Explaining the relationship between the elements of the physical form of the city and the realization of urban prosperity (Case study of Lahijan, Iran)

Urban form is a container where urban activities take place, the importance of the city form is due to the functions it has for the residents of a city.  The connection of the components of urban prosperity and urban form is evident, so they can be improved by each other.  

This study aims to explain the relationship between the elements of the urban physical form and the feasibility of urban prosperity in Lahijan City. Therefore, the research has investigated the effects of these indicators (density, connection, mixing, communication networks and transportation, spatial distribution of activities) on the feasibility of the urban prosperity index.

This research has an analytical-descriptive approach using factor analysis. Also, for data analysis, one-sample T-test and SPSS software were used.

Geographical Context:

 Lahijan is a city in the east of Gilan Province, which is adjacent to the Caspian Sea from the north, Langerood from the east, Deylaman from the south, Siahkal from the southwest, and Astana Ashrafieh from the west. Its population was reported as 167,544 in the 2016 census.

The findings show that the highest score of 88.3 belongs to the spatial distribution of activities. The lowest score is 2.19 that belongs to connection and spatial communication. The specific value of the corresponding variance shows that the first to third factors (spatial distribution of activities, communication network and transportation and density) together account for 96.66% of the variance.  The density factor accounts for 16.233% of the total variance of the influencing factors on the realization of urban prosperity.

The first and second factors, or the spatial distribution of activities and the communication and transportation network explain 49.966 percent of the realizable amount of urban prosperity in the studied area. Therefore, the more the impact of the urban physical form, the more the realization of urban prosperity in the studied area.