مجتبی رفیعیان

The purpose of current article is to study the effect of sense of place on creating the urban identity in new cities. In order to fulfill the mentioned purpose, the key concepts of research and the theories related to the issue were studied. According to it, in order to collect the data, library method and note taking tool were used. The studies indicated the presence of human in the environment and the perceptions arising from physical-spatial structures, social-activity structures, individual-mental structures as the result of defining the meaning of environment convert the space's environment to the place. This definition of meaning has led to the positioning of person in the face of place and it is effective on the quality and quantity of his presence at present and future in that special place. This positioning has been expressed in the frame of sense of place and according to this sense, linking the person with the place is formed. This sense can be equal more and less for a set of persons in the frame of social groups. Different levels from indifference-placelessness to awareness, dependency, affection, commitment and finally loyalty and sacrifice are determined for sense of place. The sense of place is effective on formation of individual and social identity by linking the person to the place and also the dependency sense to the place. The identity of place is also influenced by the sense of place. In other words, individual identity can be found in the special and unique features of him/her and also in the features of a society in which he has been present as a member of it. A place that person is present is also added to the mentioned phrase and therefore, the identity of human will be influenced by individual, social and spatial features. Therefore, it can be said that citizenship identity is influenced by the identity of place and in wider interpretation spatial identity or identity of city.

One of the essential problems of urban planning and management in Iran is the failure of implementation and execution of urban development plans. The studies show that lack or poor level of citizen participation is one of the influential reasons to that. So, it is evident that there is a need for “bottom-up” and “community based” sustainable solutions for urban problems. Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD), as an alternative to the commonly need-based approach, is based on identifying and mobilizing assets and capacities (although not being very much) in communities and emphasizes on participation in order to accelerate development. This paper would review the application of ABCD approach and evaluation its efficiency in a residential deteriorated neighborhood of Tehran (Emamzadeh Hassan Mohalla), with specific spatial characteristics and religious background, which is now housing the low class of blue collar workers and losing its population due to deterioration of social condition and physical quality. The results, based on survey, random sampling and statistical analysis, show that social and physical capitals (as the main community assets) have increasing effect on organized participation tendency (as the main goal of ABCD). Subsequent analysis showed that social capital is a direct factor to increase organized participation tendency and consequently neighborhood development, and physical capital, as an indirect factor, serves to increase social capital. Therefore by applying this approach for development, people-based strategies (to enhance participation) and place-based strategies (to enhance social capital), should simultaneously be considered.

Redevelopment of distressed and blighted areas are targeted by most of development policies. However, a number of policies have been changed as the result of the ineffectiveness of the previous experiences, the incompatibility of the development tools and plans, the lack of financial resources or social movements. Large-scale redevelopment projects have usually been considered as the powerful tools for urban revitalization, modernization and implementation of radical plans while many of those were criticized due to their various consequences including social exclusion, inequality, social conflicts, environmental damages, inconsistent scale, etc. Downtown of the City of Mashhad; Samen District, has experienced various physical interventions in the form of large-scale projects during the last century. Although the projects and intervention policies have been transformed during the past decades, previous faults were ignored and sometimes were iterated in these experiences. In fact, it seems that urban development solutions in the district have not been sustainable solutions and couldn’t maintain or shape a sustainable community in the historical and formerly economic urban core of Mashhad. This paper, focusing on mega redevelopment projects experienced in Samen Districst after 1920s, aims to highlight the critical aspects neglected or bent in Samen redevelopment program. Based on the nature of large-scale redevelopment projects and the current sustainability criteria, it qualitatively assesses the sustainability of the redevelopment projects through content-analysis method. According to the results, despite the competitiveness and place promotion goals of the Samen redevelopment project, the adopted approaches and policies could not lead to a state of sustainable development.

Urban heat island is a phenomenon caused by increased urban activities and transformations in the natural environment. Increased urban population and increase in the height of buildings, particularly in metropolitan areas, have led to vast changes in the urban geometry, amount of released heat, pollution rate, and meteorological parameters. All these factors contribute to the occurrence of heat island phenomenon in urban areas. Sky View Factor (SVF) is one of the main factors related to pollution, temperature variations, heat island, and other environmental parameters. Housing density policies stipulated in Tehran's detailed plan would possibly have several impacts on the sky view factor. The SVF axis of the Envi-met software uses various parameters such as topography, wind velocity, and urban morphology to simulate and measure sky view factor. This study aims to evaluate impacts of the future high-rise developments, in the Narmak neighborhood of Tehran through modeling future changes in the sky view factor. For this purpose, data related to Haft Hoz square located in the Narmak neighborhood was collected, simulated and analyzed using SVF. Results indicate that in the business as usual scenario, the factor’s value would be in a range between 0.19 and 0.77; whereas, by implementing the scenario proposed in the detailed plan the factor will decrease to fall in a range between 0.08 and 0.69. This reduction in the intensity will possibly increase heat island impacts in the study area. This study emphasizes the necessity of taking compensatory policy measures and incorporating environmental considerations in urban development plans.