Journal of Geography and Environmental Studies
Year:2010 | Volume:1 | Issue:3|Papers Count:8

The purpose of this study is to investigate the factors influencing the price of housing in the third district of the city of Yazd. The method of research is descriptive- analytic. The model used in this research is the Hedonic model of price. There are 18 variables which mostly focus on physical conditions, locations and availabilities. The findings obtained from 186 observations using computer software Eview, 3.1 indicate that the coefficients of 13 variables out of 18 variables under investigation, are statistically meaningful at 0.05 level of significance and 5 variables of bathroom, kitchen, basement, telephone and distance from the nearest medical and health center were not statistically meaningful and were not used in the final estimation. The structural form utilized to assess the function of Hedonic price of housing has been a logarithmic one. The results show that the land and the substructure area as well as the number of floors have been among the most important factors influencing the price of housing in Yazd, so much so that for every one percent increase in the land and substructure area there will be %49 and %38 increase in the price of housing respectively. The estimation of some factors such as the building age, distance from the city center and the main street has revealed that such factors have negatively affected the price of housing and have caused a decrease in the price.

Nowadays, Tourism industry is considered as one of the remarkable resources of income, employment and creating infrastructures in achieving sustainable development.  Unfortunately, despite the existence of high potentials for developing tourism in our country, these potentials have been left fairly unnoticed and not used in developing the country. Among the activities carried out in the developed and developing countries to achieve sustainable development and to reduce socio-economical and bio-environmental pressures is the implementation of local, national and international tourism developing plans. Investing in tourism industry will lead to social, economic and even structural modifications. Although there are some priceless historical masterpieces descended to us from our forefathers, there is a golden opportunity for us to achieve sustainable urban development based on tourism taking advantage of all these farms, gardens, handicrafts and natural attractions as well as attractive sceneries of life. If this opportunity is used appropriately, it will lead to urban economical improvement and the amendment of life style and thus, migration dwindling. Malayer, located in the south of Hamadan province, is one of the cities with priceless tourism heritage whose tourism prospect has been studied for sustainable urban development. This study aimed at investigating the strengths, weaknesses, influential opportunities and factors threatening the urban tourism sustainable development. An attempt has also been made to offer an appropriate model for Malayer sustainable tourism development using descriptive-analytic research methods. Use has also been made of SWOT model to recognize and determine the urban sustainable development strategy.

Having a fair access to the urban land use and its optimum utilization can be considered as basic factors in sustainable development and social justice. Nowadays the concept of land and urban space has been qualitatively changed due to natural and physical factors on the one hand and economical and social ones on the other. Therefore, the land use purposes and dimensions have been broadened and enriched. As a result, the proper use of land and the available space as a vital public resource and property should be made under a principled type of planning. The method employed in this research is descriptive, documental and analytic taking advantage of AutoCAD, Arc GIS computer software’s. The study aimed at investigating the way the urban lands are used in Esfahan, district one and determining the deficiencies and problems associated with it.The results indicate that, land use is not balanced in Esfahan, district one. The fast and uncontrollable development of commercial use in this area due to being located in city center has created traffic, air and noise pollution, thus the site selection in this district is not compatible with the world standards. Therefore with an increase in yearly uses of green space, entertaining and educational centers, proper and optimum distribution of urban services over this area, the necessity of logical and appropriate use of old space and finally using the vacant and useless areas properly, the conditions in this district of the city would be amended.

Urban quality of life has been the subject of urban research in different countries. Such attention is due to an increasing awareness of the contribution of quality of life studies to monitoring urban planning policies and its role as an important tool in urban management and planning. Quality of life is often measured using either subjective indicators derived from surveys of the residents’ perception, evaluation and satisfaction with urban life or objective indicators derived from the secondary type of data. This research aimed at assessing and analyzing the urban quality of life in Noorabad city using subjective indicators. The required data has been gathered using urban household survey in Noorabad city. Statistical methods such as Factor Analysis, Multiple Regression, ANOVA, and t-test are applied to evaluate the quality of life.The results of this study reveal that about 9.7% of the respondents in Noorabad city are completely satisfied and 2.3% are completely dissatisfied. The remaining 88% of the respondents expressed a satisfaction level that ranges between the two extremes. It has been found that QoL is a multi-dimensional concept that physical development, satisfaction with facilities, social capital, subjective well-being, local area and urban tranquility are their dimensions in Noorabad city and subjective well-being represents 35% of the variance of subjective quality of life.

Historic urban quarters are considered as special places not only due to the cultural heritage, but also due to their urban structure. Many of such quarters are in danger of losing their traditional identity and function and if serious measures are not taken to stabilize the continuity of such structures the collapse of traditional and cultural discipline would not be farfetched. On the other hand, the attempt to amend the process of adopting appropriate strategies has created a range of approaches which have gained different levels of popularity over time. Therefore, strategic planning can be an asset to offer the final strategy to achieve the ideal aim. This study aimed at investigating a part of Urmia city distressed area, and in so doing, use has been made of SWOT technique which is a very popular model for strategic planning. The results show that this area is highly vulnerable due to some weak points but it has the potential of taking advantage of available opportunities to make remarkable progress.

Analyzing and recognizing the regions’ conditions, potentials, and problems are very important in regional planning. Decreasing the inequality in the use of resources, achievements and facilities of the society is one of the most basic criteria of development. The concept of development can be attributed to not only the growth in every direction but also to a balanced kind of distribution. Knowing about the country’s cities, investigating the extent of their development, analyzing their current conditions, determining their strong and weak points, and their deficiencies and potentials would lead to a more due and proper attention to them. This fact can also lead to a more successful regional planning. To this end, the region under investigation must be properly located and appropriate indexes need to be selected. Then, accurate data should be collected and suitable logical strategies need to be analyzed to achieve the mentioned aims. There are different methods of analysis which can be employed in regions planning. An attempt has been made in this study to analyze the developmental indexes and changes in Zanjan province cities using Isard longitudinal and latitudinal method. In other words, the study aimed at comparing such changes among the cities and also with the whole country within one statistical decade (75-85), focusing on 32 indexes that are counted as important indexes in regional development. The results of the comparison indicated that over 75% of indexes have not yet enjoyed any suitable position in terms of growth and development both in the cities and the whole country, and generally, the findings pointed to the backwardness of infrastructures or human indexes of development and growth in such cities.

Alluvial fans are among the important geomorphologic complications and the heritage of Quaternary changes which, supplying sufficient water and soil, could pave the way for human activities. Jovain plain, one of agriculture poles of Khorasan Razavi province, despite great number of alluvial fans, has long been considered as one of the human dwelling centers. This study aimed at investigating the relationship between natural inputs on alluvial fans and the stability of rural settlements. The results show that there is a strong significant relationship between natural data on alluvial fans (i.e., water and agricultural lands) and population transition process between 1976 and 2006 as one of parameters measuring stability of rural settlements. Thus, the correlation between population growth and agricultural land per capita approaches 0.759. Regarding the research findings, some operational strategies have been suggested to continue the sustainability of rural settlements such as a change in the use of water, soil, and … resources.

Determining the development size and structure has always been one of the most important decision making stages in the process of environmental planning. This can be accomplished in a way to prevent unpleasant consequences by finding proper developmental location and meticulous planning. Regarding the majority of big projects, identifying serious environmental restrictions while planning and designing the projects can reduce the concerns, expenses and the operation time. This can be achieved by choosing optimum development size having the highest developmental potential. After more than a decade of the Zayanderood Recreational- Cultural village construction, and after having done all the studies on the ecological effects of the Zayanderood River ecology, the physical development project of the village has been handed in to the City and Home Consultant Engineers through an announcement released by Zayanderood Civil Organization. Therefore, investigating and determining the new development size is of utmost importance. This study aimed at investigating the development direction as well as locating the most suitable lands for the accomplishment of this project. Considering the aim of this study, it has an Analytic-Descriptive nature. All the different stages to determine optimum development of Recreational-Cultural village of Zayanderood have been considered utilizing a documentary, field descriptive method and AHP hierarchical-analytic model. Determining the priority of development orientation, prioritizing each of the scales considering the standards and their proportions for the uses under focus are the ultimate goals of this study.