Architecture and Urban Development (IJAUD)

Mismatch of territories under authority of local governments with urban-regional activity domains, on one hand, has caused numerous problems and, on the other hand, has hindered taking maximum advantage of regional capacities and partial and competitive advantages. Hence, application of a new regionalism approach, which focuses on shared planning and management by all stakeholder groups within the pertinent domain, may help solve such problems. In this regard, this paper aims to investigate legal grounds of new regionalism, generally, in Iran and, particularly, in Qeshm Island, and its requirements for increasing competitiveness and creativity in Qeshm Island. Hence, underlying concepts of new regionalism and their relation with a creative city are investigated at first step. Next, legal grounds of new regionalism within national laws and organizational goals and missions of Qeshm Free Trade Zone Organization (FTZO) are investigated. Finally, a comparative study of new regionalism related issues and goals of Qeshm FTZO is provided. Results indicate that such an approach has been referred to both in national codes and goals and missions of Qeshm Free Trade Zone Organization. Moreover, new regionalism can lead to increased quality of life by considering concepts of smart growth, social justice, and environmental justice which can result in attracting creative classes of citizens and building up a creative city. Furthermore, this approach can increase competitiveness in Qeshm Island through making use of its partial and competitive advantages and facilitating laws and regulations with regard to economic activities and foreign investment.

Despite the availability of extensive facilities for children, the effect of environment on creativity of children is often ignored. It is a fact that children can attend the playgrounds in city parks, independently, from age 6, therefore they become exposed to influence of the environment during this age period. It is necessary to design playgrounds for children to improve their creativity. The objective here is to assess the effects of physical components of the playgrounds in city parks on creativity of children of ages 6 to 12. A descriptive- analytic method is adopted in this study. This method is adopted to achieve the theoretical perspectives and correlations between the variables and indices, through analysis. At this stage, the data are collected from a selected statistical population through field research and closed response researcher designed questionnaire and the effective variables are determined by factor analysis and correlation. By applying path analysis method using of Smart PLS1 software program based on the relations between the variables, the study model is provided. The results indicate that there exists a significant correlation between the environmental factors and creativity and regarding the rate of effectiveness of the physical factors on creativity, the variety factor is more effective, followed by physical liveliness and flexibility factors, respectively.

A large number of studies show that uncontrolled and unplanned spatial and functional developments in old central districts of large and medium-sized Iranian cities in past few decades have resulted in many unpleasant transformations. Thus, the historic urban fabrics have gradually lost their socio-economic livability and quality and this issue has led to urban distress, blight and deterioration. The main objective of this research is to evaluate quality of historical neighborhood of zone eight of Shiraz metropolis municipality [Old CBD] according to set criteria based on New Urbanism Approach and Principles. This is applied research with descriptive – analytical methodology, using a hybrid AHP – TOPSSIS analysis methodology. By ranking these historical districts according to their current quality and capacity, we can determine best cases for development with the low intervention level strategy. The results of multi criteria analysis indicate that among the twelve districts in the historical fabric of Shiraz, Sang-e-Siyah, Mordestan and Meydan-e-Shah are the three best cases for development regarding the potentials and capacity and qualities in historical fabric of Shiraz.

Sustainability is observed in many aspects and elements of traditional Iranian architecture, planner and landscape architecture, and this method was used to solve many problems for many countries. The aim of this article is to achieve a sustainable approach in planning urban renewal projects to identify the relationship between urban design considerations and the sustainable development objectives. An experimental model of stability testing of the modernization projects in three economic, environmental and social dimensions was evaluated in District 11, Municipality in Mashhad. In this article, the questionnaire used to collect data from sample size of 380 and various statistical analyses such as Independent T-test, Pearson correlation, multiple regression and path analysis were used. The findings show that the variables in all three "economic", "social" and "environmental" dimensions had related rate of sustainability of urban renewal projects. The variables, Built Environment and social factors were more effective in increasing the sustainability of urban renewal projects.

In urban planning, access to public spaces provides social relations for citizens. The goal of this paper is to evaluate the elderly's requirements in public spaces (case study of Sheet Bazaar, Zanjan, Iran) in order to recognize and classify their strengths and weaknesses and present more appropriate and effective strategies for their improvement. In this research, the related literature on old age and requirements of the elderly in public open spaces was reviewed and the factors affecting their use of physical places were determined at the first stage of the study. After reviewing the literature, some observations on the elderly were made and questionnaires were given to 80 users with the age of over 65 years old to serve the purpose of this study. The results of the questionnaires indicate that the frequent problems of the elderly in public open spaces were identified as follows: pollution (24.8%), pavements and roads (24.6%), traffic (14.4%), safety (12.2%), insufficiency of maintenance and management (9.6%), and socio-cultural problems (5.3%). In addition, the result of the observations in the main research area shows that the design properties had the highest and maintenance-management services had the lowest success percentages. In the end, some solutions were presented for designing new public open spaces and developing the existing spaces.

Environmental psychology is one of the subjects that has currently attracted the attention of many people involved in education. Paying attention in school, work, and generally life environments in addition to other elements, can play a significant role in attracting individuals and improving their lifestyle, education and work. Hence, tending to spatial elements in educational environments, especially in primary school, can provide a suitable setting for attracting students, increasing their level of interest in learning, creating mental and physical peace, and correct education of members of the society. This study was performed to separate legible and illegible spaces in the minds of primary school students. The drawings of the educational environment by the students showed legible concepts and images with regards to the intended factors. The results show that the position of spatial elements in mental imaging of boy and girl students with regards to individual, social, and other aspects are different. Some, such as the activity playground are more important for boys, and green space and a colorful setting is important for girls and attracting them to school. In other factors, such as social factors, the two groups are similar. Hence, the use of adequate lines, vibrant and varying colors, decorating the environment, and granting importance to the basic needs of both groups (considering their age and sex) seems necessary.