نوع مقاله : علمی - پژوهشی
نویسندگان
1 دانشجوی دکتر ی جغرافیا و برنامه ریزی شهری، گروه جغرافیا ، واحد مشهد، دانشگاه آزاد اسلامی، مشهد، ایران
2 دانشیار گروه جغرافیا، واحد مشهد، دانشگاه آزاد اسلامی، مشهد، ایران
کلیدواژهها
عنوان مقاله English
نویسندگان English
Extended Abstract
Introduction
Mashhad is located in Khorasan Razavi Province, Iran, and is the second largest city of this country. According to the latest statistics of the Urban Renewal Organization of this city, it has 69 marginalized neighborhoods covering an area of approximately 3888 hectares. Shahid Rajaei neighborhood (Qaleh Sakhteman) has been one of the villages on the outskirts of Mashhad that, due to its location which is beside the city's main roads, over the past years came under the city's influence and became part of the service area. Considering its population, the neighborhood has severe shortages in service provision. Among the most recent approaches to urban management is good urban governance that takes into account the well-being of all residents.
Considering the above-mentioned issues, this study tried to offer solutions to improve services regarding urban equipment (police stations and fire stations) considering the principles of good urban governance in Shahid Rajaei neighborhood, Mashhad. The scattered distribution of services in this neighborhood requires it to examine this issue in terms of urban planning to improve the mentioned services. Therefore, this study aimed to find solutions for improving services regarding the urban equipment (police stations and fire stations) based on good urban governance in Shahid Rajaei neighborhood of Mashhad.
Method
The statistical population of this descriptive-analytical research included all residents of Shahid Rajaei neighborhood of Mashhad. The size of the sample was determined to be 384, considering the statistical blocks in 2016 and using Cochran's formula. Among the indicators of good urban governance, six indicators (participation, following the law, agreement tendency, strategic vision, decentralization, and equity) were selected and researched as independent variables. Moreover, urban equipment services (police stations and fire stations) were selected as dependent variable. Data were collected through a researcher-made questionnaire. Since the studied area holds eight urban neighborhoods (Arvand, Ansar, Mow’oud, Poor Sina, Keshavarz, Ma’ghoul, Amir Abad, and Shahid Rajaei), questionnaires were randomly distributed among the members of the neighborhoods in proportion to their population. Structural equation modeling in Smart PLS software was applied to analyze the data. Moreover, Geographic Information Systems (GIS) software was used for generating maps. The data were gathered through both library resources and field methods.
Results
The average index of the variables based on a Likert scale showed that the current status of the indicators is low; that is, the scores that the respondents gave were moderate. This suggests that by strengthening the indicators of good urban governance in Shahid Rajaei neighborhood, service offering will be improved. The coefficient of determination showed that 80.7% of the changes in urban equipment services could be explained by good urban governance factors (i.e., participation, following the law, agreement tendency, strategic vision, decentralization, and equity).
Discussion and Conclusion
The comparison of the findings of this study with the findings of other studies will lead to a common framework. The goal of all these studies is to improve services, achieve a balanced distribution of land uses, and equitably distribute urban services. These studies also emphasize the suitable use of spaces as a means of enhancing social justice, creating equal opportunities for having different services, and providing suitable urban services to organize non-official settlements and ensure that all residents benefit from these services. The most significant difference between the findings of this research and the findings of other researches was its emphasis on urban managers’ agreement tendency (especially regarding the per capita share and utility services) amongst urban governance indicators in the non-official settlements. The results revealed that the indicators of agreement tendency, strategic vision, and participation hold the highest impact on improving services in the urban equipment (police stations and fire stations) in Shahid Rajaei neighborhood of Mashhad. Therefore, reaching an agreement upon the urban planning among urban managers for determining land uses at this city as well as the related regulations that originate from the strategic vision of these actors (i.e., governorate, municipality, department of roads and urban development, private organizations, etc.), will improve all the services in urban neighborhoods, especially such marginalized neighborhoods as Shahid Rajaei. This study recommended that service providers and actors in the field of good urban governance integrate different policies to achieve a great agreement and participation to improve services in this neighborhood.
کلیدواژهها English
©2024 The author(s). This is an open access article distributed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
