Application of Strategic Choice Approach to Habitants Behavioral Patterns (Case Study: Sepah Street in Qazvin)

These days, designing for improvement in people behavioral patterns is an essential principle. While designing and planning activity and behavior has effective role in quality of urban space. The problem is that unilateral attention to physical properties of street is not enough to have revitalization plan. Integration of physical and unphysical properties of streets and avoiding merely quantitative view should be adopted as a suitable mechanism to revive behavioral characteristics of urban cores. In this section, some of the definitions and concepts that have been used in this paper are presented and then the method that applied in this research is introduced. Behavior is the manner of carrying out an activity. Human behavior is a resultant of one’s intentions and needs, time and place, imagination of outside world, culture and social values (Lang, 1987). Urban regeneration approach is economical development and competition expansion, improvement in the stability of built environment, increase in cultural identity and citizens’ life quality and promotion of urban management in derelict, disordered and obsolete urban areas. Urban regeneration is a comprehensive and integrated vision and action which leads to the resolution of urban problems which seeks to bring about a lasting improvement in the economic, physical, social and environmental condition of an area that has been subject to change (Roberts& Sykes, 2000,17). Participation, strategy and stability are considered as three main bases in this plan. They provide a basis for a comprehensive complex measure and each play an especial role in urban regeneration approach (UNEP, 2004). Strategic choice approach deals with regulation and direction of a set of operations, policies and depletion of preparations aiming at achieving and, if it’s not possible, providing the steps of tolerating least defeat. In order to encounter the problems caused by uncertainty and deficient of knowledge, this process insists in short term action and lack of concentration. Basic principles of this process can be described as; decision-making problems related to each other in this process. A hierarchy of policies and choices related to each policy area can be determined and then an approach is selected that realizes uncertain identity. It identifies and pursues suitable policy choices in order to encounter complicated decision-making problems (Daneshpoor, 2001, 18). Expansion of cities usually increases demands for commuting to the city and intra-city trips, in addition to the issue of duration of trip. This has made city streets as an integral part of city daily life. Function of streets throughout the city can be evaluated from two aspects: one is functional which includes the most strategic role routes play which is movement of goods and people; the second aspect, which is as important as the first one and in many places being neglected by city managers and planner, is social-behavioral aspect of streets. This aspect can enhances the quality of space to the level of urban places, the place of liveliness, social interaction places and a place of common memory. The main purpose of this study is to suggest a planning strategy for urban regeneration of an urban space through strategic choice approach method. The case study of this research was Sepah Street in city of Qazvin. To achieve this goal at the beginning the theoretical principles and definitions related to the subject has been reviewed, and then the existing situation of the case study area had been examined using field observations and Examination of written documents. After this stage, strategic choice process approach helped the research to define proper regeneration strategies. This paper is conducted by the authors to formulate the regeneration of an urban space that the case study is Sepah Street in Qazvin City. The results of urban regeneration principles in the form of strategic choice approach in this article show that after policy domain are determined, land use planning system considering behavioral characteristics of the street is approved to protect cultural identity and spatial situation of its past. In other words, this paper is trying to regenerate social entity of an old and historic street by this method and give it the required efficiency to meet nowadays expectations. The goal of experiment of the analysis method on Sepah Street of Qazvin (the first designed and direct street of Iran) is to achieve regeneration of this street. Sepah Street as a northern-southern one is located in Qazvin city. It has had some important elements and landmarks like Alighapoo edifice, Bazar, Atiq chief mosque. As a process to settle problems by decision making groups, strategic choice approach has a vital role. This approach focuses on the following issues. 1. Focuses on decisions to be made in a particular planning situation, whatever their timescale and whatever their substance. 2. Highlights the subtle judgments involved in agreement with how to handle the uncertainties which surround the decision to be addressed- whether these be technical, political or procedural.