Design Strategies for Improving the Quality of Urban Trails; Using QSPM Matrix; Case Study: Shiraz Health Trail

Urban trails, which are not very old in Iran, are a type of urban spaces created with the aim of promoting the general health of citizens by increasing physical activity and encouraging to take exercises in cities. The current research aims to develop design strategies in line with enhancing the quality of such walkways. In the present study, data are collected using second desk study and semi-structured interview as well as questionnaires. To analyze the data, the strategic analysis of the internal and external factors as well as QSPM Matrix are applied. The case study was the “Health” Trail in Shiraz as the first health-oriented walkway in the city. The study population included 35 municipality experts and urban planning students. In the first stage, the strengths, weaknesses, threats and opportunities of the “Health” walkway were identified after performing a semi-structured interview with the study population. In the second stage, the themes were categorized and subsequently prioritized through a closed Likert-based questionnaire assisted by the tables of internal (IFE) and external (EFE) factors. The study of the tables shows the conservative strategies as the most important strategies for the promotion of the quality of walkway. After these two stages, the conservative strategies were prioritized using QSPM matrix to organize the walkway. The findings show that having an opportunity of  being in the proximity to natural factors as two strategies, i.e. “making an appropriate space on the side of the river for visual and environmental enjoyment of being proximity to the river” and “constructing suitable walls in the periphery of gardens in Qasr e Dasht for visual and environmental enjoyment of being proximity to green spaces”, are the most important conservative strategies for promoting the quality of Shiraz’s Health trail and encouraging people to do more physical activities on this trail