A Feasibility Study for Establishment of Decision Support Systems in Urban Planning (Case Study of Traffic Planning in Zanjan City)

With the advent of electronic computers in the years from1950-1960, decision support systems have been developed, which are logical systems that were introduced by Gury and Morton that distinguish the differences among various options based on smart questions. These systems monitor and save the data for traffic prediction based on need, including factors such as excessive traffic from private cars in city streets, the narrowness of streets, a lack of public transportation systems, crowded downtown areas due to commercial centers and subsystems. In this way, systemic crisis detection and data updating based on a threshold value can be carried out, and thereby correct judgment regarding the crisis level and appropriate tools or response can be taken by the decision makers. This means that decision makers are updated regarding the current situation, and an appropriate decision takes place. This research is intended to ascertain the feasibility of an establishment system in organizations involved in the traffic system, and also determine to what extent there already exists a decision support system. Accordingly, a questionnaire was developed and provided to decision makers and traffic authorities. It has been concluded that there is currently a lack of this type of system and limited opportunities to implement them as authorities’ have very limited knowledge of the systems. The lack of decision support systems in the body of the organizations leads to a lack of knowledge about the transport system, a lack of infrastructure funding and an increase in technical problems. Some participants even claimed that improved education and funding within the organizations with a view to establishing these systems would lead to improved traffic system problem solving.