Structural Analysis of the Dimensions of Stress Relief Urban Planning in Tehran

Introduction

The world's urban population is growing rapidly; by 2050, 64% of the world's population is expected to live in cities. The environment, and especially the built environment of the city, has a great impact on humans. Urban humans will suffer from stress if they need more space for housing, sufficient security, and sustainable economic conditions. Urban life, despite its many benefits, is widely considered to be stressful, and the stressors in the city are the cause of some stress-related mental disorders in urban settings. The impact of this issue is greater in urban low-income groups and youth and adolescents. In addition, urban stress imposes high costs on citizens and leads to the waste of urban capital. However, due to the importance of this issue, the impact of different aspects of the city on stress is not well known, and few studies have addressed this issue. Especially in developing countries where urbanization is growing very fast, this issue needs more attention.

Tehran, in 2017 by the Global ZipJet Institute, has been introduced as the sixth most stressful city in the world. This issue clarifies the necessity of developing planned urbanization and identifying its key dimensions in Tehran. For this purpose, this study was conducted to identify and structural analysis of the dimensions of stress relief urban planning in this city. In this study, first, the concept of urban stress and the dimensions of urban planning of its therapist have been studied. The content analysis method has identified and discussed the relationships between these dimensions. Finally, due to the need for more comprehensiveness of the identified communications, from content analysis to the structural analysis of the dimensions of stress relief urban planning based on experts' opinions, the most important dimension of this planning has been identified in Tehran.



Methodology

The research method is descriptive-analytical and based on the applied research's purpose. According to the purpose of the study, first, by using the content analysis of the previous researches, the aspects of stress-relieving urban planning have been identified. Then their impact on each other was determined by a group of nine experts familiar with the city of Tehran and the topic of urban stress, and finally, using the software (MICMAC), the key dimension of stress relief urban planning has been analyzed.



Results and discussion

Given that previous studies have yet to examine the effects of dimensions on each other comprehensively. The importance of these effects needs to be clarified; this section, in the form of three steps using structural analysis and the effects of dimensions on each other, is the key dimension of stress relief urban planning in the city of Tehran has been identified.

First step: After reviewing research related to urban stress and analyzing its content, ten dimensions were extracted, each of which includes several indicators.

Second step: Using the discussions and opinions of nine experts in the field of urban planning and urban stress, an interactive structural matrix (MDI) has been prepared. The dimensions identified from the previous step are placed in rows and columns in this matrix. The impact and effectiveness are specified as (0 no impact, one weak impact, two medium impacts, three strong impacts, and P potential impact). It should be noted that at this stage, the comprehensiveness of the dimensions was also discussed with experts.

Third step: The matrix obtained from the previous step is entered into the software (MICMAC) and structural analysis is performed.



Conclusion

Findings indicate the classification of dimensions into three groups: effective, independent, and dependent. Environmental and economic dimensions as influential variables are the main dimensions, which have a much greater impact than their impact and are considered key dimensions. The next type is affective or dependent dimensions with a very low and high impact and include dimensions, housing, individual, physical and social characteristics. The last type of dimension identified is independent, which has a low impact and includes transportation, land use, cultural and political dimensions. Also, dimensions' direct relationships and effects are much stronger than their indirect effects. The direct impact of economic and environmental dimensions on other dimensions and the indirect impact of environmental dimensions on individual characteristics are the strongest effects in this analysis. The conclusion of the structural analysis shows that the environmental dimension is the most influential, and the individual characteristics dimension is the most influential. Based on the obtained ranking, environmental, economic, transportation, cultural, land use, social, political, physical, personal, and housing dimensions are important in the urban planning of stress therapists in Tehran, respectively. Also, environmental and economic dimensions are the most important and key dimensions of stress planning urban planning in this city. As a result, paying attention to all these dimensions with emphasis on the environmental dimension, which includes indicators such as temperature in the city, urban lighting, environmental pollution, environmental control and forecasting, sensory overload, spaces without vision, sky view, view to the environment city up to ten meters, privacy, safety, vulnerability to epidemics and natural hazards, resilience, and economic dimension, which include indicators such as economic support, economic deprivation, poverty, employment status, and income, can be urban stress in Tehran to a large extent.