فصلنامه مطالعات شهری
پیاپی 26 (بهار 1397)

Place attachment is a type of emotional connection developed between an individual and a specific location which could happen in different times and places. People could feel different levels of attachment to their homes, neighborhoods or cities. This feeling could have different levels of intensity based on environmental features, social atmosphere and the memories made by individuals in that specific place. Several studies have been conducted on the subject of place attachment. Researches done by Daneshpour et al. (2009), Sarmast & Motavaseli (2010), Amir Kafi & Fathi (2011), Sajadzadeh (2014), Heidari et al. (2014), Cuba & Hummon (1993), Hidalgo & Hernandez (2001), Brown et al. (2003), Shamai & Liatov (2005), Gifford et al. (2009), and Lewicka (2010) are among studies that have addressed the issue from different approaches. However, these studies have not addressed place attachment in terms of the three factors of home, neighborhood, and city as well as age and sex variables. Also, they have not compared two different cities with different physical and social features. The present study will focus on the three factors of home, neighborhood and the city and delve into the reasons for the increase and decrease in the intensity of place attachment. It will also take sex and age variables into account. To compare the resulted data, residents of the two cities of Tehran and Sari were chosen. Conducting a study on the two cities of Tehran, a metropolis, and Sari, a small city with stronger social ties, can improve generalizability. The number of participants as subjects of the study in Tehran and Sari is assessed to be 427 and 306, respectively. Within the prescribed framework, factors that affect place attachment are divided into the three physical, social and emotional categories. Accordingly, three separate questionnaires were provided to assess the intensity of place attachment regarding the aforementioned categories. In each questionnaire, there were questions about physical, social and emotional factors, which are the main factors in determining the reasons behind place attachment. The resulted data from within subjects ANOVA, repeated measures ANOVA and split-plot ANOVA were analyzed using SPSS. The results showed that the intensity of attachment in residents of Tehran and Sari regarding the three categories was different. Accordingly, the subjects’ attachment to their homes held the highest rank, attachment to cities was at the second place and attachment to neighborhood was at the lowest level. Also the factor of sex had no impact on the intensity of attachment regarding the aforementioned categories. However, the results of descriptive statistics showed that the intensity level related to attachment to home for both men and women held the highest level, attachment to city was at the second place and attachment to neighborhood was at the lowest level. Although not having a meaningful impact on the results of the study, in the case of female residents of Sari, attachment to city held a lower place than attachment to neighborhood. However, the age of subjects played an important role in their place attachment. For instance, Tehran residents of all age groups said that they had a stronger attachment to their homes, their city and neighborhoods (in the same order), but in the case of Sari, teenagers showed stronger attachment to their city while older people showed roughly the same level of attachment to all the three categories. The results showed that social attachment to home held the highest priority and physical attachment held the second place followed by emotional attachment to home. With regard to the neighborhood and city categories, for all age groups, emotional attachment to the city held the highest rank, followed by attachment to the physical dimensions and social attachment.

Globalization has basically transformed the world into a competitive market in which most companies seek to choose the appropriate economic policies and identify effective strategies to meet the emerging competitive environment, and the new challenges posed in this global competitive environment. In fact, today, tourism has become one of the most important competitive bases and competitive areas in the world in a way that each country and city is seeking a better position in this profitable and competitive area. Currently, most planners are seeking to use appropriate methods and strategies for long-term successful planning in this field, so that they can increase their success rate in tourist attraction due to the relative importance of human affairs. In the meantime, strategic planning is one of the most appropriate scientific methods for determining the weaknesses and strengths of the environment, identifying the most important sources of each region, as well as determining the most important macro-factors affecting the region. Indeed, in this type of planning, we can determine a specific program in the scientific framework for tourism in Kurdistan by identifying the set of factors mentioned above. Therefore, in the present study, we seek to achieve the following goals using the Meta-SWOT technique: identifying the most important tourism opportunities in Kurdistan, the major factors affecting tourism in Kurdistan, and the competition situation of the province with neighboring provinces until 2025. In order to achieve these goals, the required data was collected by experts from the Kurdistan Tourism Development Document. The sample includes 25 experts and researchers related to the research topic. In addition to Kurdistan province, the selected sample includes the neighboring and rival provinces. Research findings were analyzed in two steps. In the first step, tourism competition map of Kurdistan with neighboring provinces was drawn. In the second step, the tourism proportion strategic map of Kurdistan was presented considering the resources and capabilities of the province as well as the major factors affecting tourism in Kurdistan. The results of this research, drawn from the competitive map, indicate that the status of tourism in Kurdistan will be in a competitive position compared to its rivals, namely Kermanshah, Hamedan, and Azerbaijan provinces in terms of attracting foreign tourists in the target year. In order to achieve this goal in the vision document, resources and capabilities that were identified by experts to have the highest scores should be strengthened and considered as strong and forward-looking strategies. In the strategic proportion map, the results show that ecotourism and border markets have the highest level of strategic alignment with environmental factors, and, in the regional competitiveness debate, they are the most important potential of Kurdistan for taking up tourism market in the region. Also, the historical record of the province and the existence of suitable infrastructure for tourism have the highest level of strategic alignment with the goals set out in the Tourism Document of Kurdistan. Also, the most important factors affecting the development of Kurdistan tourism are the country’s macro-management, international sanctions and foreign policy of the state. Therefore, political stability in the country will improve the situation of Kurdistan in attracting foreign tourists.

Today, the issue of visibility assessment and visual impact (dominance) of a building on its surrounding context is considered as one of the most important issues of urban landscape. Accordingly, this paper analyzes the visibility of two high-rise buildings in the center and west of Sanandaj using raw input data and processing them by GIS and ArcGis 10. For the visibility analysis in urban landscape, the mutual visibility between high-rise building and its surrounding area is calculated. This is done traditionally by taking photos from urban areas. However, in this method, the whole region is studied by considering all points and places. The available vegetation such as trees with an approximate transparency ratio is considered to obtain more accurate results. Also, for better evaluation of differences between the amount and trend of visibility, the areas around both buildings (region number 1 is relatively flat and has a river-valley with low depth and mild slope; region number 2 involves dune hills) were classified into the close, intermediate and far fields. The visibility of these two high-rise buildings in their surrounding areas is in the form of output GIS images which is calculated separately for both buildings and all their floors. It means that for building number 1, which has 17 floors, 17 output maps of visibility to surrounding areas are obtained by the software. Also, for building number 2 with 14 floors, 14 output visibility maps are obtained. The findings show that visibility trend of different floors of these two buildings is not a constant and linear trend, it has variations in some points. Among these points, visibility and its effect, relative to surrounding areas, is more important than other floors in the triple fields. The points where visibility curve has track change, steep change and sudden increase show the greater importance of their visibility and their relative dominance than other floors. These floors can visually have more effect on their surrounding environment. Therefore, the design style of these particular floors (milestones in the visibility curve) in high-rise buildings can be important. The changes in floors visibility trend and their values were different for the two buildings. By evaluating the related diagrams, the reasons for this difference were found in three cases: first, the difference in average height of buildings around of two buildings; second, the difference between the tilt around the two buildings; and third, the dune hill in region number 2. Finally, we can say that visibility analysis is considered to be a tool for modeling the visibility in planning high-rise buildings. Before constructing such buildings, visibility analysis can be an effective method to estimate that a floor or an apartment will or will not have a good view after completion. Therefore, this tool can be used to investigate the positive or negative value of a region. Also, the extent to which a building is or is not visible can be very important in decisions about determining the height of a building relative to its surrounding texture (especially in cities with historically valuable texture and touristic landscape).

Mehr housing developments typify the problem of increasing building density in modern urbanism, a state of affairs with manifold repercussions. The Mehr housing complexes in Ardabil consist stereotypically of apartment buildings tightly jammed together, without regard to every environmental and human aspect. As rather densely populated complexes and prospective accommodations for upcoming generations, they warrant serious attention in terms of social sustainability. It is indeed possible to make amends for the human and social aspects overlooked in the original designs by enhancing the physical environment. Hence, the present study explored the role of sociable public spaces in social sustainability of residential complexes, seeking to promote social identity and vitality in contemporary urban structures. The examined cases were three Mehr housing developments in Ardabil, namely Niayesh, Vahdat, and Andisheh. Our hypothesis stated that the presence of sociable public spaces at the concerned developments correlated significantly with their social sustainability. The adopted method combined qualitative and quantitative approaches, and the applied strategies included logical reasoning, comparison, and correlation. At first, documentary and analytical studies were embarked on to extract the facets and variables of social sustainability and sociability of the spaces. To measure the two concepts of “space sociability” and “social sustainability”, the designed models incorporated the spatial-physical components of the former and the human and social dimensions of the latter. Questionnaires designed with respect to the research components were distributed among the local residents. The variables of the two concepts and their correlation at the complexes were interpreted by analyzing the data from the questionnaires through one sample t-test and Pearson’s correlation using SPSS. Results of these analyses suggest that establishing sociable spaces will positively contribute to social sustainability of residential complexes, and that Andisheh exhibits relatively higher levels of the two concepts among the examined cases. The next step involved the analysis of spatial and physical facets of the public spaces of the complexes. The data resulting from the analysis of the questionnaires were related to the results of interviews and observations. The variables and environmental attributes pertaining to the sociability of public spaces of the residential complexes were then extracted and classified. The paper concludes by offering a series of solutions, including provision of sociable spaces such as green areas, children’s playgrounds, and commercial and cultural centers, allowing for proper physical-social sizes of the spaces, enhancing environmental welfare, and taking account of visual diversity, all of which will ensure sociability of public spaces at the residential complexes, thereby promoting social sustainability. Sociable places can be regarded as multi-purpose spaces that can accommodate various activities and appeal to different groups, thus intensifying human interactions. The physical-social size of a space is correlated with the sense of security, sense of affinity, and identification with the environment. Environmental welfare is related to being satisfied with the physical environment and to the desire for spending more time at and relishing the space, whereas visual variety makes the space appealing and inviting.

In recent years, for reasons such as population growth, increased rural migration, and the migrants’ financial inability to afford housing, the host cities are facing the problem of illegal settlements that are built densely without observing the principles of construction. These are usually known as informal settlements which face many problems. One of the problems is the lack of social spaces that could act as the pillar of urban life. The issue of socialization and social interactions has been neglected in marginal and informal urban contexts, but it is more important that than in other contexts. It is because these contexts are in fact one of the most prominent manifestations of urban poverty in most Iranian cities with migration inflow. The promotion of socialization in these informal settlements, which are a part of the city’s body, is one of the main goals for increasing public welfare and citizens’ peace through the provision of their social needs. In recent years, hybrid studies have considered the relationship between cognitive maps and spatial configuration in assessing the shape of the constructed environment, but few studies have focused on adapting the findings of space layout approach by comparing cognitive maps when studying and measuring social behaviors of citizens in one of the most problematic urban contexts, i.e. informal settlements. This is an innovation in this research, an applied area and a step forward in the field of urban psychology, which can help urban planners and decision makers to identify and improve the morphology of more sociable urban neighborhoods. The present study seeks to investigate the effect of the physical-spatial characteristics of these settlements on sociability by examining the neighborhoods of Hesar and Dizaj in Hamedan. In the first step, the related literature and theoretical concepts were reviewed by library research and consulting with valuable sources on spatial configuration, socialization, and informal settlements. In the second step, the maps of the two neighborhoods were simulated in the Space Syntax software and analyzed formally and morphologically as follows. In the analysis of research data, in line with the natural motion theory, the role of spatial configuration was examined in the formation of behavioral and social patterns (in particular, socialization behavior). In fact, this applied study is based on a mixed methodology. In the first step, quantitative techniques were used along with the theory of natural motion, the theory of space syntax, as well as Arc GIS and UCL Depth Map software packages to analyze spatial configuration and its role in the social behavior of citizens with the aim of specifying the physical-spatial factors which influence sociability in urban spaces. The next step aimed at determining the validity and reliability of the results. In this step, the quantitative results were reconsidered by means of the qualitative method of cognitive maps. According to the findings, spatial configuration may affect the sociability of informal settlements through five indicators, namely, control, connectivity, integration, depth, and legibility. It may also affect people’s attendance, motion, face-to-face contact, and conversations (which are the major prerequisites of the formation of social interactions). Our analysis of the abovementioned informal settlements shows that the maps of the quantitative method of space syntax almost overlap with the qualitative cognitive maps. A comparison between the two neighborhoods indicates that the tree-like and continuous space configuration of Dizaj creates a motion pattern that leads to social interactions in the middle parts of the neighborhood whereas the shrub-like configuration in Hesar distributes the patterns of motion and social behavior all over the neighborhood and leads to more desirable social effects.

Physical urban growth has had different social, economical and physical outcomes. From the perspective of social effects, urban population displacement and mobility could be the most important outcome. Physical dimension of rapid urban development can be defined in terms of urban sprawl, spatial fragmentation, different urban forms and changing of urban mixed land uses. Consequently, changes in the combination of appropriate, consistent and diversity of land uses has become more evident in central parts of cities. These changes have been very prominent in the case of Shiraz. From the perspective of location efficiency or land use intensity, Shiraz central part has had a combination of appropriate, consistent, diversity and mixed land uses in the past. Whenever those conditions have changed, urban decline has emerged too. On the basis of Hoppenbrouwer and Erik Louw’s research on Rowley’s concept, we can develop typology for mixed land use from a spatial perspective and represent four dimensions: shared premise dimension, horizontal dimension, vertical dimension, and periodical dimension. Therefore, this survey has focused on this basic question: what is the relation between urban mixed use dimensions and land use intensity? The main objective of the research is tied to the question, so the research wants to define urban mixed use dimensions as one of the effective variables for analyzing urban land use intensity and zoning inner city intensity. The study domains of mixed land uses and inner-city decay are different. Therefore, one of the challenges of this study is to find a model capable of extracting the relationship between the phenomena of inner city decay and mix use development. Attempts in this line of inquiry led to the selection of the evaluation method regarding locational strength of the urban land uses. This method is based on micro economy theories since they deal with areal extent regarding the intensity and strength of urban land uses. This model is well applied to those areas which accommodate mix land uses, especially the new ones. It tries to find out whether mixed land use pattern is an effective measure or not. It determines the areal extent of both strengths and weaknesses of land uses regarding well-designed and pleasant spatial structure. Therefore, the research method is a combination of Yinan and Chen’s land use intensity zoning control and mixed use dimensions. The application of Yinan and Chen urban land use model and its extension based on analytical hierarchical process and Arc GIS software package regarding determination of areal extent and zoning of degree of strength and weakness of the land uses is being considered as the best method in this regard. Spatial analysis is an appropriate method for analyzing their relations. Also, other statistical methods such as Chi-Square Test, Pearson Correlation, ANOVA and Coefficients have been used. As a result, it is argued that share premise; horizontal, vertical, and periodical dimensions of mix used development approach are capable of explaining 19.1 percent of spatial behavior of Shiraz inner city decay. Regression coefficient associated with both dependent and independent variables indicates that with 1 unit increase in dimension of urban mix land uses located in Shiraz central part, one could see 4.6 unit decrease in the level of inner city decay.

One area of unsustainable urban development, especially in developing countries living with acute problems, is the so-called informal settlements which requires adopting special measures to regulate their current situation and prevent their spread in the future. With the introduction of sustainable urban development in the 1980s and attention to all aspects of the city (including environmental, economic and social aspects) as a basis for sustainable urban development, the problem of informal settlements entered a new phase of studies that is most relevant to the assessment of the level of stability in such settlements. The emergence of new practical methods and practices of sustainable development thinking in terms of environmental impact assessment occurred in the 1990s. The ecological footprint analysis is one of the indices that has attracted the attention of academics, politicians and educationalists. Ecological footprint is an indicator that assesses the energy and materials used in a city, region or country, and evaluates the burden on ecosystems induced by the population and industrial processes. In recent decades, Sanandaj, as the main city of Kurdistan province, has witnessed a massive wave of migration from the countryside into the city, leading to the formation of many informal settlements such as Abbas Abad, Naysr, etc. This research tries to evaluate the level of sustainability in Abbas Abad neighborhood using ecological footprint. The present study is an applied research with a descriptive-analytical method. The statistical population includes all the households living in Abbas Abad neighborhood. Given the fact that 4741 households live in Abbas Abad neighborhood, the sample size was estimated using the Cochran formula to be about 355 households. On this basis, 355 questionnaires were randomly distributed among households living in the Abbas Abad neighborhood. The questionnaires collected the information on the annual consumption of food and waste generation as expressed by the respondents. In order to assess the level of stability in Abbas Abad, the ecological footprint of the neighborhood was measured as one of the unofficial neighborhoods of Sanandaj. Eventually, one year’s water, electricity and gas consumption was calculated. It is worth noting that information on food intake, transport and waste production was been obtained through the distributed questionnaires.  The results show that the total ecological footprint of Abbas Abad neighborhood is 74560.551 hectares. The calculations show that the ecological footprint of the Abbas Abad neighborhood in 2011 was 74560.551 hectares worldwide, which represents an area of 3.808 hectares per capita for each neighborhood resident. This means that although the area of Abbas Abad neighborhood is 46 hectare, the land consumption of 19578 people living in the neighborhood is 1,621 times more than the area of the neighborhood, and given the 4065 hectares area of Sanandaj in 2011, it is about 18 times more than the area Sanandaj. The highest ecological footprint in the Abbas Abad neighborhood relates to the construction sector (38162 hectares). After construction, food (25819.06 hectares) and gas (5498 hectares) have the highest share in the Abbas Abad neighborhood.

In the present age, health describes a comprehensive concept of quality of life. One of the important health issues is healthy housing. As an area where people spend a significant part of their lives, housing plays an important role in providing people with peace and well-being. Therefore, healthier homes can prevent many physical and mental illnesses and affect the health of the individual and the community. On the contrary, unhealthy housing affects multiple dimensions of health and causes many problems for the individual on the micro and macro levels. Today, due to the sharp decline in the quality of housing and residential areas and the increase of environmental pollution, including air and noise pollution, inappropriate management of waste and the harmful effects of chemicals, etc. in cities, it is necessary to pay more attention to healthy housing and the provision of safe housing for citizens; this is especially important in the developing countries. Therefore, research on healthy housing can make the ground for residents to live in healthy housing and prevent contaminated diseases and accidents due to incomplete and non-standardized residential units. In this regard, it is important to study the cities the wide variety of their dwelling places. This research uses descriptive-analytical method in the form of documents and field studies to collect information. It investigates the level of utilization of urban areas of Ardabil in terms of having healthy housing indices. Accordingly, the statistical population of this study was all residential units in urban areas of Ardabil. Using Morgan table, 420 residential units were selected as the sample population. The research instrument was a researcher-made questionnaire. Data was analyzed using SPSS. Descriptive statistics, chi-square test, F test, Duncan test and Spearman correlation coefficient were used to test the research hypotheses.

The findings show that about 81.2%, 83.6%, 74.8%, 79%, 80.2%, and 65.2% of the residential units of Ardabil are suitable in terms of comfort, convenience, safety, health, sustainability, and vitality indices, respectively. Finally, in terms of the total index of healthy housing, about 83.3% of residential units of the city are in a favorable condition and about 16.7% are not.

The results indicate that Ardabil has a relatively favorable status in terms of having healthy housing indices, but there is a significant difference between its urban areas. The difference is such that District 3 is the best district in terms of indicators of healthy housing and District 4 has the most unfavorable condition in terms of these indices. Districts 1 and 2 are respectively in the second and third places. The results also show that there is a direct correlation between the desirability of socioeconomic characteristics of residents of urban areas and having healthy housing indices and that there is a reverse relationship between building age and healthy housing indices.