Evaluation a City Center in Approach to Create a Responsive Environment (Case Study: Gonbad-e Kavus City Center in Iran)

As key elements of cities, urban areas have always been an important issue in the history of urban studies. People of various social strata may need to visit and/or pass through urban areas with different goals on a regular basis. In this sense, urban spaces can play an important role in forming social interactions and shaping people’s memories. The optimal design of an urban environment as a suitable context for extensive social interactions can help to meet the needs of citizens in an effective way. Urban areas are considered as the core context for social and economic interactions in cities. Insofar as they facilitate the presence and mobility of people, urban areas act as the beating hearts of cities and have an important role in establishing communication among various members of the society. This study aims to investigate the historic textureof Gonbad-e Kavus urban area which is one of the most important public spaces in Gonbad-e Kavus and home to major economic and recreational centers. The main objective of this study is to comprehensively identify the factors that enhance the responsiveness of urban areas as well as the criteria that help to achieve user satisfaction. The main research question addresses the degree of importance of factors that influence the responsiveness of the studied urban area, which is why it is essential to identify them clearly. In addition, improving the responsiveness of urban areas via considering the importance of influencing factors is the idea behind the second research question. The present study is an applied research in terms of its objective and a descriptive-analytical research in terms of its methodology. The process of identifying effective factors was based on a qualitative research strategy conducted through an indirect survey tactic based on expert opinions collected from a community of urban planners, professors and students of architecture. The sample size was determined by Cochran’s sample size formula and the participants were randomly selected via the snowball sampling method. The variables were identified based on theoretical studies through an extensive review of the related literature in order to achieve appropriate executive strategies for enhancing the environmental responsiveness of urban areas. Based on the literature review, a comprehensive set of responsiveness criteria was identified and prioritized by experts, including accessibility, land use diversity, legibility, permeability, richness, concentration or density of land use, visual proportions, flexibility, privatization and structure of organization. Considering the current condition of Gonbad-e Kavus urban area, a comprehensive set of effective strategies was evaluated and proposed for improving the current indices of environmental responsiveness. The results indicate that, among the evaluated strategies, the accessibility, diversity and legibility strategies have the highest levels of priority, in order of importance, for improving the responsiveness of Gonbad-e Kavus urban area. Given its role in facilitating commuting and convenient access to this area, accessibility is identified as the first priority. In addition, the diversity of existing land use patterns for meeting various user needs helps significantly to increase the appeal of this urban area for attracting a larger audience. Finally, the factors of legibility and permeability are also very important in creating a more responsive urban area.