An investigation into the status of the vitality of distressed area and providing solution for improving: A case study of Shiva Neighborhood, Tehran

The present article explores the vitality of distressed area and develops criteria for their evaluation and promotion. The criteria include diversity, access, security and comfort, which are classified into fourteen sub-criteria; time diversity, diversity of activities, diversity of use, diversity of area, diversity of classes, climatic comfort, waste collection and transfer system,welfare facilities, access to public transport, stationary traffic, width of streets, roadways, sufficient lighting, and sidewalks. They are used as measures of Shiva’s vitality (through questionnaire and observation). In the next phase, the obtained results are processed through factor analysis technique by SPSS software program and five factors promoting vitality in distressed area were identified; that is, the fabric of Shiva Neighborhood is poor in terms of vitality. Additionally, it was made clear that the width of street is the most important and welfare facilities are the least important components of vitality promotion in the worn-out fabrics, and diversity is the most important factor increasing vitality, as the weakness in access is the most important factor decreasing it. Factors obtained from factor analysis include that physical and functional diversity, connection network, urban services and network, quantitative and qualitative features of streets, peace; their contribution shrink in promoting vitality from 1 to 5, respectively. In addition, it became evident that diversity of time and activity have the highest quality, as welfare facilities and width of street have the lowest quality in Shiva Neighborhood from citizens’ perspective; meanwhile, width of street and sidewalks are the most important indicators in the promotion of vitality in the fabric of Shiva Neighborhood.