Document Type : Research Paper
Authors
Department of Urban Planning, School of Art and Architecture, Yazd University, Yazd, Iran
10.22034/jsc.2025.519093.1840
Abstract
A B S T R A C T
Urban sprawl and the proliferation of discontinuous housing schemes have become pivotal challenges for sustainable city-making. Focusing on Iran’s “National Housing Movement” projects with Yazd as the case, this study diagnoses how separated, peripheral developments jeopardize urban sustainability across spatial, environmental, social, and economic dimensions. We combine a multi-stage qualitative design: a targeted literature review to elicit an initial set of indicators; semi-structured interviews with residents to elicit lived experiences; expert validation; and a cross-impact analysis (MICMAC) to prioritize the most influential drivers. Atlas.ti supported coding and visualization of interview data (word clouds), while MICMAC examined interdependencies among 58 candidate indicators and identified high-leverage ones. Findings show eight key risk factors: erosion of traditional architectural identity; weak land-use mix; diminished place attachment; cultural frictions; limited job opportunities; inadequate, car-dependent transport; underdeveloped digital/“smart city” infrastructures; and weak participatory governance. Together, these produce long commutes, social fragmentation, loss of ecological continuity, and inefficient land consumption, outcomes at odds with compact, transit-oriented, and resilient urban futures. The paper argues for integrating heritage-sensitive design, mixed uses near transit, employment-housing balance, people-centered participation, and digital infrastructure into a coordinated governance model to realign large-scale housing delivery with sustainable city objectives.
Extended Abstract
Introduction
Large-scale, state-supported housing has re-emerged as a central policy tool to address affordability and backlog. When delivered as separated peripheral enclaves, such programs often disconnect residents from jobs, services, and cultural life. They prioritize short-term unit counts over long-term urban quality. In Yazd, a hot-arid UNESCO-listed city whose identity is strongly tied to its vernacular morphology and social texture, these tensions are magnified as peripheral layouts challenge climate-responsive forms, encourage private-car dependence, and risk weakening place attachment. International narratives around the city emphasize compactness, transit orientation, mixed uses, digital readiness, and socio-ecological resilience. Discontinuous projects undermine precisely these ingredients by scattering growth, diluting infrastructure efficiency, and partitioning communities along socio-economic and cultural lines. Against this background, this study asks which mechanisms most strongly drive the harms of today’s separated developments, and how policy might recalibrate mass-housing delivery toward a sustainable urban trajectory. The research synthesizes theory with situated evidence from Yazd to move beyond generic critiques of sprawl.
Methodology
We employed a four-stage qualitative design with analytic triangulation. (1) Scoping review, A focused reading of urban sustainability, sprawl, compact city, and housing-policy literatures generated a long-list of 58 potential risk indicators spanning spatial form, mobility, environment, social cohesion, cultural identity, economic opportunity, governance, and digital infrastructure. (2) Resident perspectives, Semi-structured interviews captured lived experiences of accessibility, safety, identity, and daily routines within or near discontinuous projects. Texts were coded in Atlas.ti; word-clouds and co-occurrence queries highlighted salient concepts (e.g., distance from services, car reliance, identity loss, night-time insecurity). (3) Expert validation, Fourteen domain experts (urban planning, transport, housing delivery, heritage, governance, and digital systems) reviewed and refined indicator definitions, eliminating redundancies and clarifying causal directions. (4) Cross-impact structuring (MICMAC), Experts scored directional influences among indicators; the resulting matrix, highly filled, was analyzed to distinguish drivers from outcomes and to detect feedbacks. We used influence–dependence maps to identify high-leverage factors whose mitigation would propagate benefits system-wide. By combining resident narratives (depth), expert judgment (credibility), and MICMAC structuring (systemic perspective), the study produced a prioritized, policy-ready set of risks and countermeasures tailored to Yazd yet generalizable to similar contexts.
Results and discussion
MICMAC highlighted eight high-leverage risks shaping the pathology of separated growth. (1) Erosion of traditional architectural identity, peripheral estates often neglect climate-responsive typologies and material cultures, weakening neighborhood distinctiveness and everyday comfort. (2) Insufficient land-use mix, mono-functional housing forces long trips for work, education, and care, inflating household time and cost burdens. (3) Weak place attachment. distance from heritage cores, limited public life, and generic design reduce belonging and stewardship. (4) Cultural frictions, rapid in-migration into uniform estates with scarce shared spaces can intensify social distance and reduce informal support networks. (5) Employment–housing mismatch, locating projects far from job centers entrenches commuter dependence, especially where transit is limited. (6) Inadequate, car-dependent transport, sparse transit supply and discontinuous street grids amplify vehicle kilometers traveled, emissions, and inequities for non-drivers. (7) Underdeveloped digital/smart infrastructures, limited broadband, data platforms, and civic tech constrain service delivery, safety, tele-work, and participation. (8) Weak participatory governance, weak stakeholder engagement and low administrative capacity yield one-size-fits-all layouts and poor maintenance, eroding trust. These drivers co-produce outcomes misaligned with future-city principles as fragmented ecological corridors, heat-island intensification, inefficient land consumption, and vulnerability to shocks. In Yazd, the loss of vernacular climatic logic, compact blocks, shaded passages, and social courtyards exacerbates thermal stress and public-realm underuse. International models such as compact city and TOD are relevant only if translated locally as mixed-use clusters around transit, block-scale shading and micro-climate design, heritage-sensitive form-based codes, and distributed digital infrastructures for mobility, safety, and service access. Prioritizing the eight levers above promises cascading benefits, for example, improving land-use mix and transit simultaneously strengthens place attachment (through active streets), reduces emissions, and lowers household transport poverty.
Conclusion
Separated housing can meet short-term production targets yet set cities on an unsustainable path if spatial integration, mobility, identity, governance, and digital readiness are neglected. Our structured diagnosis for Yazd shows that addressing eight high-leverage risks, architectural identity, mixed uses, attachment, cultural cohesion, jobs–housing balance, transit, digital infrastructure, and participatory capacity, aligns mass housing with resilient, low-carbon, and inclusive futures. Practically, we recommend (i) heritage-sensitive, climate-responsive design at block and building scales; (ii) mixed-use and service clustering within walking distance and around transit; (iii) employment integration via zoning incentives and incubators; (iv) transit-first street networks and last-mile solutions; (v) digital infrastructure for services, safety, and engagement; and (vi) co-production with residents and strengthened inter-agency coordination. These steps convert housing delivery from a peripheral land-consumption machine into a catalyst for sustainable city-making.
Funding
There is no funding support.
Authors’ Contribution
Authors contributed equally to the conceptualization and writing of the article. All of the authors approved the content of the manuscript and agreed on all aspects of the work declaration of competing interest none.
Conflict of Interest
Authors declared no conflict of interest.
Acknowledgments
We are grateful to all the scientific consultants of this paper.
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