Sustainable city

Sustainable city

Evaluating the role of good city governance on the resilience of urban neighborhoods: the case study of Shemiran-No neighborhood of Tehran

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors
Department of Geography and Urban Planning, Faculty of Geography, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran
10.22034/jsc.2022.284856.1582
Abstract
A B S T R A C T
In most developing countries, including Iran, the urban development planning and management system is centralized. The central government's decisive intervention in policy-making and social planning in these countries has led to severe weaknesses in local governance and comprehensive civic institutions in cities. The present study is innovative in order to investigate the two-way relationship between the two new concepts of good urban governance and resilience and to present a structural model for the study area. The purpose of this article is to study urban resilience with the approach of good urban governance in Shemiran No neighborhood. The present research method is applied in terms of purpose, descriptive-analytical in nature and is a combination of two qualitative methods (experts questionnaire) and quantitative (residents questionnaire) in Shemiran No neighborhood. To analyze the data, the results of Kolmogorov-Smirnov test and normal distribution of data, t-test was used. The results of the research show that among the variables of good urban governance, except for the two variables of rule of law and justice and fairness, the rest of the variables have a significant relationship with the dependent variable. In order to investigate the different dimensions of resilience in Shemiran No neighborhood according to the output of Kolmogorov-Smirnov test results and normal distribution of data, T-test has been used which shows the resilience. Resilience is not in a good situation in this neighborhood. Applying the principles of good urban governance is an undeniable necessity for the present and future vision of city management. Components such as transparency, accountability, participatory, rule of law, efficiency, consensus, justice, strategic vision and decentralization can play a central role in management plans as a way out of current problems and outline the future prospects. Iranian city to play
Extended Abstract
Introduction
Today, the issue of resilience, especially urban resilience, is one of the most critical issues for human societies against natural hazards. One of the most important ideas that have been proposed in the current decade in both crisis and urban management is to create resilient cities that are resistant to various crises. Today, governments try to use a combination of non-structural and structural methods instead of structural management and try to make settlements resilient. Thus, it can be said that urban management is formed from the organization of agents, forces, and resources to manage the affairs and meet the needs of city residents and includes the functions of planning, implementation, monitoring, and control. Urban management in the world has undergone a fundamental change and cities are managed for it to provide welfare and comfort to their residents. Urban management in the future in general and in the 21st century, in particular, will face a kind of challenge that is itself a function of technological, demographic, economic, political and international developments. Meanwhile, the existence of economic and managerial problems among managers and decision-makers in developing countries has also prevented the adoption of operational solutions to solve this problem. The present study is innovative in investigating the two-way relationship between the two new concepts of good urban governance and resilience and presenting a structural model for the study area. This article aims to study urban resilience with an approach of good urban governance approach in the Shemiran-e-Now neighborhood.
 
Methodology
The present study was conducted to present an urban resilience model with the approach of good urban governance in Shemiran-e-Now neighborhood of Tehran. The present research is descriptive-analytical and developmental, and causal-comparative in terms of purpose. The statistical population of this study is the population of Shemiran-e-Now neighborhood (45872 people). The sample size was 384 using Cochran's formula, which in order to achieve more scientific results, the sample size was increased to 400. The sampling method in this study was simple random. The data collection method to answer the research questions was both documentary and field. The tools used in the field method are questionnaires and interviews. Based on the extracted variables of the research, we designed two types of questionnaires. The first questionnaire is about urban resilience variables and the second one is about urban governance variables. The variables related to urban resilience and good urban governance used in this study are also shown. The validity of research questionnaires is a type of face validity, and the test has assessed the reliability of questionnaires.
 
Results and discussions
T-test was used to investigate the different dimensions of resilience in Shemiran-e-New neighborhood according to the Kolmogorov- Smirnov test results and the normality of data distribution. In the analysis of the findings, we concluded that all the dimensions studied in the final analysis are lower than normal and are not in good condition in the study area. In measuring the degree of good urban governance in Shemiran No neighborhood, the degree of desirability of the indicators was considered somewhat unfavorable and sometimes in completely unfavorable conditions. If these indicators are evaluated generally, we can say that these are moderate. Calculated at the regional level are undesirable. In analyzing the research findings, it was generally considered undesirable in Shemiran-e-Now neighborhood of Tehran. Therefore, due to the increasing complexity and complexity of urban management problems in developing countries, including Iran, the application of the principles of good urban governance is an undeniable necessity for the present and future vision of urban management. Components such as transparency, accountability, participation, rule of law, efficiency, consensus, justice, strategic vision and decentralization can play a central role in Iran urban management plans as a way out of current problems and outline the future. In the analysis of the findings, it can be seen that the greatest influence is related to the social dimension (the level of participation of individuals and non-governmental organizations) and then the infrastructure dimension (urban facilities and equipment required in the area). The analysis of the institutional-managerial dimension (related organizations) and the physical dimension (neighborhood structure and existing perspectives) are both on the same level, and the lowest influence is associated with the economic dimension (lack of budget and economy of the residents of the area).
 
Conclusion
In the new era where widespread urbanization and the emergence of large cities and large metropolitan areas along with the formation and occurrence of complex problems in various economic, social, physical, institutional, etc. in cities and urban areas is the dominant aspect, focusing on traditional approaches to governing cities and urban areas is no longer the focus of international organizations and theorists active in urban management issues. In this regard, in order to take advantage of the capacities of residents and stakeholders in the process of urban management and reduce the existing complex problems, a new approach called "good urban governance" was designed and presented by important international organizations such as the United Nations Development Program, the World Bank, the United Nations Housing Program, which is  based on important and effective indicators such as participation, efficiency, legality, transparency, equality, accountability, strategic vision, security, consensus, etc. Laying the groundwork and establishing a new approach in the new urban management process requires significant changes. These important changes in the transition from government to local governance require changes in maps and relationships. Accordingly, in this study, the concept of accountability by adapting the principles and indicators of good urban governance presented by critical global organizations has been analyzed concerning indicators including accountability, legality, participation, transparency, justice, efficiency and effectiveness, agreement, community-oriented, and consensual orientation. Considering the output of the calculations, based on the opinions of experts and related managers, it was found that Shemiran-e-Now neighborhood is in an unsuitable level in all aspects of resilience (economic, social, physical, infrastructure, and institutional-management).
 
Funding
There is no funding support.
 
Authors’ Contribution
Authors contributed equally to the conceptualization and writing of the article. All of the authors approved thecontent 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.
Keywords

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