Sustainable development has gradually and over time brought about various approaches with different goals. Ecological city is one of these approaches that has a stronger emphasis on environment issue as well as the relationships between city development and nature. The purpose of this study was to determine the local factors effective on the achievement of ecological city in order to sustainably develop Darcheh city. This study was mixed-methods (qualitative-quantitative) in terms of paradigm, and descriptive-analytical and exploratory in terms of nature. Data was collected using document analysis and field study through two means: interviews with experts using the Delphi method and a questionnaire. In the qualitative phase (the Delphi method), 30 experts and specialists were interviewed. In the quantitative phase, the statistical population of the study was comprised of Darcheh citizens aging over 15, who were 37367 individuals in the year 2016. From among these, 375 participants were selected using cluster sampling. The face validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by the urban planning experts, and its reliability was corroborated through Chronbach’s alpha coefficient. The results of the study in both phases (qualitative and quantitative) showed that the environmental and economic dimensions – with the average scores of 4.23 and 4.11 and (beta) regression coefficients of .345 and .349 – best describe the achievement of ecological city, there is a relative homogeneity among various neighborhoods of the city in terms of ecological city indices, and the ecological city development can be attained through a clear model. Moreover, according to Pearson correlation coefficient, the citizens who have had a higher educational level have shown a higher tendency (.585) to help implement the ecological city project.

One of the policies that has been taken into account by many countries to develop sustainable tourism is the development of touristic towns and villages in a centralized manner and the prevention of haphazard, unplanned contractions that destroy environment, sociocultural context, and economic structure of the touristic attraction sites. This policy was enacted by the Iranian cabinet in 2017. The purpose of this study was to present a methodology to identify the spaces suitable for the development of touristic towns and villages. The study was applied in terms of purpose and descriptive-analytical in terms of methodology. As the input of the analytic model, the spatial territory of Mazandaran province was divided into 23007 spatial units, each covering 100 hectares. Then, the development of touristic towns and villages were evaluated and prioritized. In this article, the combined index of “the priority of the development of touristic towns and villages in Mazandaran province” was made by combining exploratory factor analysis and network analysis (F’ANP) based on 14 factors effective on the development of touristic towns and villages. The resulting map was then trimmed based on four control indices. The findings of the model showed that the three factors of “environmental potential and transportation infrastructure,” “the quantity and quality of serving the tourists,” and “tourism investment potential” are effective on the prioritization of Mazandaran province spaces in order to develop touristic towns and villages. The results of study demonstrated that the development of touristic towns and villages in this province is possible in the middle and eastern side of seashore, in limited areas in the eastern plains, and in the eastern and western mountainous lands.

The development of urbanization in accordance with environment is an important issue for sustainability. A correct understanding of the relationship between urbanization and environment is highly vital for the coordinated development of both systems. In recent decades, the expansion of urbanization and manmade infrastructure without taking into account the environmental resources has been increasing. This has led to numerous consequences such as the reduction of environmental resources and the escalation of environmental pollution, and has severely endangered the future of sustainable development in Khorasan Razavi province. In the study at hand, the balance among urbanization and environment subsystems was examined using the coupling coordination degree model in the cities of Khorasan Razavi province. The ranking of cities was done based on the coupling coordination degree scores. Based on the scores of cities in each subsystem, the cities were divided into four areas, namely areas under urbanization pressure, areas under environment pressure, areas under dual pressure, and areas under no pressure, and the relationships between the coupling coordination degree and the areas were compared. The results showed that Gonobad (.66) and Dargaz (.62) cities have achieved the highest balance score and have been classified in the primary balance group. On the other hand, Khoshab (.36), Mahwelat (.38), and Davarzan (.39) cities had the lowest rate of balance and were classified in the average imbalance group. While the majority of the cities located in the areas under double pressure and environment pressure were classified in the low imbalance group, most of the cities located in the areas under no pressure and urbanization pressure were grouped in the near-to-balance category. Overall, based on the calculations made in this study, the coupling coordination degree has been increasing from dual pressure area to area under environmental pressure, then to the area under urbanization pressure, and finally to the area under no pressure.

After the implementation of the contemporary knowledge and innovation spaces as the driver of economic growth and the long-term development of cities and regions, this idea has come under criticisms, especially due to its compliance with capitalist structures. In practice, the problem is that the attractiveness of life, work, and recreation in these spaces is purely accompanied by the consideration of the needs of creative layers of society with a mercantilist view and through sacrificing many primarily qualitative and secondarily contextual indices. Therefore, although these recently found arenas have received positive global attention, they face some challenges. One of these challenges is the low quality of places in the neighborhoods entailing contemporary knowledge and innovation spaces. Therefore, the purpose of this study was the attainment of qualitative factors of the placemaking mechanisms and urban policymaking of contemporary knowledge and innovation spaces as well as the development of the existing conceptual framework to respond to the criticisms in this regard. The research method was the qualitative and quantitative content analysis of the related documentary data and provision of an answer to the nature of the palcemaking factors using unlimited classical meta-analysis of Persian and English resources, including the scientific-research articles, theses and dissertations, books, and reports, and then coding and counting the frequency of the analysis units. At the end, the meta-analysis of the resources led to the identification of 21 conceptual labels for contemporary knowledge and innovation spaces in the form of four dimensions of characteristic, form, performance, and image. Consequently, it seems that consideration of the requirements of placemaking the related spaces – including accessibility, participation, investment, acceptance, social liveliness, dynamism in activities, and integration – can help increase the quality of knowledge and innovation spaces in the contemporary era.

The disasters of recent years indicate that communities and individuals are getting increasingly vulnerable and risks are progressively growing. Nonetheless, the need to reduce risks and vulnerabilities are often ignored up until the occurrence of disasters. In the study at hand, which was done based on the descriptive-analytical method, it was tried to examine and predict the vulnerability perspective of the areas located within District six of Ahvaz metropolis during a potential earthquake based on the main purpose of this study. The theoretical data of the study was collected through library research method. After the extraction of the related indices, the spatial analysis of each index was carried out through fuzzy Delphi method, IHWP vulnerability model, and GIS software analyses. The analysis of the findings illustrated that considering the first and second priorities of the crises management, 15.03 percent of all areas of the district under study are highly vulnerable to earthquake. That is to say, in case of a strong earthquake in the district, they will be vulnerable. The study concluded that the physical qualities of the building are as important as the factors such as land use, population density, and time of earthquake occurrence. These have all effective roles in the vulnerability rate and the rescue activities.

The vulnerability appraisal is one of the prerequisites of risk analysis in disaster management. Vulnerability to earthquake, especially in urban areas, has increased over years due to the existence of complex urban structures and rapid development. In order to take preemptive measures and reduce the damages of earthquake, the determination of vulnerable areas and implementation of necessary measures seem inevitable. Accordingly, the present study set out to examine the vulnerability of Tehran urban blocks via a location-base model. To attain this objective, first the criteria effective on the evaluation of earthquake vulnerability were divided into three groups, namely exposure, sensitivity, and adaptation capability (16 location criteria in general). Using the expert opinions and network analysis model, the importance of each of the criteria was determined. Fuzzy functions and ordered weighted averaging method were used to normalize the criteria map and develop vulnerability maps under various scenarios. Finally, the sensitivity analysis of the criteria was carried out. The results showed that vulnerable population density and average slope were the criteria with the most and least importance, respectively. The vulnerability maps demonstrated that the areas to the north of the area under study are in the vulnerable class under all scenarios. The stability and dependability of the output results were assessed using sensitivity analysis. The results indicated that changing the weight of the criteria does not have a significant effect on the model outputs, a finding that clearly proves the stability of the model.

As the distinguishing boundaries between upper and lower levels, regional plans and programs have an effective role in bringing about coordination between planning levels and improving their effectiveness and functioning. Due to the importance of planning and the results obtained from regional programs, the study at hand set out to examine plans at national, regional, and provincial levels based on regional approach with an emphasis on Gilan province plans. In this study, qualitative research method was used, and to classify the existing knowledge, the required data was divided into research analysis units, namely the plans and programs at the three foregoing levels. These were then analyzed using content analysis and document analysis methods in NVIVO 12 software. After data analysis, 96 open codes were achieved. The homogeneity of the open codes of each of the three levels led us to extract the main axial code titled “region-oriented approach in plans and programs at national, regional, and provincial levels” along with three other secondary axial codes, namely “holism and movement toward abstract and stereotypical concepts and issues,” “regional plans following macro plans,” and “lack of a regional decision making mechanism at the province level.” It is noteworthy that the highest regional approach presence was found at province level with 49 open codes.

The sustainable physical-spatial development of Mashhad urban complex is the prerequisite of attaining sustainable regional (provincial) and national development. This necessitates paying attention to the development of scenarios that set the ground for the development of Mashhad.  In the study at hand, it was tried through the participation of the provincial managers and academic experts to identify first the key drivers of physical-spatial changes in the rural settlements of Mashhad urban complex and then the scenarios effective on the physical-spatial development of these settlements. This study was applied in terms of purpose and descriptive-analytical in terms of research method. The data was collected through library research, document analysis, and survey (interview) methods. Examining scientific resources, 69 factors effective on the physical-spatial changes were identified, which were grouped into five dimensions. Then, 29 participants in two groups, namely the managers of the related organizations and academic experts, were interviewed. Data analysis was done based on future research techniques, including Schwartz model, structural analysis, and interaction analysis, using Micmac and Scenario Wizard software packages. The results showed that 512 scenarios have weak compatibility, and only one scenario has strong, sustainable compatibility (zero incompatibility) (2.8 percent of possible scenarios are credible). The first scenario, which is in positive direction, has the overall interaction effect score of 771 and compatibility value of 7, while the second scenario that expresses the fairly favorable conditions for the future of rural settlements has the overall interaction effect score of 736 and compatibility value of -2. The third scenario, which has the compatibility value of -3 and the overall interaction effect score of 695, can be one of the possible scenarios for the future physical-spatial changes in rural areas, too.

City Development Strategy (CDS), which aims at reducing poverty, bringing about sustainable development, enhancing participation, and creating good urban governance, has attracted the attention of many Iranian scientific circles. This approach can replace the previous inflexible plans for the removal of the future crises in all cities of Iran. It is clear that in case the novel city development strategies are not used and the old methods and policies are exercised, the problems of Iran cannot be solved. The main purpose of this study was to investigate the current status of Malard city using Meta SWOT model and to propose effective strategies to achieve sustainable development of this city. This study was descriptive-analytical in terms of research method, applied in terms of purpose, and mixed-methods in terms of approach. The statistical population was comprised of 50 managers of Malard city. Based on the obtained results, the reduction of water resources, excessive migration (especially the increase in the share of Afghans in city population composition), and social harms are the main obstacles to the sustainable development of Malard city that need to be taken into account in the strategic development planning process of this city. Moreover, among the factors effective on the sustainable development of Malard city, the suitable grounds for agricultural activities and   conversion and complementary industries as well as ethnic and cultural diversity have strategic fitness.

The main purpose of this study was modeling the suitability of recreational services in order to identify the high-priority areas for the development of recreational activities. To identify the spatial patterns of recreational services, the landscape attractiveness index, visit rate estimation, and access distribution were combined using a set of sub-indices. Moreover, the weight of each index was calculated using CRITIC weighting method and the importance of each index in the formation of recreational services spatial suitability was determined. The results showed that the presentation of highly recreational services is mainly done in the areas with forest ecosystems, protected areas, and aquatic ecosystems such as rivers and wetlands that have diverse landscapes. On the contrary, urban and human-built areas have the least potential for the provision of recreational services. Getis-Ord Gi* statistic was used to model the recreational suitability, identify recreational suitability clusters, and zoning. With its very low suitability, Zone 1 covers 19.9 percent of the area under study. This zone is mainly filled with agricultural lands (54.7%), grasslands (36.1%), and urban lands (6.8%). In contrast, with its very high recreational suitability, Zone 5 covers 16.5 percent of the area under study. The main uses of the lands in this zone are forest lands (55.5%) and aquatic layers including rivers and wetlands (17.2%).  Zone 3, which has an average suitability rate, covers more than half of the area under study. The approach presented in this study helps identify the development priorities in the light of the recreational potentials of the ecosystems existing in an area. Thus, it can be used to improve the spatial planning of recreation and tourism in order to preserve ecosystem services and sustainable use of them.