Investigating the level of availability of Tehran city's biophilic urbanism indicators and their impact on its sustainable development process

Subject Areas :

alireza abdolahzadeh ¹

1 - Department of Urban Planning, Safashehr Branch, Islamic Azad University, Safashehr, Iran.

Received: 2023-10-12 Accepted : 2024-01-15 Published : 2024-02-20

Keywords: Sustainable Development, Tehran City, biophilic urbanism,

Abstract :

Biophilic urban planning, drawing inspiration from nature, positively influences the physical, social, and environmental dimensions in city development. Tehran, as one of the country's significant metropolises, encounters numerous challenges in terms of development and urban planning. This research aims to examine Tehran's biophilic urban development indicators and their impact on the city's sustainable development. The research method is descriptive-analytical, relying on data collected through a survey. The data collection tool was a questionnaire, validated through an elite society, and its reliability confirmed using Cronbach's coefficient exceeding 0.70. The statistical population comprises specialists in urban development and urban planning. At the sample level, 150 questionnaires were distributed, and 123 were completed. The results indicate a lack of biophilic urban planning indicators in Tehran. The indices related to biophilic urban development infrastructure, places and spaces, as well as societal and individual activities in biophilic urban development, were significant at a level less than 0.05 and equal to 0.000. The societal and individual activity index in biophilic urban development exhibited the poorest status, averaging 2.271, while the biophilic urban development infrastructure index demonstrated the best status, averaging 2.562.The regression model results confirmed that biophilic urban development indicators can account for 93.5% of the changes (variance) in Tehran's sustainable development. Notably, the index of biophilic urban development infrastructure, with a beta value of 0.351, exerted the most significant impact on the city's sustainable development process.
Extended Abstract
 
 
Introduction
 
Considering the importance of urban development issues and the necessity of foresight, one of the basic strategies for managing issues and problems is to use appropriate patterns of urban development and urban planning; Because urban development based on a single model and appropriate to regional and local conditions can lead to its sustainability. Biophilic urbanism is a clear example of the urbanism model that has become very important during the last decade. Considering that nature is the source of emotions, passion, joy, fragrance, space, and beauty, and considering that humans are naturalistic and nature-loving by nature, human-made creations should always be in harmony with be nature This type of urban development has been based on nature, and according to the changes and development of cities, especially metropolises, paying attention to the indicators of this type of urban development can bring various physical, social and environmental consequences.
The city of Tehran is one of the important metropolises with many challenges and problems in various economic, social, physical and environmental dimensions, including excessive population growth, increasing marginalization, lack of green spaces, reduction of peace and stress problems for citizens, transportation problems And Naqal, air pollution and.... is facing. Many of these problems, especially in the physical and environmental aspects, are rooted in the prevailing type of architecture and urban planning. The type of urban development and the development process of this city can be effective in controlling and managing many of these issues. In this research, an attempt has been made to investigate the extent of Tehran's biophilic urban development indicators and their impact on the sustainable development process of this city.
Methodology:
The current study is an applied research employing a descriptive-analytical methodology and falls within the category of quantitative research. The research methodology is based on the collection of survey (field) data, utilizing a questionnaire as the primary tool for data collection. The statistical population for this specialized study consists of experts and specialists in the field of urban planning and Shahres. To identify participants, a snowball method was employed due to limitations in accessing the community of experts. A total of 150 experts were identified and provided with questionnaires, of which 123 were completed. The research's validity was established and confirmed through the involvement of an elite society. To ensure reliability in the questionnaire analyses, the index's value was calculated using Cronbach's alpha coefficient, surpassing the standard value of 0.70, indicating acceptable reliability.
Results and discussion:
The results of this research showed that the city of Tehran is in an unfavorable situation in terms of biophilic urban planning indicators. In other words, the level of Tehran's possession of biophilic urbanism infrastructure indicators, biophilic urbanism places and spaces, as well as the activity index of society and people in the field of biophilic urbanism is weak. This weakness is due to the lack of attention and planning in the field of various indicators, such as the lack of urban agriculture, the lack of proper management of pollutants, the lack of compliance with the proper height of buildings, the lack of flood control infrastructure, the lack of diversity in land use, the lack of spaces A city with natural light, lack of trees in urban spaces, lack of diversity of green space, lack of use of indigenous and climate-based materials in urban spaces, lack of access of citizens to green and ecological spaces, lack of implementation of collective and voluntary environmental programs, lack of Protection of green spaces and urban forests, lack of education regarding the consequences of climate change is visible.
In addition to this, the results showed that in some limited indicators, the city of Tehran, whether planned or in the form of various programs and projects, had an average status. These indicators include the public transportation index to reduce carbon production and the index of comfortable and safe movement in urban spaces. In general, the status of biophilic urban development indicators in Tehran city has been assessed as weak, and the level of enjoyment of these indicators has been low.
The result of the research shows that the city of Tehran is favorable in some areas and weak in some areas in terms of sustainable development indicators. The indicators of economic efficiency of the city, access of citizens to technology and technology, access of all citizens to educational services, access to medical and health centers have favorable conditions. But other indicators, including quality of life, citizens' participation in city management, empowering citizens for various activities, preserving the city's environment, preventing air and water pollution, appropriate distribution of land uses, and preventing excessive growth of the city, have been assessed as weak. In general, the status of sustainable development indicators in Tehran is not favorable.
Considering the importance of indicators of biophilic urbanization and sustainable development, as well as the proximity of the indicators of these two approaches in terms of urban development, the promotion of each can help to realize and improve the other approach. The result of the research also points to the existence of a significant relationship between these two approaches. Therefore, indicators of biophilic urbanism and sustainable development can be effective in promoting each other. The result of the research also showed that biophilic urban development indicators are effective in sustainable urban development, and in this context, the most effective indicator was related to biophilic urban development infrastructure index. Two indicators, the index of places and spaces of urban development and the index of community and people's activity in the field of urban development, are also known in the next ranks.
Conclusion:
In sum, this research confirms that in the management and development of Tehran city, no attention has been paid to the biophilic urban planning approach and its indicators, and due to the importance of nature-based issues in urban visual and semantic development, it is necessary to give importance to the indicators of this approach. . In addition, giving importance to biophilic urban development indicators can help the sustainable development process of this city and prevent some problems from occurring in the future.

References:

 

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