appropriate solutions to reduce such damages. The case study, here, is the second municipal area of Shiraz, which in this research is divided into zones, after studying 14 effective indexes of urban texture’s vulnerability. Using the analytical hierarchy process (AHP) and geographic information system (GIS), the vulnerability level of the second city area has been determined as: low, medium and high. The research findings show that 7.2%, 43.7% and 49.08% of the second area were in low, medium and high risk zones, respectively. Areas 6 and 13 in low risk zones, Areas 1, 4, 5, 7, 10 and 12 in the middle zone, as well as Areas 2, 3, 8, 9, 11 and 14, are in high risk zone. Priorities of planning and the crisis management are provided taking into account the structural consideration of the city and its level of vulnerability.

The level of satisfaction that residents have with the neighborhoods in which they live is predicted by individual perceptions, as well as objective measures. While the majority of research has focused on objective factors, here we explore perceived features of neighborhood as predictors of neighborhood satisfaction. The aim of this paper is to recognize and evaluate the social predictors of neighborhood satisfaction based on individual perceptions. Using a sample of 367 respondents, data on neighborhoods were obtained from a citywide survey of neighborhood residents in Shiraz. According to existing literature, safety and sense of community are social characteristics of neighborhood which have the most impact on neighborhood satisfaction. In our study, safety includes 3 indicators: perceived security, experience of crime and disorders, and perceived social control, and sense of community includes 2 indicators: shared memories and social solidarity (with trustworthy neighbors). The ordinal regression results indicated that neighborhood satisfaction is significantly predicted by social measures of neighborhood including perceived security and social control. Results also showed that respondents with more length of residence in the neighborhood are more satisfied with their community.

Today, the phenomenon of second homes has become one of the most important reasons for changing the landscape of urban suburbs and urban and rural areas around metropolitan cities. These homes are usually bought for spending one’s spare time and weekends, or for retirement, and sometimes for investment. One of the most important consequences of this phenomenon is the clustering and separation of the city in terms of spatial and social spheres. In Iran, with the development of urbanization, citizens have turned their attention to the construction of villas around the cities to relax and spend their leisure time. Sadra New Town is a prominent example of the formation of second homes in the form of a pre-designed garden-house model. Therefore, it seems necessary to examine the causes and consequences of this pattern of habitation and its social-spatial separation from different dimensions. In this study, analytical and descriptive method was utilized. To gather the data, documentary-library method, along with the statistics and the data collected through the Questionnaire of Garden-Cities of Sadra, was employed. Goeller Matrix Method was used to investigate the separation and the interconnection level of the garden-cities area with other urban areas. Based on the findings, more than half of the participants stated that their primary motivation was to make a garden-house for their leisure time during the weekends and holidays. The results of the survey of the interconnection level of garden-cities with other city areas indicated that in terms of natural and environmental indicators (77.5%) and economic indicator (28.13%), Sadra garden-cities have the highest and lowest degree of integration with other city areas of Sadra, respectively. Finally, the overall interconnection level of Sadra garden-cities was found to be 43.05% compared to other urban areas. Based on the findings, garden-cities have led to an unbalanced structure in the city. In addition, the tendency to polarization and spatial separation and structural anomalies are growing in this city. Therefore, it should be noted that the positive effects of tourism of second homes would not come on its own. In fact, in order for these effects to be realized, they must be properly planned and managed.

Introduction and Literature Review: Reducing energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions to alleviate the effects of global warming have become a worldwide necessity. This matter has significant importance in Iran, because Iran has the seventh ranking position of global greenhouse gas emissions and its rate of growth is above global average. Building construction sector is experiencing a fast-paced growth in developing countries, like Iran, due to growth of economy and rapid urbanization. A large number of buildings are being built for residential, commercial and office purposes every year. Built environments are responsible for about 40 percent of energy consumption in Iran and it is generally approved that the greatest portion of built environment is dedicated to residential use.
Energy consumed in producing and processing building materials and in the processes of building a house, is usually calculated using embodied energy concept. Until recently, it was generally accepted that the energy used during the occupation of a building represented a much higher proportion than its embodied energy; thus, great efforts were put into reducing energy use in this phase. New and improved technologies have reduced the operational energy through a variety of solutions, including energy-efficient equipment and appliances, improved insulation levels, low energy lighting, heat recovery systems, the provision of solar hot water systems, photovoltaic panels for generation of electricity, and other renewable technologies. However, these measures often imply an increase in materials use and energy demand for their production, which explains the growing importance of other phases in the total life cycle. According to the global literature, embodied energy of a building accounts for one third to one fifth of the total life cycle energy consumption of a specific building. However as the global trend for the new developments moves toward the zero energy/carbon buildings, the importance of the embodied energy increases. In fact embodied energy is one of the leading parameters in assessing buildings environmental performance, because in building projects, vast amounts of building materials are needed which consume great amounts of embodied energy and thus have negative effect on environment. With this preamble, improving energy efficiency of the existing dwelling stock of urban regions will increasingly be part of achieving sustainable development in future. Although this aspect of achieving sustainable development has been the subject of many global practices in recent years and global literature is almost rich in the calculations and analysis of embodied energy and life cycle energy consumption, this matter has been neglected almost completely in Iran and those few studies conducted focusing on energy in urban planning and designing fields, are mainly concentrating on transportation sector. Thus the main goal of this study is analyzing the sustainability of urban residential sector with focusing on embodied energy consumption.
In this regard, residential sector in Shiraz Metropolitan has been divided into seven different dwelling types including central-yard houses, attached terrace houses (one story houses, two story and three story houses), apartments (which are buildings of four story and above), villas and declined houses. Gathering raw data in this study was challenging, considering the fact that house building in Iran is far from industrialized and prefabricated building is really limited. Unfortunately there is no data available on the average material consumption of different dwelling types in Iran and the only study similar to this was done focusing on building structures. Using this only available data, we built our data bank in Microsoft Office excel and then focused on computing average embodied energy via multiplying embodied energy of common building materials extracted from a report conducted in the University of Bath titled Embodied Carbon: The Inventory of Carbon and Energy (ICE) into average material consumption based on building structures. Another point we had to take into account was the unit of the available data; while embodied energy of materials were presented in gigajoules per square meter, average material consumptions of dwellings were presented in different units from square meters, to cubic meters, kilograms and blocks.
So using density of materials we established a second data base with similar units. Normalizing this raw data through dividing average embodied energy of residential dwelling by dwelling area we calculated the capitation of embodied energy for each dwelling. Afterwards we prioritized embodied energyconsumption of dwelling types from lowest embodied energy capitation to the highest as follows: brick and wood structures with about 3 GJ/m^2 embodied energy, clay brick concrete structures, clay brick steel structures, brick concrete structures, brick and iron structures, and at last brick steel structures with about5.35 GJ/m^2 embodied energy To be sure of the validity of these comparisons analysis of variances (ANOVA) and Post Hoc Tests (Least significant difference- LSD) have been applied to these data in IBM SPSS statistics 19, and the result has been positive. Then collected data were shifted from structure types to dwelling types and we found out that central-yard houses with 3.6 GJ/m^2 embodied energy per capita are the most energy efficient dwelling types. After this type in sequence lay one-story terrace houses (4.21GJ/m^2 ), apartments (4.26GJ/ m^2 ), two story terrace houses (4.67GJ/m^2 ), declined houses (4.81GJ/m^2 ), villas (4.84GJ/m^2 ), and three story terrace houses (5.21GJ/m^2 ).
Discussion and This paper highlights the need to use location-specific data in the development of building assessment schemes and the issues related to the use of embodied energy assessment for the building sector. Absence of localized data base on building material consumption on the basis of dwelling type and lack of data on cradle to grave embodied carbon and energy of common building materials were the most important obstacles in this research. On the basis of international research, paint, bitumen, platevirgin, sheet Galvanized-virgin, steel, ceramics, primary glass, iron bars, lime, cement, and common brick are the most energy intensive materials. So on account of lack of localized data, we used international embodied energy of common building materials (cradle-to-gate) to calculate embodied energy of different dwelling types. Despite of major shortcomings in data base, noteworthy conclusions have been deducted from this work which are summarized as follows: traditional form of housing in Shiraz which is known as central yard houses in this paper with brick and wood structures (in which there is a yard in the center of the block and the residential parts are located at its periphery) are the most sustainable form of housing according to this research criteria and case study. This may owe its accomplishment to the low embodied energy of common materials used in this type of housing which we may call the most environmental friendly form of housing in Shiraz. Furthermore there is a substantial lack of data on embodied energy and carbon of materials in general, and in particular on the embodied energy and carbon of buildings to be able to do an entire evaluation of buildings in their life long period. So to do a complete research in building sector (life cycle assessment), including embodied energy, gray energy, operational energy, induced energy, Demolition/Recycling Energy, and retrofit energy are unavoidable.

Reduce consumption of fossil fuel and that`s negative effects is one of the most important issues related to sustainable development. With increasing distance from CBD, increasing walking time to public transportation, reducing density and mixed land use, car dependence and fuel consumption will be increased in transportation sector. In this regard and reducing fuel consumption in transportation sector, understanding the proper and sustainable urban forms and analysis of the current urban forms is an undeniable necessity for planning. This paper examines the findings of an empirical study, that have been studied the effects of urban form on households travel behavior in transportation sector in three neighborhoods of Shiraz with different urban form characteristics. The variables investigated in this research include the urban form variables and households car ownership. The urban form variables in this study contain of distance from CBD, walking time to public transport, mixed land use and density. Also travel frequency, travel time; travel distance and modal choice are travel behavior variables have been studied in this article. Information about urban form variables have been extracted from GIS maps of Shiraz and data of household travel behavior and car ownership are extracted from questionnaires. Number of questionnaires in this research is 260. To examine the relationship between urban form variables and travel behavior and car ownership, correlation analysis is used. Results of this study indicate the relationship between urban form and travel behavior variables, and households residing in neighborhoods close to CBD with high density and mixed land use have a different travel behavior with residents of other neighborhoods.