A Problematic Clarification of the City Based on Neighborhood PlanningCase Study: The City of Ardabil, Iran

As the primary foundation of science, problem-solving forms the basis on which theory making & research can be formed & developed.Nowadays, the dominant urban planning practice in Iranian cities is the profession & technique which is prescribed by the public sector, and the missing link is the participation of the larger civil society in the management of urban affairs. The main purpose of this study is to identify & explain the problems of Ardabil city within the framework of criteria that are related to neighborhood planning.The survey research method was utilized in order to assess the aspects & components of neighborhood planning including physical, social, cultural, economic, environmental, access to urban services and proper urban governance factors. The spatial cluster sampling method was used to select 10 neighborhoods out of the five districts of Ardabil city (2 neighborhoods from each district) as sample neighborhoods & a number of 400 questionnaires were distributed according to their population within the selected neighborhoods by means of the random sampling method.The Excel, Spss software and T-test statistical method & multi-criteria decision making models have been used to analyze the data.The results statistical test indicated that there are different conditions in the neighborhoods of Ardabil city in terms of the aspects & components of neighborhood planning.Furthermore, the results of multi-criteria decision making models indicate that neighborhood number 5 in the 4th district of Ardabil Municipality is more problematic and there are fewer problems in neighborhood number 2 in the 1st district of Ardabil Municipality.