Assessment of Spatial Differences (Discrepancies) of Realization of Right to Participation and Assigning the City to Self in Light of the Notion of Right to City in Hachirood- Chalous Township

Subject Areas : Urban planning

majid sanaei ¹ , raza Vafadar Sooraki ² , kataayoon Aatefi ³

1 - Department of Architecture and Urban Planning, Kamal-ol-Molk Institute of Higher Education, Nowshahr, Nowshahr, Iran
2 - PhD Candidate of geography and urban planning, Noor Branch, Islamic Azad University, Noor, Iran
3 - MA in urban management, Kamalolmolk Institute of Higher Education, Nowshahr, Iran

Received: 2022-01-31 Accepted : 2022-03-17 Published : 2022-03-21

Keywords: small town, citizen, right to city, Hachirood,

Abstract :

Spatial city is to satisfy the dreams of those who have left their own hometowns and enter it in pursuit of better life. Striving to attain their desired aims is the right of citizens of any city, the most well-known of them being the right to city. Studies show that the right to city has never been balanced in all cities (with any area and population) and in any region or part of a city. Different people living in various cities or city parts experience different situations. Thus, the present study looks for spatial differences of realization of right to participation and assigning the city to self in light of the notion of right to city in Hachirood which is a small town comprised of 10 neighborhoods in order to determine the extent to which these concepts are realized. The present study is applied and in terms of nature it is descriptive-analytical and survey. Data collection is based on both library and field methods. The instruments of data collection were a researcher-made questionnaire (Cronbach’s alpha= 0.911) and interviews with citizens of Hachirood. Population of the study consists of all citizens (n= 10398) and the sample included 370 individuals in accordance with Cochran’s formula. Analysis of the data was conducted by using SPSS and binomial test. Also, for drawing the maps, Arc GIS software was utilized. Results show that central, southern and eastern neighborhoods of Hachirood enjoy better conditions in comparison with other neighborhoods because of more convenient accessibility to administrative centers, public and service spaces, higher variety of service centers, better roads and closeness to public transportation system.Extended AbstractIntroduction:         Spatial city is to satisfy the dreams of those who have left their own hometowns and enter it in pursuit of better life. Striving to attain their desired aims is the right of citizens of any city, the most well-known of them being the right to city. Studies show that the right to city has never been balanced in all cities (with any area and population) and in any region or part of a city. Different people living in various cities or city parts experience different situations. Thus, the present study looks for spatial differences of realization of right to participation and assigning the city to self in light of the notion of right to city in Hachirood which is a small town comprised of 10 neighborhoods in order to determine the extent to which these concepts are realized.Methodology:      The present study is applied and in terms of nature it is descriptive-analytical and survey. Data collection is based on both library and field methods. The instruments of data collection were a researcher-made questionnaire (Cronbach’s alpha= 0.911) and interviews with citizens of Hachirood. Population of the study consists of all citizens (n= 10398) and the sample included 370 individuals in accordance with Cochran’s formula. Analysis of the data was conducted by using SPSS and binomial test. Also, for drawing the maps, Arc GIS software was utilized.Results and discussion:       In order to investigate the realization of right of city in Hachirood, first of all, the town was divided into four planning sections and then indexes of right of city in each of the sections were compared. Division of the town was performed by the researchers and included the central section (central Hachirood), western section (Noorsar, Kiakola, Mesedeh), eastern section (Emamrood, Doojman, Abbaskala), and the southern part (Hartehkala, Akbarabad, Chakhani). Examination of the planning areas in Hachrood in terms of fulfillment of right to participation and self0assignment demonstrate that the central part has the best situation regarding the index of right to participation. It seems that the central section with its administrative centers such as the municipality, banks, and other institutes, and the southern section with inhabitants with longer records of living in Hachirood, enjoy higher averages in comparison with their counterparts. Moreover, considering the self-assignment index, the central section is in the best situation. Apparently, the central and eastern parts have higher averages than other sections because of better availability of public and service spaces, variety of service centers, higher quality of roads and closeness to public transportation system. Also, recapitulation of items representing right to participation and self-assignment of city in notions of right to city in Hachirood showed that on average, the number of items with below -average values outnumbered the items with above-average values.Conclusion:      From the results, it can be inferred that small towns, in spite of efforts to attain social justice for citizens, have been unable to fulfill their inhabitants’ rights due to multitude of reasons. Acoording to the present study, closeness to city center and urban services enhances participation of citizens and subsequently, their satisfaction with amenities and services encourage them to further take part in urban affairs. Additionally, such citizens are happier with urban management and performance owing to increased enjoyment of urban services. On the contrary, those who are farther from city center or live in far reaching neighborhoods enjoy less and as a result, minimize their public contribution to urban affairs. However, in larger scales, this is a recurring theme in almost all small towns. In these towns, citizens have limited access to amenities and generally speaking, right to city remains unfulfilled for them. All in all, results suggest that central, southern and eastern parts are in better conditions because they have access to administrative centers, public and service spaces, variety of service centers and quality of the roads and also, closeness to public transportation systems.

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