Functional evaluation of the cultural center of Abbas Abad land resort, with emphasis on the competitiveness of Tehran city

Master's Thesis in Urban Planning

Dissertation Abstract:

Urban competitiveness as a new approach in urban planning tries to discuss urban development from a new perspective with the existence of some kind of competition between cities, on the attraction of effective funds in development, and by emphasizing competitive advantage. This approach is a very efficient tool that can help the direction of urban development strategies in planning to achieve a sustainable development by deeply studying various aspects of the urban system, while identifying the root factors influencing the development of a city and estimating their impact. As one of the potential cultural-tourist centers of Tehran, Abbas Abad lands of Tehran, despite the efforts of recent years, still lacks the competitiveness factor. The purpose of this research is to identify and prioritize the most important factors that contribute to the tourism competitiveness of these lands.

In the first step, this research compiled the indicators of tourism competitiveness by reviewing the theoretical and empirical literature, and in the next step, by applying these indicators and refining them based on the criteria of a competitiveness evaluation model, while analyzing the data that was collected through the distribution of questionnaires between two groups of users and elites and activists in this field, to evaluate and measure the competitiveness of the cultural-recreation center The results of the research show that at the first level, the indicators related to the "environmental experience" factor, and at the second level, the indicators of the "communications and commercial naming" factor, have the greatest impact on promoting the tourism competitiveness of Abbas Abad lands, and at the same time, these indicators are the most distant from the ideal situation. Generalities of the research

Description of the thesis topic and research problem

Without a doubt, one of the most important events of the late 20th century is the formation of the phenomenon of globalization and competition between cities, which has created significant changes in various aspects of human life. Following the recent works of Hall (1966, 1984), and Sassen (1991), other significant studies have been conducted on the idea of ??"world cities". These researchers have theorized for these cities as the command centers of the global economy and the vital centers of the flow of goods, people and ideas. (John Rennie Short, 2004)

As globalization as a new and comprehensive concept since the 1980s has covered the social and economic life as well as the political and cultural life of contemporary people, studies focused on cities. as the places where the social, economic and cultural life of today's people is crystallized, also considering the concerns and challenges presented in the field of globalization since the 1990s, as an example of the prevailing discourse of globalization of influence have accepted In the meantime, it is necessary to examine the urban spaces as the most important areas for shaping the collective life of citizens and one of the centers of manifestation and reflection of the positive and negative impressions of the phenomenon of globalization.

The issue of globalization in different dimensions of cities He has made another attempt to survive. The global city as the most important activity space is the economic, social, political and cultural beating heart of today's world. In the current era, cities have become arenas of competition on a large scale, the competition to attract the most, which leads to the acquisition of the most capital, the most profit, and finally the most credit. As you can imagine, the war of the third millennium is "a war to attract people (residents, investors, workers, etc.) in the city". Such a city has characteristics such as having a story or background, unique characteristics, value, image and so on. Tourism competitiveness can be categorized into the following dimensions: economic competitiveness, social competitiveness, cultural competitiveness, political competitiveness, technical (technological) competitiveness and environmental competitiveness. The desire to visit these destinations is due to an experience that cannot be found anywhere else.. The socio-cultural strengths of a destination can be a dominant determinant in competitiveness.

Urban spaces and the globalization process have two-way interactions. On the one hand, the trend of globalization in its scope of influence on cities, gradually shows its effects on the form and activity of urban spaces, and on the other hand, other urban spaces affect cities (and even countries) in getting a proper place in The era of globalization, presenting an internationally valid image and providing an appropriate space for improving urban competitiveness help. The experience of advanced countries in this field that increasing competitive advantages in large urban centers will have an increasing effect on the growth of the entire country has not been effective for developing countries. The main cause of this situation can be largely attributed to the lack of a suitable structure to promote and expand development in developing countries. Locational decisions in most developing countries have been limited to a few specific points. For planning in developing countries, in order to increase competitive advantages in large urban centers, a model of development is needed that leads to decentralization and attention to the principle that the concept of competitiveness is not necessarily regions or cities in competition with each other. There are major cities in the world. According to John Rennie Short's definition, a black hole is a large city with a population of more than 3 million people, which is not recognized as a global city by the GAWC [1] and has no equivalent at the national level. These three criteria include cities from Tehran with a population of 10.7 million people to Chittagong with a population of 3.1 million people. (John Renee Short, 2004)

On the other hand, by studying the documents of the city of Tehran, this city has unique characteristics in the world and the region (Middle East). Features such as geographically special strategic location, efficient cultural-tourist features, prominent features in the scientific field, especially medical sciences, etc. These characteristics have always led to the drawing of the vision of the "global city" by urban planners in various documents of this city. University city, creative city, global city, etc. A picture of Tehran is envisioned in the future in the medium term of several decades.

Due to the lack of a cultural centrality that responds to the ever-increasing demands of all classes of people, the city of Tehran is not yet worthy of the name of a 21st century city. To evaluate Tehran as a global city, its current position must be defined on a global scale and in relation to its facilities and qualities. Any decision regarding it will have a decisive effect on the social, spatial and environmental structure of the city in terms of environmental, communication, spatial, social and economic values. On the other hand, the land of Abbas Abad has the capacity to absorb special needs and demands from the best activities and functions of the metropolis. With regard to the change in the position of Tehran as a metropolis with potentials that can compete with global cities as stated in the second axis of the perspective of Tehran's comprehensive plan (2016) and the change in the quantitative and qualitative dimensions of the needs, the question is how far the definition of a new role for the central area of ??Tehran has been able to approach its goal of increasing the competitiveness of the city of Tehran.

2-1-Introduction and statement of thesis questions

Has the development of culture-oriented policies in the central area of ??Abbas Abad lands been able to strengthen the competitive advantages and existing capacities in Tehran?

Which one of the factors and indicators of the competitiveness of tourism have the greatest impact on the promotion of the competitiveness of the cultural-tourist center of Abbas Abad lands?

3-1- Objectives of the thesis

Major objective:

Determining the concept of urban competitiveness

Evaluating the urban competitiveness of the cultural-recreational center of Abbas Abad land

Micro-objectives:

Developing indicators for evaluating the cultural-recreational competitiveness

4-1- Introducing and stating the thesis hypotheses

Abbas Abad land has not been able to add a world-class cultural-resort brand, but it has the potential to compete with other world cities.