CASE STUDY
Sustainable urban infrastructure
A. Bouba Oumarou; L. HongXia; C.A. Mbom
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The duality of Chinese management style called guanxi might have a potential difference between Chinese and African ideologies, and may give rise to injustice in some overseas contracting projects leading to conflicts, fights and safety issues. Therefore, effective action is ...
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BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The duality of Chinese management style called guanxi might have a potential difference between Chinese and African ideologies, and may give rise to injustice in some overseas contracting projects leading to conflicts, fights and safety issues. Therefore, effective action is needed in improving Chinese contractors-local workers relationships on project sites. Hence, assessing the extent to which Chinese managers practice guanxi on African workers, and how guanxi is affecting conflict and safety standards shows the extent of hope in mitigating risks and improving management. Specifically, this case study attempted to sort out and rank all difficulties Chinese managers encounter while undertaking hydropower projects in Cameroon, to find out whether or not there is a supervisor-worker guanxi relationship on dam construction sites and whether or not guanxi is implicated in Sino-Cameroonian workers conflict and safety.METHODS: SWARA method was used to analyze and rank difficulties, qualitative and quantitative assessments were undertaken for theories studies. After a workshop and semi-interview with Decision Makers a first survey was designed to gather scores of difficulties that ended to a ranking from most to least important using SWARA method. Then two questionnaires were structured and sent to local workers and Chinese project engineers, to gather all information about guanxi, conflicts and safety score. After a consistency study on 526 local workers and 40 Chinese manager’s responses selected from three different hydropower projects, the overall Cronbach’s alpha was 0.93 for supervisors and 0.88 for workers.FINDINGS: The results of SWARA ranking showed that the problem areas giving rise challenges to Chinese contractors are mainly related to the language barrier (W=47.7%) and interpersonal issues (w=13.35%).The findings of hypotheses testing suggest that guanxi is not applied on local workers by Chinese managers with statistics X=4.36<26 and X=2.3514 respectively, thus ,hypotheses H21 and H22 were both supported; yet workers do have conflict relationship and do not feel safe working with Chinese managers stated with statistics 27.4 and 24.9 respectively. However, the application of guanxi may play an important role in positively affecting the conflicts and safety management in Chinese oversea megaprojects. Using these results, recommendations were thrown on project, conflict, and safety management. CONCLUSION: As the number of Chinese investments in infrastructures in Africa keeps increasing, the findings in this research may provide all parties with crucial information for better understanding of local workers they might hire for their numerous projects. This study has shown that Chinese managers do not practice guanxi on the local workers, yet it may help in improving safety and conflict management. Therefore, there is need for
ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE
Human capital in urban management
N. Moradi; A. Rezaeian; F. Hamidifar
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Improvisation befalls during work and one cannot reprieve the response to the challenge and take action after thinking and planning. Improvisation can also enable organizations to be flexible and adapt to complex and turbulent conditions. Extensive researches have been ...
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BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Improvisation befalls during work and one cannot reprieve the response to the challenge and take action after thinking and planning. Improvisation can also enable organizations to be flexible and adapt to complex and turbulent conditions. Extensive researches have been conducted in the field of organizational entrepreneurship, but as far as experts have examined, the design of organizational entrepreneurship model with an improvisational approach has not been considered by researchers in this field, so the issue has remained largely unknown among researchers. Therefore, the objective of the current study is to design and illustrate the improvisation model in the organizational entrepreneurship process in 22 districts, organizations, and companies affiliated with the Municipality of Tehran.METHODS: The present study is an exploratory study using a mixed approach (qualitative-quantitative). A semi-structured and in-depth interviews were conducted with 9 experts in The Municipality of Tehran and university professors. Next, through the implementation of the coding process and expert approval, four dimensions were identified, including human, facilitator, behavioral and environmental factors. In the quantitative part, the statistical population consists of 63,000 managers and experts employed in 22 districts, organizations and companies affiliated to the Municipality of Tehran. The sample size was estimated through Cochran's formula of 381 people and to validate the model, a 47-item researcher-made questionnaire was designed and distributed to the available sample members. The data were statistically analyzed in a quantitative section to analyze the path and test the hypotheses by PLS3 software.FINDINGS: In the qualitative part, four main components and the related matrixes of human factors, facilitating factors, behavioral factors, and environmental factors, were identified. Indicators of facilitating factors including support and motivational policies, human factor indicators including strategy and personality traits, behavioral factor indicators including communication and culture, and environmental factor indicators including internal and external organizational factors. The results in the quantitative section also showed that environmental factors with 0.324 and behavioral factors with 0.249 had the highest and lowest impact on organizational entrepreneurship with improvisation approach, respectively. Finally, the native model is obtained by explaining the coefficients of the path in each section.CONCLUSION: Local government managers need to create a creative environment in which employees can come up with ideas and participate in decision-making. In short, organizations respond quickly and dynamically to environmental and critical situations. Hence and according to the results, it turned out that not everyone can be a successful entrepreneur or make an improvised decision, and not all organizations can implement their entrepreneurial spirit with an improvisational approach, because these cases require different capabilities that the people in question must have.
ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE
Human capital in urban management
S. Ahmadvand; H. Rahmani; M. Mousa khani
Abstract
Human Resource Architecture, one of the components of organizational architecture, is the process of identifying and combining the appropriate elements of human resource management to create and present a vision of human resources in the organization. Organization in which there is a coordination between ...
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Human Resource Architecture, one of the components of organizational architecture, is the process of identifying and combining the appropriate elements of human resource management to create and present a vision of human resources in the organization. Organization in which there is a coordination between employee behavior, human resource systems, resource activities, and the mission and goals of the organization. Governance is also an economic and political means of exercising power in a country's economic, political and social institutions, or as a set of traditions and institutions in which a sovereign operates, or for managing all relationships, and is defined as an executive term at all levels. The purpose of this study is to investigate the architectural performance of human resource management in municipalities.METHODS: This study is quantitative and developmental research. In this study, non-interactive method and thematic analysis of documents were used. Initially, 30 documents were identified and examined, and then the text reading table using the Scopus index identified 7 fully related documents. Next, three open, axial and selective encodings are performed on the specified documents. MAXQDA2020 software was used for data analysis. Then, to verify the validity of the identified components of the cryptographic output, its validation was performed using a distribution of 75 questionnaires among middle and senior managers of the Municipality of Tehran, using LISREL software.FINDINGS: Considering the coding, finally, human resource architecture with a governance approach in four dimensions (partnership and network governance; contractual and joint governance from above; outsourcing and job-oriented governance and hierarchical and knowledge-based governance) and 15 components of the category was classified. In partnership and network governance, the most repetition in component-related documents emphasizes on joined-up management (5 repetitions) and in contract and partnership governance, the most repetition is related to the commitment and accountability components (5 repetitions) and outsourced and job-oriented government with private component. (6 repetitions) and hierarchical and knowledge-based governance with an internalization component (4 repetitions). Based on the findings of confirmatory factor analysis, only the internalization component (T-Value <1.96) was not approved in the Municipality of Tehran.CONCLUSION: From the coding, it is finally concluded that the human resource architecture with a four-way governance approach of the partnership and network architecture; contractual and joint governance from above; Outsourcing and job-oriented architectures as well as hierarchical and knowledge-based architectures have the most iterations in the reviewed literature.
ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE
Urban architecture, design, development and planning
W. O. Omollo
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Universities have customarily been seen as agents of development in the regions they serve owing to their roles of teaching, research, innovation and community extension. There is however a dearth of knowledge on how they influence land use change with a specific reference ...
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BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Universities have customarily been seen as agents of development in the regions they serve owing to their roles of teaching, research, innovation and community extension. There is however a dearth of knowledge on how they influence land use change with a specific reference to compliance with planning standards. This paper therefore through a case study investigates the impacts that the growth of Kisii University has on land use change in Nyamage, a neighbourhood where it is situated within Kisii Municipality, Kenya. It subsequently links the observed change to compliance with planning standards.METHODS: Guided by the theory of regulatory compliance, the study adopted a case study research design with a sample size of 226 drawn from 577 developments in Nyamage. Spatial data on land use change was collected using satellite images from Google Earth covering three epochs of 2005, 2014 and 2021. Analysis was undertaken using GIS. Data investigating compliance with planning standards were conversely collected using an observation checklist, land survey maps and analyzed using a one-sample t-test and paired t-test.FINDINGS: The study established that in 2005, forest, short vegetation, transitional and built-up areas respectively covered 17%, 39%, 34% and 11%. These by 2021 correspondingly changed by 46%, -10%, -29% and 57% for the forest, short vegetation, transitional and built-up areas. The latter recorded the highest land use change, a condition mainly credited to the hostels built by private developers in an attempt to meet a demand created by students who could not find accommodation within the university. Research findings further disclosed that developments around the university were not complying with the planning standards used in regulating plot sizes, building coverage ratio and road reserves, leading to land use conflicts.CONCLUSION: The establishment and growth of Kisii University have remarkably influenced land use change, which in the absence of development control contributes to the disregard of planning standards. This is because the government mainly sees universities as an avenue for spurring regional economic growth with less attention on their spatial implications. These findings may enlighten policy-making institutions with critical information for effective planning and development control around universities. The study also fills a gap that hitherto existed on the nexus between land use change and compliance with planning standards as relates to the growth of universities. It additionally enlightens the international audience on how the impacts of universities growth on land use may be evaluated through a triangulation of spatial and statistical approaches.
ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE
Human capital in urban management
A. Salehi; N.M. Yaqhoubi; A. keikha
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: In recent years, the occurrence of natural disasters, including floods, earthquakes, storms, and the like, has increasingly resulted in severe concerns in Iran as such disasters were unfortunate, causing human and financial losses, especially in disaster-prone areas like the ...
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BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: In recent years, the occurrence of natural disasters, including floods, earthquakes, storms, and the like, has increasingly resulted in severe concerns in Iran as such disasters were unfortunate, causing human and financial losses, especially in disaster-prone areas like the south of Kerman province. Thus, it is critical to focus on innovative Community-based Crisis Management approaches. The present research aims to study the effect of community-based crisis management on the resilience to disasters with the role of social capital in the south of Kerman province. Although much research has been conducted in this area in recent years, no study can be found that has simultaneously measured these three variables and from the citizens' perspective, which is the innovation of this paper. METHODS: Research data were collected using a questionnaire; thus, the research questionnaire was distributed among many citizens in the south of Kerman province. Research findings were analyzed through using LISREL.FINDINGS: The results showed that the community-based crisis management variable with an impact factor of 0.37 has a positive and significant effect on citizens' resilience. Social capital also plays a mediating role in the relationship between community-based crisis management and resilience, while having a positive and significant effect on citizens' resilience.CONCLUSION: The research findings help policymakers, managers, and crisis management experts deliver effective programs to reduce vulnerability and enhance citizen resilience of south of Kerman province against natural disasters.
CASE STUDY
Urban architecture, design, development and planning
F. Mohammadian; P. Zivyar Pardehei; A. Estelaji
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Today, many factors and forces influence urban development and its organization. The uncontrolled development of cities and their uneven growth is due to various political, physical, economic, social and cultural processes. The purpose of this study is to evaluate and analyze ...
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BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Today, many factors and forces influence urban development and its organization. The uncontrolled development of cities and their uneven growth is due to various political, physical, economic, social and cultural processes. The purpose of this study is to evaluate and analyze the mechanisms affecting the urban development of Boroujerd city and its sphere of influenceMETHODS: The research method is structural-analytical-descriptive, which is the main purpose of applied research by collecting data, analytical, quantitative, and documentary methods that have been used to explain the conceptual framework of research in the form of indicators. Delphi method was also used with emphasis on fuzzy logic.FINDINGS: The results of regression analysis showed that the correlation coefficient of the variable of land exchange on Boroujerd urban development was equal to 0.740 and also the level of activity of this city in the two economic sectors of industry and services is of basic type and showed a higher value than other urban areas of the province and also unemployment index shows that city has less unemployment (19.3%) than other cities in the province and the average rate of the province (23.9%).On the other hand, the impact of factors and indicators of natural population growth in Boroujerd in the field of urban development was 1.97, which was a small part of urban population growth and development.CONCLUSION: Economic and social indicators have an undeniable role in the formation and development of the city and its sphere of influence and should be considered by city officials and stakeholders. So based on the development of policies such as Planning to organize the privacy and preventing the settlement of immigrants, prevent the land mechanism and also new development patterns can solve the future matters of the city.
ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE
Human capital in urban management
Z. Farasat; A.R. Amirkabiri; R. Najafbagy
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The civil service management law in the administrative system of the country is a public policy and the mother law, which includes valuable concepts and norms in the field of administrative law. Despite the fact that some chapters of this law, including the chapter of people's ...
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BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The civil service management law in the administrative system of the country is a public policy and the mother law, which includes valuable concepts and norms in the field of administrative law. Despite the fact that some chapters of this law, including the chapter of people's rights (chapter 3), are considered as innovations; however, some of the goals of the law in this chapter have not yet been achieved. As a result, this chapter of the law needs further scrutiny and implementation. Therefore, this study intends to take an important step towards the growth of the country's administrative system by identifying the pathologies of this chapter and providing corrective solutions.METHOD: The research is inductive and qualitative. The interviewees in the present study are members of parliament, managers and experts, who were selected by snowball sampling method. The data collection tool is a semi-structured interview and the "Theme Analysis" approach is used to analyze the data. The coding is done by MAXQDA quality software.RESULTS: The findings of the study showed that the content deficiencies identified in the chapter on people's rights are: "Lack of attention to the needs of society, lack of law enforcement trustee, lack of trustee for public awareness, lack of mechanism for accountability Citizens, failure to specify and specify the bodies supervising the implementation of the chapter on people's rights, suffice to express the generalities in the provisions of the law and the lack of expression of the law in a common language between users and legislators and etc. These findings indicate that the observance of transverse features in the Civil Service Management Law, such as: "Responding to the needs of society, efficiency, focus on justice, feasibility and progress, etc." is ambiguous.CONCLUSION: Given that a rule lacks transversal features, it may be called a law, but it may not have the power to persuade citizens or executors to enforce it. On the other hand, considering the importance and key role of the chapter 3 of the Civil Service Management Law on citizenship rights, which includes: "Duties and responsibilities of citizens towards each other, duties and responsibilities of citizens towards the city and the ruling forces of the country, duties of the government towards citizens and people." In order to increase the quality of the law and protect the rights of the people in the quality of public administration, it is necessary to eliminate the deficiencies identified in this study. Also, the method and model considered in this research, to review the law, can be considered in other laws and public policies, including urban management laws.
ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE
Urban architecture, design, development and planning
R. Mesgaran Kermani; S.M. Mofidi Shemirani; N. Nikghadam
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Lack of paying attention of contemporary architecture and urban planning to the environment and adaptation to the climate of the region has caused many environmental problems. To solve a part of the problem, the present paper was conducted to achieve the proportions governing ...
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BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Lack of paying attention of contemporary architecture and urban planning to the environment and adaptation to the climate of the region has caused many environmental problems. To solve a part of the problem, the present paper was conducted to achieve the proportions governing the exterior skin of open spaces of urban districts that have unique characteristics to adapt to the climate of their region, since about 2/3 of Iran is covered by arid climate, it was examined. The old texture of Yazd is one of the best architectural models compatible with arid climate of Iran, which its teachings can give suitable guidelines for contemporary architecture and urban planning. In this regard, three districts from the historical texture of Yazd were selected as research samples.METHODS: This research is of applied in terms of aim and its methodology is descriptive-analytical conducted by library method and field survey. The method of research and data analysis is a combination of quantitative and quantitative, in which the geometric properties of 143 plots were studied first and then, by comparing and analyzing the results, the fit was obtained.FINDINGS: The results showed that the average height of the exterior skin in the squares was more than that in the passages and entrances; this ratio is 1.22 for the entrances and 1.35 for the passages. The average width of the exterior skin is greater in the squares, followed by the passages and entrances, respectively, with ratios of about 2.3 and 12, respectively. The ratio of height to exterior skin width is 1 to 5.7 in the squares and 1 to 39 in passages, exterior skin width is about 6 times in the squares and 39 times in passages. These proportions are a sign of the influence of the region's climate, the generalization of which in similar climates will increase the harmony with the climate.CONCLUSION: Results suggest the existence of proportions and relations in the exterior skin that are affected by the climatic characteristics of the arid region of Iran and can be managed in the open spaces of urban districts.
CASE STUDY
Urban ecology and related environmental concerns
S. Maroofi; M. Valibeigi; A. Shaneh
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: In cities with a hot and harsh climate, defining space and territory in a sustainable and environmentally manner in urban management and human capital is critical. Cultural values and climatic adaptation played a prominent role in the neighborhood's basic elements. The main ...
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BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: In cities with a hot and harsh climate, defining space and territory in a sustainable and environmentally manner in urban management and human capital is critical. Cultural values and climatic adaptation played a prominent role in the neighborhood's basic elements. The main objective of the research is to identify and clarify the semantic foundations of neighborhood design in desert cities of Iran, which will be used in future improvement and rehabilitation plans. METHODS: Naeen City, which has a particularly integrated neighborhood design structure, was chosen as the case study to support this concept. The grounded theory has been used to conduct this qualitative research and neighborhood design as a text has been considered in five physical, social, environmental, functional and aesthetic categories and identified in detail 73 themes as first level open coding. These themes were interpreted under each of the three classes of social, scientific, and aesthetic. Then as the second level open coding, 29 topics are identified in 5 categories. Finally, 10 core themes have been recognized as the Sustainable Semantic foundations of the traditional neighborhoods in the desert cities of Iran after integrating and reflecting on the collected themes.FINDINGS: The results showed that in the category of physical structure, a focal point and hierarchy in neighborhoods; in the category of social structure, social capital and human and religious values; in the category of functional structure, functional stability and climate adaption; in the category of aesthetic structure, physical and visual identity are the most important factors in the neighborhood design in desert cities of Iran.CONCLUSION: The findings revealed that the neighborhood in traditional Iranian cities was formed by the connectivity of physical and social elements and components, and it was the community of these neighborhoods that gave meaning to the Iranian city. Cities and neighborhoods are defined in perfect agreement with their surroundings. Neighborhoods, unlike residential units, do not require physical boundaries, and the services that people require are supplied with an emphasis on ease of access. Both as a municipal center and as an informal arena for public gatherings, the neighborhood center has been highlighted and exploited. The concentration is on common public areas that have given neighborhoods a sense of life.
CASE STUDY
Urban health, safety and environment (HSE)
S.S. Ahmadi Dehrashid; H.R. Jafari; A. Amjadi
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Road traffic noise is a matter of challenge for both people and policymakers. For instance, the price of lands/houses which are close to road traffic noise is reduced. The key objective of this study is to propose a conceptual model to illustrate details of a road traffic noise ...
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BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Road traffic noise is a matter of challenge for both people and policymakers. For instance, the price of lands/houses which are close to road traffic noise is reduced. The key objective of this study is to propose a conceptual model to illustrate details of a road traffic noise model, along with its policy and societal relevance. The second objective is to consider the honking of horns in such a conceptual model, as honking is a remarkable traffic noise factor, however, it has been neglected in some noise abatement policies. METHODS: By the use of previously proposed traffic noise models, some attempts were made to figure out how the models were applicable in minimizing road noise and how they would be helpful for environmentalists in conducting Environmental Impact Assessment. The proposed models were used to design a conceptual model explaining how policymakers and people in the urban areas may implement the traffic noise models. FINDINGS: 5 groups of policymakers including roadway engineers, acoustical engineers, acoustic specialists, expert witnesses, and traffic engineers; and 5 groups in the society comprising drivers, people, health practitioners, property owners, and ecosystem may benefit from the traffic noise models. Finally, a conceptual model entailing 3 actors of a traffic noise model (meteorological, traffic, and infrastructure factors) and its 2 outputs i.e. equivalent and maximum noise levels were obtained. CONCLUSION: Given the conceptual model derived from the road traffic noise models, one is capable of understanding their policy and societal relevance. It is recommended dynamic road noise maps of urban areas be obtained using the models during various times of day and night so that number of inhabitants in different noise spectrums of the map to be specified. Such a noise map is beneficial for both people and policymakers.
