Developing and Measuring Environmental Quality Assessment Indicators from the Diversity-Oriented Urban Planning Perspective in the City of Rasht

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

Abstract

Today's society comprises diverse individuals of varying ages, sexes and sexual orientations, races and ethnic backgrounds, physical abilities, and faiths. Many of the world's urban planning mechanisms have shifted to adopt diversity-oriented approaches and incorporate diversity and differences into urban planning processes by embracing the diversity of urban residents. The urban planning mechanism in iran and the city of rasht under modernism thoughts still treats citizens as the same and does not consider differences in age, sex, ethnicity, religion, physical ability, and, consequently, differences in the needs of citizens in the city. This study aims to evaluate the urban environment quality of rasht from the diversity-oriented urban planning perspective and response to the needs of diverse social groups. In terms of purpose, this research is an applied one and, in terms of methodology, is a descriptive-analytical study. So, indicators were developed and measured in rasht. Documentation, observation, and interviews were used to collect data. A simple mathematical model was applied to assess the quality of the urban environment. Testing this model was presented numerically, indicating the urban environment's quality based on the available statistics and information. Measuring the indicators and evaluating the quality of the urban environment shows that this city with 27%, 33%, 31%, and 42% utility points, respectively, have low quality in meeting the needs of women, the disabled, and the elderly and a moderate quality rate for children. Therefore, there is a need to shift from the current assimilative approach to a diversity-oriented urban planning approach to incorporate diversity and differences in urban policy-making and planning processes.

Keywords


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