Analysis of urban neighborhoods according to the neo-urbanism principle using the TOPSIS (Case study: Rasht metropolis)

One of the main issues in today's cities is the decline of environmental quality in urban neighborhoods. In response to this issue, the neo-urbanism movement was raised to study in countries and shed light on urban planning. 

Objectives: 

The main purpose of this study is to identify the indicators of the urbanism movement at the level of urban neighborhoods and to investigate the situation of neighborhoods in Rasht based on these indicators.

The method of this research is descriptive-analytical. First, the study extracted indicators and items based on the studies of theoretical foundations and research background on urbanism. Questionnaires and GIS maps were used to collect information. The TOPSIS model was used to analyze and rank the neighborhoods.

 Geographical Context: 

The neighborhoods of Rasht metropolis were the study area. 

Based on the average scores obtained for the five districts of Rasht, District Two, which actually includes the historical context of Rasht, is more in line with the principles of neo-urbanism with an average score of 0. 466. District Three was ranked second with an average score of 0. 345. This district is in the eastern part of Rasht. Finally, regions four, one and Five were ranked third to fifth, respectively. The final average score for the city of Rasht was estimated to be 0. 342. 

Since the points of the TOPSIS model are between zero and 1, in general, the neighborhoods of Rasht have relatively low compliance with neo-urbanism principles. Therefore, the paper makes suggestions such as preventing the increase in building density in the historical context, strengthening public transportation, maintaining and strengthening public and green open spaces, increasing the optimal building density in new constructions, increasing the quality of sidewalks and increasing the safety and security of pedestrians.