نشریه مطالعات ساختار و کارکرد شهری
پیاپی 32 (پاییز 1401)

The issue of poverty and inequality has become a problem in Iran due to the lack of a fair view on land. For decades, the issue of urban poverty has been referred to under various titles: informal settlements, distressed textures, worn-out textures, etc. Different plans, programs and laws have been developed to address this issue. However, the dimensions of the problem has been widened and deepened. The purpose of the present study is to examine the spatial analysis of poverty in inefficient textures of Abadan to better plan for organizing, empowering and improving the quality of life in these textures. Findings based on the hot spots method show that in some parts of the east and north of Abadan, more hot spots are formed that have higher values compared to the multidimensional poverty criterion. Cold spot density is also observed in the northeast and parts of the north of the city that have lower values of this criterion, including prosperous and very prosperous blocks. The results show the poverty situation in distressed textures of Abadan has a cluster pattern. The theoretical orientation of this research is towards multidimensional poverty proposed by Amartya Kumar Sen. According to the results of multidimensional poverty, very poor areas are more concentrated in the western and eastern parts of the city. This area covers 11.54% of the area of distressed textures. Poor areas (22.6%) are placed mostly in the northern (e.g., Western Selich, Fihe, Koye Mellat and Shahabad Neighborhoods), western (e.g., Ahmadabad and Barim Neighborhoods) and eastern parts of the city (e.g., Alvanieh and Zolfaqari Neighborhoods). The results of this research can be used to inform managers and urban planners of the current situation and plan to empower residents to reduce urban poverty,  and improved the living, physical, socio-cultural and economic conditions of distressed neighborhoods in Abadan.

Since Covid-19, as a new and completely complex and anonymous phenomenon, entered the world, cities have not been able to meet the needs of their habitants and people could not change their lifestyle and adapt a new one. In the meantime, the use of new information and communication technologies and the creation of smart urban environments have caused natural and unnatural crises. The aim of this study is, therefore, to evaluate the effect of the Covid-19 outbreak on urban management intelligence, evaluate the impact of corona outbreak on the activities of Mashhad Municipality, and examine the measures taken in the field of intelligence to deal with this crisis. This research is applied in terms of purpose and exploratory-analytical in terms of method. It has adopted a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods (mixed-methods). Data has been collected through library and field studies. The statistical population of the research in the first level included 50 elites and available experts selected through snowball sampling and in the second level, 200 citizens have been selected for field analysis. Mick Mac Software and Scenario Wizard were used to analyze the extracted information. The research indicators included intelligent transportation, smart economy, smart government, smart living, smart citizens and smart environment. The results of the research indicated 8 key factors with several possible situations and scenarios for the future of urban management intelligence in the city of Mashhad.

In Iranian urban planning and architecture, almost all elements and spaces of architecture and urban planning, including houses, mosques, bazaars and even passages have had a relationship with water in some ways. Moreover, several architectural and urban elements have been created for the storage, distribution and consumption of water, the most important of which are mills, aqueducts, baths, neighborhoods, mosques and gardens. Therefore, studying the role of water in the formation of urban spaces in Iranian cities is an undeniable necessity. The main purpose of this study is to investigate the irrigation system and water supply in the city of Urmia as a case study. The present study has used analytical, survey and historical methods taking a mixed-methods approach (quantitative and qualitative) in two parts to investigate the role of water system in forming the urban structures in Urmia. The first part includes documentary studies about the city of Urmia and water, and the second part includes field studies.  The geographical area of ​​the present study is the city of Urmia, the capital of West Azerbaijan Province. The findings of the present research prove that due to the importance of water and for all people to benefit from it, extensive and precise roles and social relations have been created through cultural mechanisms, which in turn affect some parts of the culture of the people of Urmia. The results of the present study show the circulation and distribution of water through aqueducts, overpasses, baths and mosques as well as the development and formation of the city of Urmia, including the establishment of its neighborhoods, houses and other public buildings. These findings are consistent with the components forming the circulation and distribution of water. As a result, the formation and development of Urmia depends on the irrigation and water systems.

Metropolitan neighborhoods have faced many structural and functional changes in recent decades. They have undergone transformation and transition to a new situation while experiencing major changes. The present research studies the structural and functional changes in the southern part of District 6 of Tehran Municipality, including Iranshahr, Valiasr, University of Tehran and Jamalzadeh as a number of the most important areas of the city. Since these areas have been considered by various organizations and departments in recent decades, data related to their structural and functional changes can be obtained. For this purpose, first, the related scientific sources in the literature have been studied. Then, using field surveys, changes in the functions of the study area have been investigated. Finally, using GIS Software and methods of spatial statistics analysis, the structural and functional changes in the neighborhoods and zoning of the changes have been investigated. The results show that in recent years, parts of residential buildings in the study area have been used for non-residential functions and in the meantime, the University of Tehran neighborhood has experienced the most changes. The findings showed that by passing through the northern part of the region to the south, the amounts of residential uses decreased while the number of administrative, commercial, educational-cultural, service and mixed uses increased. Continuation of this situation caused the formation of a purely official and commercial space without considering the suitable ratios. These all have led to problems in the region and the city of Tehran.

One of the most important ways to reduce the vulnerability of informal settlements is to renovate the fabric of neighborhoods, a texture that causes concern to those in charge and has significant yearly costs. Renovation of informal settlements will raise the living standards of residents, improve the services of responsible organizations, and as a result, increase the resilience of cities. However, despite the presence and activity of various devices and organizations in recent years in this neighborhood, the process of modernization of these textures is very slow and imperceptible. For this purpose, the present study aims at identifying, ranking and modeling the barriers to the renovation of informal settlements in Mashhad. In the present study, using library and field methods and considering the opinion of experts, 29 barriers in social, economic, cultural, legal and physical categories have been identified as barriers to the renovation of informal settlements in Mashhad. Using TOPSIS technique and Pareto principle, first 10 key barriers were identified and modeled by the interpretive structure method. ultimately, the "lack of integrated urban management" has been identified as the main obstacle to modernizing the texture of informal settlements at the lowest level and the cornerstone of obstacles. As a result, creating integrated urban management means creating a unified and coordinated management between responsible agencies to establish laws, rules, privileges and incentives in accordance with the structure of each neighborhood to improve working and living conditions of residents and improve the urban structure and reduce the impact of other obstacles on the way of renovating the texture of informal settlements.

One of the most practical strategies in the field of urban planning is the need to pay attention to the viability of urban areas. Living in urban areas means desirable and optimal housing for all people living in a particular place. However, the expansion of urban settlements on the one hand and the lack of differences between new and old links in urban areas on the other hand, have caused many problems, the solution of which depends on identifying the influential components in the process of urbanization. Accordingly, the present study has been conducted with the aim of evaluating and explaining the components affecting urban livability in Sari. The method used in this research is descriptive-analytical. The required data were collected using a questionnaire and with the logic of cluster and random sampling from the residents of 20 districts of Sari, with a quota of 20 samples in each area and a total of 400 samples. Findings show that among the indicators of biodegradability, in the social index, the component of "sense of belonging to the city of Sari", in the environmental index, the component of "the status of green space and urban facilities and equipment", and in the economic index, the component of "housing status" among other components with a significance level of 99% are above the average level (Sig = 0.000= 0.05). According to the research findings, it can be said that strengthening urban livability in Sari City depends on improving the economic, social and environmental indicators, creating green space and welfare facilities and organizing the urban population towards areas prone to growth.

The present applied research is descriptive-analytical in nature and uses library and field methods to collect the required data. To achieve the research variables, the research background was reviewed. The obtained variables were then examined through interviews with experts. Finally, 41 variables were identified in the form of 4 political-managerial, economic, social and natural indicators using Delphi method and environmental scanning. Finally, a questionnaires in the form of a 41 * 41 matrix were distributed among 15 experts and specialists selected through to purposive sampling. Following that, using Mick Mac and Scenario Wizard Software, 13 items were identified as the main and key drivers of effective management on urban growth in Maragheh. These 13 items were examined in 39 possible situations using Scenario Wizard Software. Finally, 23 credible scenarios were presented in the field of urban growth management in Maragheh. Two scenarios, 3 and 12, were chosen to be the best ones for managing the growth of Maragheh based on ecological networks.

Throughout the history, the speed of disease outbreak has played an important role in reducing the independence and sustainability of cities around the world. Challenges arising from this important factor have affected the level of authority and sovereignty of cities and by becoming a global crisis, it has been able to have special effects on the strength and resilience of cities, especially the small ones. This research uses a documentary-survey method to analyze the use of scientific and technological tools and methods in empowerment and comprehensive development of small cities in the world and specifically, in Iran. A field study has been done in small cities (e.g., Amlash, Noor, Imamzadeh Abdullah and Jajarm) and the successful experiences of other small towns in developed countries have been reviewed. In addition to interviewing experts from the municipalities of these cities, 15 people (60 samples in total) were interviewed to obtain real information about the quality and socio-economic conditions of these cities, as a reflection of how they are managed. The participants were selected through snowball sampling. In this study, the findings showed that due to various constraints, if small towns wanted to be resilient to crises such as the outbreak of  COVID-19, they would have to build on priorities, e.g., increased bandwidth, virtual training and increased Internet access, and enhance their indigenous social networking activities, self-reliance, collaboration, and capabilities. The results showed that due to various limitations, if small towns want to be resilient and resistant to crises such as the COVID-19 disease, they must increase their self-reliance, assistance and indigenous capabilities through social networks. This important outcome can be achieved through the formulation and implementation of policies that enhance networking and inter-urban interactions (especially between the small cities and medium and large cities).

Urban residents are exposed to high levels of stressors and this exposure is the cause of the prevalence of their mental illness. Nevertheless, despite the importance of mental health and urban stress, few studies have been focused on the potential links between environmental aspects and mental health, and there has been a lack of research on urban stressors. It is of high importance, however, to focus on the characteristics of the urban context affecting this issue and reduce them in the development of urban planning and design of stress therapists. For this purpose, this study was conducted to investigate the factors affecting urban stress, expressed in related documents and research. A systematic review of theoretical foundations has been done for data collection and a content analysis method has been applied for data analysis. Findings indicate that urban stress is mostly due to social stressors such as population density (very high or very low), social isolation, social deprivation, and poor social interactions, as well as environmental stressors such as noise pollution and air pollution. Following these ones, job insecurity and unemployment, injustice in the city, high traffic density, lack of green space and poor access to it, lack of adequate educational opportunities, low quality housing, ethnic or group minority and economic and social status are the next important factors. As a result, high stress in cities, compared to rural areas, is due to social and environmental factors. Thus, policy makers, planners, designers and architects should identify the stressors and reduce them in the urban environment.

The conscious and purposeful design of the city structure, and in particular, the symbolic structure of the city, plays an essential role in improving the public realm quality. A set of symbolic elements is necessary to achieve such a structure, arranged in an interconnected network. This study is applied according to its main objectives and has a descriptive-analytical nature. In this research, the symbolic structure of the city has been analyzed from both citizens' and experts' perspectives. Considering the importance of signs in the spatio-physical cohesion and the integrated perception of the city structure, this study intends to explain the visual system of Sadra New Town by emphasizing the semiotic structure and the citizens' perception and mental maps. For this purpose, after selecting 90 citizens, the research team captured their mental map with the help of symbolic elements and landmark recognition in 3 stages. Following this stage, an integrated perceptual map was produced by projecting and overlaying the mental maps using GIS Software. Then, to apprehend the semiotic structure of the New Town, the elements present in the citizens' mental maps were ranked using the AHP method. It was determined that visual, perceptual, functional, and structural landmarks are among the priorities selected by the experts, respectively. The rankings were analyzed using the SAW method to assess the quality of the individuals' mental maps elements concerning the sub-criteria of each landmark. In this way, the final score of each landmark, path, and node was calculated and classified in good, medium, and poor spectroscopy. In this way, according to the analysis of the mental maps focusing on the semiotic structure of Sadra New Town, it is clear that city landmarks, visual qualities, main entrance, and the entrance of distinctive avenues, public spaces, and paths are all crucial elements in the citizens' perceptual map. These elements are components of the urban visual system with a physical-visual aspect. According to their specific characteristics, each of them can establish their position in people's minds.