Evaluation of policies of the Islamic city council in the field of urban planning and architecture of Shiraz city from the perspective of sustainable development

Subject Areas : Urban policy

Abdoljalil  Sharifi ¹ (Department of Political Science, Shahreza Branch, Islamic Azad University, Shahreza, Iran)
mohammdali  shariari ² (Department of Political Science, Bushehr Branch, Islamic Azad University, Bushehr, Iran)
Nafiseh  Vaez, ³ (epartment of Political Science, Shahreza Branch, Islamic Azad University, Shahreza, Iran)

Received: 2023-04-07 Accepted : 2023-07-23 Published : 2023-10-23

Keywords: Sustainable Development, Shiraz Islamic Council, urban planning and architecture, urban policy,

Abstract :

Councils, as institutions that derive their legitimacy and popularity from the people, can play an important role in urban policy-making through their decisions regarding urban form, especially in the fields of urban planning and architecture. The present study aimed to evaluate the urban policies of the Islamic City Council of Shiraz in the field of urban planning and architecture from the perspective of sustainable development. The research method was descriptive-survey, using a questionnaire tool. The statistical population of this study consisted of managers and heads of various departments of Shiraz municipality (executive experts) and university professors familiar with the research topic (academic experts). The sample size was calculated to be 113 individuals using Morgan's table. The validity and reliability of the questionnaire were confirmed. The study's findings indicated that for evaluating the urban policies of the Islamic Council, the Hagoort and Gunn model (1984) consisting of 5 dimensions of issue identification, policy formulation, decision-making, policy implementation, and policy evaluation can be used. To measure these dimensions, 19 components related to urban policy-making were identified based on the opinions of academic and executive experts in the field of urban planning. The results showed that at a significance level of less than 0.05, the dimensions and components related to urban policy-making were significant. The results also indicated that the status of the dimensions and components of the Islamic Council's urban policies was evaluated as average. The Friedman test results for ranking the dimensions and components of policy-making showed that among the dimensions, issue identification and among the components, the delegation of power and resources to the members of the Islamic Council obtained the highest rank. The results of the one-sample t-test also indicated that the performance of the Islamic Council in terms of urban planning and architecture policies was less than 0.05. In the field of urban planning, the best performance of the Islamic Council pertained to the consultation and legal supervision of the urban planning department and its affiliated units with a score of 0.803, and in the field of architecture, the best performance pertained to consultation and approval of regulations and decisions in the field of architecture with a score of 0.705.Extended AbstractIntroduction:In the current climate of urban expansion and urbanization, the Islamic city councils are important civil governance institutions that are responsible for realizing the rights of citizens in the urban area. The city council as a decision-making institution for urban development is more important today than ever before. The importance of councils in the administration of affairs is so great that in the decentralization system of governments where political and administrative power has been transferred to the provincial, urban, and rural levels, councils have significant importance (Tavakliniya and Noor Mohammadi, 2012). It is said that the main purpose of forming the Islamic City Council is to rapidly advance urban development programs through the cooperation and participation of the people, therefore, in Iran, councils find an existential philosophy as one of the institutions that supervise the performance of the public sector (Pirmozen, 2008). Islamic city councils are defined as the main guide of urban activities to realize the management of the urban unit. Therefore, according to the constitution and the approved law of Islamic councils dated (1375), the main task of urban management is assigned to the Islamic councils of the city, whose representatives are elected by the people (Nowrozi Far, 1380).Therefore, because of the aforementioned contents and the lack of research that evaluates the urban policy of the Islamic City Council from the perspective of sustainable development, and because sustainable development emphasizes qualitative and human criteria more than any other criterion, Therefore, to achieve a real stable situation in cities, it is necessary to develop policies to achieve sustainable cities. Therefore, this research seeks to evaluate the urban policies of the Shiraz Islamic Council (as a study) from the perspective of sustainable development, so that appropriate suggestions can be made from the results of such research to promote urban development.Methodology:This research is applied research in terms of nature and purpose. The descriptive-analytical research method and the research strategy used are quantitative. In this research, an attempt is made to use the positivist method in a theoretical framework and to analyze the research problem by using survey and field methods, considering the application of quantitative problems. The statistical population of the research consists of the managers and supervisors of various departments of Shiraz municipality (executive experts), which according to the available statistics include 138 people, as well as university professors familiar with the subject of the research (academic experts), of which 25 people were identified by the researcher. And as a result, the size of the statistical population reached 163 people. Random sampling method was used for sampling from the mentioned population and Morgan's table was used to determine the sample size, and the results showed that the required sample is 113 people. Also, the data collection tool of this research is a researcher-made questionnaire, the questions of which are designed and developed based on the components proposed in the research model (19 questions) and are used to collect data from the studied community after confirming validity and reliability.Results and discussion:After distributing 113 questionnaires among the members of the studied community, finally, 102 valid questionnaires (90% return rate) were obtained for analysis, and the information description of the received questionnaires showed: in terms of gender, nearly 57% (with a frequency of 58 people) of the answers The research respondents are women and about 43% (with a frequency of 44 people) of the respondents are men. Therefore, most of the research respondents are women. In terms of service history, the findings showed that 4.9% (with a frequency of 5 people) had less than 5 years, 41.1% (with a frequency of 42 people) between 5 and 10 years, 53.9% (with a frequency of 55 people ) have between 10 and 15 years of service experience. Therefore, most of the respondents have between 5 and 15 years of work experience (95%). Regarding the level of education, the results showed that 21.5% (with a frequency of 23 people) had a bachelor's degree and 78.4% (with a frequency of 80 people) had a master's degree or higher. Therefore, the absolute majority of respondents have a master's degree or higher. In terms of the type of employment, the results showed that 53.9% of the respondents have formal employment, 42% have contractual employment and the rest have contractual employment.Also, the result of the T-Tech exam indicates the performance of the Islamic Council in terms of policies in the field of urban planning and architecture at a level of less than 0.05. In the field of urban planning, the best performance of the Islamic Council was related to the index of consulting and exercising legal supervision over the deputy of urban planning and its affiliated units with a value of 0.803, and in the field of architecture, the index of consulting and approving regulations and approvals in the field of architecture was with a value of 3.705.Conclusion:The findings of the research showed that to evaluate the urban policies of the Islamic Council of Shiraz from the perspective of sustainable development, it is possible to use the Hogwood and Gann (1984) stage model consisting of 5 dimensions of problem identification, policy formulation, decision making, policy implementation, and policy evaluation. It was found that 19 components were used to measure the aforementioned dimensions according to the opinion of academic and executive experts in the urban area. Also, the results showed that at a significance level of 5%, 5 dimensions and 19 components related to them cannot be rejected. The ranking of the dimensions and components also indicated that among the dimensions that shape the evaluation of urban policies with emphasis on sustainable development, the highest rank is related to problem diagnosis and among the components that shape the evaluation of urban policies with emphasis on sustainable development, the highest ranks were respectively related to the components of the amount of delegation of power and resources to the members of the Islamic Council of the city and attention to urban diplomacy. The final result indicates the average policy situation of Shiraz Islamic Council. In this context, their policies and performance in the field of urban planning and architecture have also been significant.

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