Analysis and Ranking of the Components of Urban Development Plans Effective in Realization of Urban Branding Using Structural Equation Model (Case Study: City of Birjand)

Affected by the processes of globalization and competitiveness, and with the evolution of urban development theories, new frameworks and approaches have been created in urban planning. With the emergence of urban branding, a new form of urban development plans is being created with a top-down approach and based on the qualitative components of urban development. Hence, the present paper elucidates the theoretical framework of urban development components effective in the urban branding programs, with a mixed research method, and creates the structural equation model of the research with an exploratory research project. For this purpose, 10 criteria, 28 subcriteria, and 69 metrics were subjected to evaluation and information collection. The studied area was the city of Birjand in Iran. The statistical population of the study in the interviews section, which included 19 urban experts and managers, was chosen using purposeful sampling and the snowball technique. On the other hand, using simple random sampling, 383 citizens, 381 tourists, and 30 people of the authorities and investors were surveyed in the quantitative section. Furthermore, the findings of the interviews revealed that the efforts towards attracting the mental and executive participation of the residents of old textures, empowering the residents, managing the presence of Afghan immigrants, and, at the same time, exploiting cultural and historical capacities evolved could help with the realization of an urban brand. The modeling result also showed in the urban development plans of Birjand, by influencing intermediate variables the components of revitalization, personalization, and economic feasibility have the greatest positive effects on the realization of urban branding and According to the correlation between components, the highest relationship was between mental image and environmental quality (0.68).