Analysis of spatial justice in urban areas with emphasis on urban public facilities using AHP model (Gorgan city case)

Dissertation for Master Degree

Urban Planning Department

Department of Geography

Abstract

The most important criterion for analyzing the state of spatial justice in the city is how to distribute urban facilities and services, and the amount and how to distribute facilities can play an effective role in the spatial movement of the population and demographic changes in urban areas. This research has investigated 13 types of public facilities with the aim of analyzing spatial justice in the urban areas of Gorgan, emphasizing urban public facilities and examining the relationship between the distribution of facilities and the population. The research method is descriptive, analytical and applied, and information collection has been done using a library method and using questionnaire tools, and data collection has been done by referring to relevant organizations and departments. AHP methods, Moran's coefficient, general G statistic and Moran's bivariate method have been used in the data analysis in the environment of GIS and Geo DA software. The results of the research show that access to public urban facilities in Gorgan city is more in the central areas and old neighborhoods of the city, and marginal areas have the least access. Also, the results of the Moran's coefficient and the general G statistic indicate that the distribution of facilities is cluster-type and with high concentration, that is, the areas with the density of facilities are located in the vicinity. To investigate the relationship between population density and density of public facilities, the two-variable Moran's coefficient was used, and the results indicate a weak relationship between population density and public facilities. In fact, it can be said that the distribution of facilities based on population in Gorgan city is not fair. Keywords: spatial justice, urban public facilities, Gorgan city, AHP. First chapter: Research overview. Introduction.

The city is the most complex human settlement where the widest human-environmental relationships are formed. Neglect of urban management to urban centers in the course of rapid urban growth has made these centers face many problems and issues that have reduced the quality of the living environment in them. The rapid growth of the population and the lack of financial, technical and infrastructure facilities to create public and social uses of the city has created a heterogeneity and imbalance in the distribution of various facilities in the city, which has caused all kinds of pollution, severe population density in certain parts of the city, and psychological insecurity for families. These factors make sustainable urban development, which has been the focus of urban planners in recent decades, with problems. Therefore, a balanced spatial organization in cities is a type of urban sustainability, and it will be achieved when there is a logical harmony and compatibility between population distribution and service distribution in cities. Since a land can be considered developed that has reached the level of social-cultural development, so if we pay attention to development from a social-cultural point of view, it can be said that development is the way to social justice. Justice in the city should seek appropriate and proportional allocation of facilities and services, use of potential and actual capabilities in the city, eliminating the gap between the rich and the poor and preventing the creation of poverty slums, a type of justice that is called spatial justice. Hierarchical analysis is a method to help decision makers to prioritize and classify their goals and solutions in a complex, unstructured and non-transparent environment. One of the basic duties of managers is to make decisions, and organizations guide and approach predetermined goals with the decisions that their managers make in specific environments. In order to use the judgment and expert judgment of decision makers, in this method, the decision problem is separated into components and arranged hierarchically. Then, by using the views and opinions for each of the components of this process, the highest priority of the components of the problem is determined, thus drawing the decision maker's attention to its necessity. Among the most important practical applications of AHP is that it provides a framework for group participation in decision making and problem solving. Since we cannot measure without a standard, we need a way to develop new standards to measure intangible attributes. Hierarchy analysis process is a flexibility model that allows decision making in a logical way by combining judgment and personal values.In fact, we need a way to know whether the factors have the same effects on the result or not or whether their effects are different. 1-1-Statement of the problem: Following the industrial revolution and after that in the 20th century, the urban population in the world increased and urbanization became the dominant way of human life, so that the world population increased from 3 percent in 1800 to 68.9 percent per year. It has reached 2005 (Zhakarian et al., 2019: 62). In Iran, urbanization began in the 1300s and increased rapidly during the years 1340 to 1355, so that the urban population of Iran increased from 28% in 1300 to 51.8% in 1360 (Hassamian et al., 2013: 24). This rapid increase in population has caused quantitative and qualitative inadequacies in the provision of urban services and facilities and reduced the quality of urban life. It is agreed that the accessibility and diversity of facilities and services is one of the important parameters for evaluating the quality of life. But in developing countries, due to the rapid and unplanned growth of cities in the past, the development that took place in different urban areas was done without planning to create the required facilities, which is the result of the low quality of life in these areas. Therefore, the quality of life in built-up urban areas is fundamentally affected by the accessibility of urban facilities (Talaei et al., 2018: 442). The distribution of facilities and services and their quality are also inseparably linked with social welfare, they cannot be separated from marginal issues such as citizens' inequality and personal freedoms. It should be pointed out that even the most beautiful places and the best of them in terms of accessibility and living conditions, if they are faced with the lack or weakness of access to resources and facilities, cannot be enjoyable and useful for the well-being of residents (Boyne, George, 2002: 36). In fact, the growth of cities caused the lack of urban facilities and infrastructure to double with the increase in the urban population, and different urban groups have different access to these facilities according to the quality of life (Hataminejad et al., 2011: 43).              

Therefore, it can be said that one of the most important factors in urban planning is the use of spaces and proper distribution, and in more complete terms, spatial justice. In this regard, urban uses and services are among the effective and useful factors that by responding to population needs, increasing public benefit and paying attention to people's merits and competences, they can establish the dimensions of spatial justice, social justice and economic justice by establishing them more justly. Therefore, the disruption of the population balance, the most important roots of which are internal and external migrations, excessive density of land uses in certain areas, can make urban spaces inconsistent with justice from the economic and social dimensions (Warthi et al., 1386: 95). Over the past hundred years, many politicians and commentators have used the social justice argument to justify the welfare state and government provision more generally. So that some social philosophies, especially socialist, considered justice as the key concept of the concepts of welfare and freedom (King, 2012: 464). The balanced spatial distribution of urban services is also considered one of the most important signs of social justice in the city. Social justice in the city means the continuation of maintaining the interests of different social groups based on the optimal expansion of urban resources, incomes and expenses (Gray, 2002: 27). The theory of social justice is based on the principle that the economic and social inequalities of the society have an effect on its spatial organization, and any change in the spatial organization has a direct effect on the socio-economic relations and income distribution in the society (Marsoosi, 2013: 90). The planning of service facilities in its modern form came about a century ago in countries with advanced economies as a necessary response to the need to maintain the health of the population in the villages from the effects of industrialization and the demands of the growing population and in order to provide the basic infrastructure of the cities (Middleton, 1998:95). It has a population of 329,536, and one of the reasons for its population increase over the past two decades is its selection as the capital of the province, which has led to many migrations from nearby cities and villages. The city of Gorgan has seen various demographic, physical, social and economic developments in recent years.