Explaining the Spatial Structure of Urban Areas of Guilan Province to Create a Landscape with a Partnership-Based Approach to Strengthen the Sustainable Urban Management (Case study: Otāghvar, Chubar, Someh-Sarā)

The participatory issue of urban development plans goes back to the reform of the structure of the current planning system of the country and the implementation of sustainable urban management. The current structure of the planning system of Iran is not very participatory and needs to be changed, and create non-governmental institutions in the process of preparing, approving, and implementing urban development plans. This study aimed to explain the spatial structure of urban areas of Guilan province to create a landscape with a participation-based approach based on understanding the performance system and the city's role to investigate the difference or no difference in the landscape of cities in the province. The research method was qualitative. Relying on a combined participatory approach (top-down and bottom-up) and referring to the above documents, such as comprehensive urban plans, development plans, etc., general knowledge of the city was obtained. The studied geographical area is the three cities of Otāghvar in the east, Someh-Sara in the center, and Chubar in the west of the province, and the analysis unit was the citizens, managers, and urban elites. To better understand the urban space and adapt the findings of documentary studies to tangible facts, a survey study of the cities was performed; then, to create a landscape using the SWOT method, the most important strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of each city were identified, and the most important strategies were identified and prioritized using the QSPM method. The results indicated that despite the significant distance among these three cities in three different geographical locations and each city's specific capabilities, there is no significant difference in terms of landscape and functional future among them. Because each of their functional nature and aspirations are generally centered around the service activities, especially tourism, in such a way that the perspective of the city of Otāghvar is "the eco-centric city of nature tourism," the city of Chubar is the city of Kiwi with an agriculture tourism approach, and the city of Someh-Sarā is a tourism-transit city with an alternative tourism approach." Extended Abstract Introduction Due to its geographical location and place on the southern shore of the Caspian Sea, Guilan province has formed a net of human settlements in which the spatial organization of its urban settlement system, concerning its population density and activities, requires continuous study, control, and monitoring.Field studies and the results of existing documentary reports show that, at present, the urban network of Guilan province is not as dynamic as it should be. The cities of this province are in economic, social, political, environmental, and physical isolation. The hierarchy of the urban system of this province has a lot of ruptures. This province, with 52 urban points, has only one urban point with a regional function (Rasht city with 43% of the province's urban population), which has increased the density of housing and activities in the center of the province with these interpretations. Therefore, if the urban network of Guilan province can be strengthened and suitable functional plans can be defined for small and medium-sized cities, it will undoubtedly reduce the burden of severe congestion in the center of the province. Also, the demand for housing and activity in the entire urban network would be more balanced. In the meantime, it seems that attention to the sustainable urban management system in the form of urban vision, strategic plans, and preparation of long-term, medium-term, and short-term plans with the presence of all citizens with appropriate executive guarantees in the form of participatory approach in Guilan province can guarantee the improvement and development of the urban network of this province. In this regard, the main question of this research can be posed in this way: what is the optimal perspective of the urban network spatial organization in the three regions of east, center, and west of Guilan province, and is there a difference between them in terms of future performance perspective?MethodologyThis study used the mixed method to formulate an urban landscape for 20 years. In this way, to know the totality of cities and understand their challenges and potentials, they referred to the upstream documents such as land management, comprehensive urban plans, development documents, etc. At this stage, after recognizing the totality of cities, adopting the findings of documentary studies with concrete facts, and better understanding the spatial organization of cities, a field study with a participatory approach was on the agenda of the study team. In this way, at first, out of a total of three cities surveyed, 1200 people, on average, 400 people from each city were selected as a sample, and citizens were surveyed in the form of face-to-face and online questionnaires about the city as a whole. Then, using the method of precipitation of thoughts by forming groups including city managers, urban elites, religious and political trustees, and all stakeholders of the urban management system and based on a non-random (targeted) sampling and available people (a total of 145 people) by forming working groups and specialized committees following the management structure of municipalities and the population of that city, the information of the studied cities is collected, coded and analyzed in Excel and SPSS, and after compiling the vision of cities by a collective agreement, i.e., all stakeholders. And the relevant people of the city, using the swot and qspm methods, strategies compatible with each city's vision were developed and then reviewed and exchanged views with the members of the working groups.Results and discussionTo create a vision for each city, first, the upstream documents were studied, then interviewed with the elites and experts in each city. Next, each city's main strengths, weaknesses, threats, and opportunities were examined in three areas. Regarding the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats in these three selected cities (Someh-Sarā, Otāghvar, and Chubar), which are each located at 3 points in the center, east, and west of the province, it should be acknowledged that in many of the issues due to their location in a similar climate and geographical area, they have commonalities, including the benefits of favorable living conditions due to the temperate climate, the physical stability of urban buildings and the relatively suitable coverage of city streets. Other factors such as adequate plants, a high share of housing gardens in the city, and the supply of various agricultural and livestock products in the city due to being within the sphere of influence of the surrounding villages are strengths in the cities of Otāghvar and Chubar.ConclusionIn this study, the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats were first examined to achieve an optimal perspective in each of these three cities. According to the findings, these three cities have a lot in common. Also, to achieve these perspectives, the strategies of each of these three cities have been prioritized. According to the results obtained in the city of Otāghvar, these strategies include supporting natural tourism, establishing accommodation centers and commercial and recreational complexes, providing facilities to citizens, providing welfare facilities for tourists in the field of ecotourism and health, redefining or modifying the intersection areas or squares for proper access of travelers to the city, etc. Regarding the strategies in the city of Chubar, we can include such things as attracting investors and benefiting from the existing potential of the city, explaining the plan and urban landscape according to the local architecture of the region, directing the expansion of the city towards the vertical development due to limitations of horizontal development, organizing, and improving the urban infrastructure, etc. Also, the strategies developed in the city of Someh-Sarā are: directing and smoothing the traffic load of the central city thoroughfares with the help of bypass axes and spaces around the city, improving inter-organizational coordination regarding traffic management, locating parking around the main axes, strengthening social capital to deal with social harm, developing regular educational programs aimed at promoting students' culture, using new methods of urban advertising in informing citizens, creating opportunities for social participation for citizens, supporting the non-governmental organizations in the field of cultural affairs and women, strengthening the sense of belonging of citizens by building urban elements, etc. Also, after these steps, studies were selected to accelerate the achievement of the desired perspective.FundingThere is no funding support.Authors’ Contribution Authors contributed equally to the conceptualization and writing of the article. All of the authors approved the content of the manuscript and agreed on all aspects of the work.Conflict of InterestAuthors declared no conflict of interest.Acknowledgments We are grateful to all the persons for scientific consulting in this paper.