The Identification and Evaluation of the Desirability of Urban Public Parking Lots using the MARCOS Model (Case study: The Central Core of Ahvaz Metropolis)

Today, the crisis of the lack of vehicle parking areas, especially in central urban areas, has plagued most large cities, as the lack or shortage of public parking lots because of growing urban development has engendered increased traffic jams, pollution, reduced quality of life in cities, etc. The goal of this study was to employ the Marcus Model to examine 26 public parking lots in the central areas of District 1 of the metropolis of Ahvaz using seven indicators of area, facilities, access, security, beauty, entry fees, and cleanliness through survey methods. The statistical population of the study comprised public parking lot users of the city of Ahvaz. The sample volume was 111 using the KMO and Bartlett’s test. Cronbach’s alpha of 0.861 was estimated for the reliability of the study questionnaire, which measures the accuracy and consistency of the findings. From an innovation perspective, the study aimed to broaden its focus on examining the indicators, as compared to previous research. This is because the effectiveness of each of the indicators under study varied in terms of capacity, place, thinking, user encounter, and officials’ monitoring. Also, one of the multi-criteria decision-making methods (MARCOS Model) was used to explain the study data. Study findings showed that out of the 26 public parking lots in the study area, story parking lots of Karun, Refah, Shaid Fahmide, Nakh, Shahed, etc. with the respective quantitative values of 91.37, 89.45, 87.20, 86.16, and 85.74 ranking first to fifth in terms of the seven indicators examined.