Ayuob Badragh Nejad; Ebrahim Moammeri
Abstract
Rapid urban transformations, particularly population growth and the physical–spatial expansion of cities, have often not been accompanied by the balanced development of urban services and facilities. This imbalance, as one of the underlying structural causes, has led to fragmentation in the distribution ...
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Rapid urban transformations, particularly population growth and the physical–spatial expansion of cities, have often not been accompanied by the balanced development of urban services and facilities. This imbalance, as one of the underlying structural causes, has led to fragmentation in the distribution system of service centers across urban areas, resulting in spatial inequality and structural imbalance in the distribution of urban services. In Gorgan city, unbalanced urban growth and increasing migration—especially the concentration of development in the climatically favorable southern areas—have highlighted the necessity of reassessing urban land-use distribution through the lens of spatial justice. The present study is applied in purpose and descriptive–analytical in nature and methodology. Spatial analysis and visualization tools available in ArcGIS 10.4 were used to evaluate the data. The required information was collected through documentary and library-based methods, including land-use maps from the comprehensive and detailed urban plans of Gorgan, statistical block data from the 2016 census, and the geographic locations of educational centers. After identifying the locations of educational facilities, the spatial distribution pattern of these centers was analyzed using spatial statistical techniques, including the Nearest Neighbor Index, multi-distance cluster analysis, and Moran’s I statistic. The spatial justice approach, emphasizing the equitable distribution of services, infrastructure, and opportunities among urban areas, plays a critical role in achieving spatial balance and sustainable development. The novelty of this research lies in applying practical spatial indicators for the classification and evaluation of urban land uses. The results of the Nearest Neighbor Analysis revealed that educational services in Gorgan exhibit a clustered spatial distribution pattern with a coefficient of 0.645. This pattern was statistically significant (p-value < 0.01), indicating the concentration of services in certain areas and insufficient access in others. Furthermore, the Global Moran’s I coefficient (0.096) and a Z-score of 3.64, with a 99% confidence level, confirmed the clustered distribution of educational services across Gorgan’s neighborhoods. This finding indicates the emergence of advantaged and disadvantaged areas (hot spots and cold spots) in terms of access to educational facilities. The findings demonstrate a considerable degree of spatial inequality in access to educational services in Gorgan City. The clustered distribution pattern highlights the gap between well-served and underserved areas and underscores the need to revise urban service distribution policies based on a spatial justice approach. Overall, the results indicate that educational indicators and land uses in Gorgan are distributed unevenly and in clustered forms, emphasizing the necessity for urban managers and planners to promote a more balanced spatial distribution of educational facilities.
MohammadReza Rezvani; Yaghob Esfaram; Sayed Reza Hosseini Kahnouj
Volume 2, Issue 4 , December 2015, , Pages 34-49
Abstract
Housing, as a basic need as well as a symbol of human being function is considered as a geographical phenomenon which plays an important role in development of human societies. The main aim of the present study is measuring and spatial analysis of housing development indicators in rural Western Azarbaijan ...
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Housing, as a basic need as well as a symbol of human being function is considered as a geographical phenomenon which plays an important role in development of human societies. The main aim of the present study is measuring and spatial analysis of housing development indicators in rural Western Azarbaijan Province, Iran. The present study is an applied research which methodologically is a combination of descriptive-analytical methods. To get the target, 36 indicators were considered. The indicators are grouped into four categories namely: infrastructure and welfare, strength and structure, sanitary, and facilities. Data collection was based on documentary method. Expert’s opinions are used for selecting the indicators and weighting them. For data analysis and ranking the indicators three models of multi-criteria decision making are applied: TOPSIS, VIKOR and Human Development Index (HDI). To gain a vigorous result, an integrating technique including Mean of weights, Borda and Kaplan methods was applied. Findings of the study indicate that villages of two counties namely: Makou and Chaldoran, according to all models are enjoying the highest level of development. In contrast, villages of Naghadeh and MiandoAb are at the lowest level of rural housing development. Based on integration model, the results show that enough attention should be paid to spatial justice in rural housing development. Such a spatial justice can be used by planners for enhancing the levels of development, reduction of inequality, rural resident’s satisfaction of their housing conditions and finally ending at the local development.
