Evaluating the Most Suitable Route to Transform into Footpath along Imam Juma’a St. to Shafa St., Kerman, Iran, using GIS

One of the impacts of modernism during the past few decades was the development of wider streets and the dominance of vehicles. This has caused streets to lose their function as an environment where social interactions occur. Lack of pedestrian-oriented open spaces as well as the low quality of such places in cities have decreased social interactions. Footpaths are for the presence of citizens and their participation in social life. Cities are the environments to which people are mostly linked. Aesthetics and symmetry are regarded as important criteria of a healthy and comforting city. In this regard, the role of footpaths are very influential, since these routes are considered as one of the major criteria for development and competition among cities Regarding tourist attraction and economic prosperity; thus, greater attention should be paid to the creation and development of this part of urban spaces This urban space due to four outstanding features of interest in planning issues that include: the presence of leisure space, Time to use space, economic matters, and activities. Footpaths refer to urban spaces where, due to their certain capacities, are fully or partially closed to any vehicles during the day and are solely used for pedestrian movement. Not only are footpaths regarded as one of the most important urban, public spaces, but they are also essentially vital to the stability of urban life as memorable and meaningful elements. In the past, cities were significantly pedestrian-oriented; yet following the industrial revolution and the dominance of motor vehicles in cities, the pedestrian issue was forgotten. Consequently, as the most important functions of footpaths include social interactions, sustainable urban development, and provision of safe areas with multiple functions, there is a need for a purposeful program in line with the development of such spaces in modern cities. After identifying the criteria and sub-criteria with respect to the purpose of the study, a set of informational layers and a database were created using the Arc GIS software followed by creating new layers through the raster structure. Then, given the type of data at each layer, the raster layers were reclassified based on defined values. Next, the hierarchy analysis of indices were specified based on a paired comparison of the information and values related to each information layer in contrast with other layers, in terms of the extent of priority, with numbers including 1, 3, 5, 7, and 9 and the intervals of 4, 2, 6, and 8, using the Expert Choice software. The weight of each index in the related layer was included using the Raster Calculator tool. Ultimately, the final plot was obtained by integrating fuzzy overlay layers. Taking into account the studies conducted with the purpose of identifying the features of footpaths, we obtained and used a set of effective criteria and standards related to each criterion as basic informational layers. Footpaths in this study were located according to 8 criteria including safety, multiple functionality, adjacency, passage length, passage width, access to public transport, natural and artificial views and sights, and daily activity hours. The safety criterion includes sub-criteria such as the number of pedestrians, lighting, and human scale, while the multiple functionality criterion involves sub-criteria of residential and commercial use density and absence of disturbing application, all of which are linked to the features of the region. To indicate an efficient location for footpaths objectively through information modeling and creating information layers in the form of raster plans using the GIS software, and to implement the standards in this study, it was attempted to prioritize the indices and criteria and their impacts on the plot of each criterion. After applying the obtained weights using the fuzzy overlay tool with sum algorithm within the GIS software, the final results were created as classification maps. The findings of the present study demonstrate that more precise results could be obtained with respect to the status quo by using the AHP technique and the GIS software for finding a location for footpaths which could also be used in future studies. The most important results of the study show that among the routes investigated, Imam Juma’a St. and Parastar Blvd. with scores of over 5 are the best options according to the defined weighted value. The second priority belongs to Hezar-o-Yek Shab and Valfajr St., followed by Shafa St. as the third and Zohreh Kermani and Namdar Mohammadi St. as the fourth priority. Villa, Meysam, and Hamzah St. were the last priorities, according to the defined weighted values.