Urban architecture, design, development and planning
M. Sattarzad Fathi; N. Jahed
Abstract
“Not in My Back Yard”; people shout this when they feel something deleterious and nonlocal will be sprung into existence in their territory by top-down powers. Some believe that NIMBY syndrome provokes parochialism, but parochialism itself can bring many beneficial consequences. Danesh Pedestrian ...
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“Not in My Back Yard”; people shout this when they feel something deleterious and nonlocal will be sprung into existence in their territory by top-down powers. Some believe that NIMBY syndrome provokes parochialism, but parochialism itself can bring many beneficial consequences. Danesh Pedestrian and Bicycle Path- a recent project established on the south rim of Bagh-e-Sib (a vast historic apple orchard) in the Mehrshahr neighborhood- is one of the cases that has been crystallized through NIMBY syndrome. The municipal authorities’ decision on devastating this aged green area and turning it into a mega-scale market place or, who knows, into a highway, faced with radical protests of locals and eventuated the construction of the path. One can call it a win-win situation or maybe a social failure, but regardless of pessimistic and extremist views, it is well known that pedestrian and bicycle accessibilities are two indubitable realities of contemporary urbanism. Therefore, the evaluation of abovementioned path turned to a necessity to realize whether NIMBY is worked in this case, and generally in Iran, or not. This article delves into the subject in two phases, including 1) environmental qualities, 2) public acceptability; and originally follows several questions: has the voice of locals been heard or it was a compulsive decision just for protecting the garden? Is it a social setting or a fraudulent totalitarian exercise of municipal power? Does it meet the needs? Do people like it? How can it be over-promoted? What type of strategies are needed for further development of it?
Urban architecture, design, development and planning
M. Sattarzad Fathi; F. Heidari
Abstract
The physical identity in the urban areas can be considered as a concept which is influenced by the way of arranging the urban body. As a matter of fact, the appropriate coordination and the compatibility of physical components, such as the urban façades, can definitely facilitate the reorganization ...
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The physical identity in the urban areas can be considered as a concept which is influenced by the way of arranging the urban body. As a matter of fact, the appropriate coordination and the compatibility of physical components, such as the urban façades, can definitely facilitate the reorganization of the urban environment for being more identifiable; this issue is so obvious in the historical Iranian cities which have proper identities in their physical structures. Nowadays, the dominance of contradictory approaches and the absence of a convenient orientation have unfortunately produced inadequate urban façades and have annihilated the physical identity in Iranian cities. Also, the process of globalization and elimination of the cultural differences have greatly undermined the possibility of creating the traditional and contextual memories. In fact, the Iranian urban developments with the lack of comprehensive, endemic, and contextual plans and actions, increasingly decline the urban identity in any aspect and dimension. These types of flaws have specifically brought severe problems such as poor beauty, weak legibility, lack of unity, inappropriate physical integrity, etc., which eventually result in the non-identifiable and depersonalized urban bodies. Thereupon, this article needs some visual information which can intuitively assist to scrutinize the deterioration factors of the physical identity in the Iranian cities. Hence, by choosing the field study method is tried to reach some empirical investigation in order to collect the required visual information through photography. Moreover, at the end of this article is attempted to offer several solutions and arrangements for promoting the physical identity and also healing the depersonalization in Iranian cities.