Measuring the Dimensions of Urban Development Strategy with Sustainable Development Approach, Case Study: Kashan City

Extended Abstract
Introduction
Cities as living and dynamic systems are constantly undergoing physical, social, economic, cultural and environmental changes. Undoubtedly, these continuous changes require a comprehensive program. In Iran, for many years, the majority of urban projects and plans due to their physical perspective as well as their static and traditional and inflexibility and most importantly the lack of participation of urban stakeholders in practice have faced many problems such that city managers and policymakers are not able to respond to the current and future needs of cities. Therefore, due to the increasing population growth of cities and the consequent increase in problems and issues arising from urbanization in large economic, social, cultural and environmental dimensions, the need to move from a comprehensive urban planning model to strategic planning for sustainable urban development is felt more than ever. The disintegration of the urban system and the specific problems of modern urban life, has highlighted the need for comprehensive attention to strategies and beneficial solutions to optimize the lives of urban residents. In the meantime, having a stable and ideal city is perhaps the most important human need. Urban development strategy is a new approach that was adopted by the World Bank and the Coalition of Cities to promote urban sustainable development, poverty reduction and the excellence of human societies. This view is based on the four indicators of good governance, banking, competitiveness and livability. The present article tries to evaluate the above indicators in Kashan city and measure its compliance with CDS principles.
 
Methodology
The present study is an applied research in terms of purpose and descriptive-analytical in the aspect of method. The theoretical framework of the research has been done using the library method and reviewing the relevant literature. Preliminary information and data were collected for field analysis through a researcher-made questionnaire. The statistical population in this study included all citizens, managers and officials of Kashan urban area. The results of each test are presented separately in the tables. The indicators were classified and evaluated using a five-point Likert scale. To evaluate the validity of the questionnaire, face validity and experts' opinions were used and to evaluate the reliability of the research tool, the pre-test method and Cronbach's alpha coefficient were exerted. The Cronbach's alpha coefficient of the questionnaire was calculated to be 0.898, which indicates the appropriate and acceptable reliability of the questionnaire tool. Sample power software was used to determine the sample size, which was estimated to be 160 people considering the alpha of 0.05, confidence level of 0.95 and one-way test. The collected data were analyzed through questionnaire using AMOS software and statistical analysis methods such as one-sample t-test in SPSS software.
 
Results and discussion
The present study has been written to evaluate and measure the dimensions of urban development strategy based on its four principles, in this regard, four hypotheses were examined. The first hypothesis analyzed the dimensions of good urban governance in Kashan, which due to the low average of the indicators (2.26) of the standard value of number (3) indicates the poor condition of Kashan in terms of governance dimensions and the first hypothesis of the study was confirmed. The second hypothesis evaluates the competitiveness index about the urban development strategy and according to the comparison with a significant level at the alpha level of 5%, the results indicate the undesirable situation of this index with an average (2.58) and the second hypothesis is confirmed. The third hypothesis of being a banking indicator in Kashan city, evaluated and analyzed by the contract, the results of the average T-test of a single sample of research showed that this indicator is not in an acceptable condition with an average (2.91) and is estimated poorly. That is, the undesirableness of Kashan city in terms of banking dimensions is confirmed. The fourth hypothesis of the research was the analysis of the livable or livable city index of the contract. The results of the one-sample t-test showed that according to the significance level (sig) and its comparison with the 95% confidence level and the possible error value of 5%, the viability item with an average (2.65) is in undesirable conditions and the fourth hypothesis of the research, i.e. the weakness of this dimension the urban development strategy was proved in Kashan. In general, the results of one-sample t-test of the average of the four mentioned indicators are equal to 2.6 and are less than the mean value (number 3), which indicates the poor condition of the four principles of urban development strategy in Kashan.
 
Conclusion
The results of the second-order factor model showed that the livability factor had the highest factor load with a value of 0.98 and then the competitive factor with a factor load of 0.91 is in the second place and two factors of banking and governance ones with regression weights of 0.76 and 0.72 are in the third and fourth positions, respectively. The present study is consistent with the article by Ali Akbari and Kamasi (2015) which have evaluated the indicators of urban development strategy in Kermanshah because the results showed that the city of Kermanshah in terms of indicators of urban development strategy (competitiveness, banking, good governance, livability) is in undesirable situation. Another study that has been conducted by Salimi et al. (2017), was found that the city of Kazerun is weak and unsuitable in terms of urban development strategy indicators (banking, competitiveness, livability) and only the governance index is relatively appropriate which is consistent with the present study. Also, another study that has been conducted by Seyahi et al. (2017) in the central part of Ahvaz, was found that the average of all indicators of urban development strategy in Ahvaz is undesirable, which is consistent with the present study. Finally, after a comparative comparison of this study with the results of Shokohi et al.'s (2015) research, it was found that the situation of urban development strategy indicators in Birjand, is in a relatively desirable situation that is not consistent with the present study.