Journal of Urban Studies on Space and Place

Abstract In its true sense, the square is a vast open space that usually has a direct impact on public gatherings and the political-social structures of society. To understand the concept of urban spaces in European cities, one should look for the concept of Agora in ancient Greece, which played an important role in regulating the relations of various urban institutions such as religion, politics, society, and commerce in the cities of that period. Its important historical period in the evolution of the squares of the 11th and 12th centuries in Italy should be known as being formed on the basis of Roman forms. In this period, these public spaces were formed by the monopoly of the aristocracy and the church, which had the direct effect of the institution of power on It shows the structures of the square in its essence, but gradually with the formation of the government, the power of the aristocracy and the church decreased and public places and squares were formed for the people as a social institution structure, the court, city council offices and markets were built next to them. Have democratized the role of European squares, in the following centuries, new cities appeared in which squares with various uses played a major role in their formation. Parallel to these spaces in Greek and Roman cities, in Iran, there have been spatial hierarchies for citizens in different eras. Taking the political institutions of the squares has been a center for displaying the power of kings and rulers. The main purpose of this research is the institutional comparison between Iranian (Seljukian, Timurian, Safavid) and Italian (Baroque, Renaissance, Gothic) squares between the 12th and 18th centuries, and this comparison is between 11 examples of the most important and prominent squares. Has been done, this research seeks to answer the question that (what are the institutional differences and similarities between Iranian and European fields?) Also, the theoretical model and the main framework of the research have been extracted based on documentary studies, which are the main theoretical body It includes economic, local, religious, social, and political institutions (political with emphasis on the benefit of the people, political with emphasis on the power of the king) and based on that, the fields have been compared. The results and findings of the research show the presence of an element of religion in a common and effective way in Iranian (mosque) and Italian (church) squares, European squares had a strong commercial role during the Renaissance, and local institutions were also an effective element and Such Iranian squares have had a political role (with an emphasis on the power of the king), while European squares have shown the presence of political institutions (political with an emphasis on the benefit of the people) and the .importance of civil society and citizens.

Abstract In recent years, an increasing number of social studies have investigated and evaluated how public policy decisions and urban governance impact citizens’ quality of life and happiness. Historically, good governance has been regarded as a key factor affecting citizens’ happiness, and the best societies are often judged by their citizens’ level of happiness. Due to the limited number of studies in this field and the critical state of happiness among Iranian citizens, this issue requires attention. The research was conducted based on a systematic review of Google Scholar, Sage, Taylor, and Francis, and science direct databases from 2000 to 2022 with an aim of identifying the government factors affecting the happiness of citizens. In total, 402 related articles were identified, and a review and classification process was conducted after each article was carefully examined and thoroughly reviewed. According to the findings of the study, political-legal, economic-financial, functional, and social dimensions contribute to citizens’ happiness, while democracy, freedom, justice, and social trust, citizens’ participation in decision-making processes, and considering happiness policies were the most frequently used indicators. The findings show the importance of democracy, justice, and social trust indicators. The findings of this research can help policymakers and metropolitan and government planners improve citizens’ quality of life and happiness.

Abstract The creation of new towns has profound effects on various aspects of human life and ecosystems due to the huge volume of activities carried out, the resources consumed and the significant population group that it attracts. In contemporary urban planning, many of these effects of projects and developments on people’s health have been ignored, while today human health and the environment are the focus of sustainable development. Therefore, it is necessary to evaluate these projects in terms of their effects on various aspects of citizens’ lives, especially their health. In recent years, the appropriate method to do this is to “Health Impact Assessment”. Health impact assessment is a combination of procedures, methods and tools by which a policy, program or project is judged in terms of its potential impacts on the health of a community, and the distribution of these effects within the population is also examined. In Iran, according to paragraph (b) of clause (32) of the Law on the Fifth Strategic Development Plan, the preparation of a national health annex is required for large development projects, such as the creation of new towns. Therefore in this research, Sadra New town project has been evaluated for health impacts. The main purpose of this study is to identify the factors affecting the health of Sadra residents and to investigate the possible impacts (positive or negative) of these factors on health and the severity of the impact of each of these factors. For this purpose, by examining the indicators extracted from the literatures and using the exploratory factor analysis method, health factors in Sadra city were identified and after identifying these factors in the form of prioritized factors, the positive or negative impacts of each using the opinions of Sadra town residents in the form of a questionnaire was used with the help of univariate t-test. The results showed that all the variables of the 12 factors extracted from the exploratory factor analysis test, except for the two variables “air quality” and “water quality” have negative effects on health.

Abstract iability in its original and general meaning is as the concept of achieving viability that focuses on quality of life at the local level and it has evolved over the years and often reflects the ideal relationship between the living environment and social life. According to this issue, the formation of settlements, especially in hot arid rigen and their livability, is a clear symbol of human-nature interaction in the desert environment, despite of the exsisting the water supply problems and limited water resources. One of the innovative measures of Iranians adaptation to arid climate is Qanat, which has directly affected the way of life and viability of these areas, as the sustainable water supply system. For this purpose, in this study, the importance and role of qanats on the urban and rural settlements viability has been recognized; and finally by using synthetic method, 27 articles in a codified and principled manner were filtered among 58 selected articles and then they coded. By reviewing these articles, finally 5 dimensions as the main categories including physical, environmental, managerial, economic and socio-cultural dimensions and a total of 164 open codes, is identified, extracted and classified that they are mentioned in domestic and foreign research as the role of qanats on the viability of human settlements The results of this study show that the qanat is a tool of sustainable life that has affected all aspects of environmental, physical, economic, socio-cultural and managerial human settlements and their livability.

Abstract Neighborhood planning with a participatory, democratic and people - oriented approach is based on the adaptation of programs and plans with the needs and wants of residents in the city, its realization depends on the participation of citizens in the neighborhood level, but in iran ‘s urban management and planning system, participation is faced with limitations. This research intends to study the factors which facilitate and limit the participation of citizens in the neighborhood planning in isfahan case study. Accordingly, the purpose of the study is practical and based on the nature of the method is descriptive - case and analytical in data collection by documentary and documentary method in form of questionnaire. Friedman test and one sample t - test and cluster analysis in spss software have been used to analyze the data. the findings of the research show that the factors limiting the participation of neighborhood in the structure of urban management, lack of attention of urban management to participation, lack of managers ‘ beliefs and urban authorities to participation, impact of urban management and provincial and provincial macro decisions are the most important factors in neighborhood planning. Creating a structure of urban management, making profit making, and applying the model of direct influence of participation in urban management is one of the factors facilitating participation in neighborhood planning.

Abstract Cities as living places create the most desirability on the quality of life of their residents when they meet their demands. These demands are in the form of realizing values such as landscape beauty, tranquility, diversity, etc. It finds meaning. If each of these values is not desirable in a person’s living environment, it will affect his perception and feeling of place and consequently on the level of satisfaction with the living environment. The present study analyzes the role of urban landscape components on the quality of urban environment and environmental behavior of karaj citizens in the form of indicators of identity and sense of belonging to place and balance and visual quality, somehow investigating the relationship between human behavioral reactions in relation to urban landscapes after engaging human senses in the environment. The required data were collected through library studies, field visits and checklist completion, and data analysis was performed using Pearson’s co-orum method, single-sample T-test and regression analysis. In regression analysis of three indices, urban landscape index was considered as dependent variable and other indicators were considered as independent variables. In regression analysis of three indices, urban landscape index was considered as dependent variable and other indicators were considered as independent variables. Based on the results of balance and visual quality and place belonging with impact coefficients of 0.453 and 0.192, respectively, balance and visual quality had the most effect on urban landscape. In the meantime, due to the high impact factor of balance index and visual quality on urban landscape and the fact that the authors of balance index and visual quality are mainly aesthetic features of city and neighborhood landscape It can play a significant role in improving the urban landscape of Karaj. In fact, urban environments that have a good quality in terms of the mentioned indicators, people’s interest in presence in urban space, sense of belonging in their place of residence and work, and action on environmental behaviors will be greater.