Needs assessment and determination of cultural, sports and recreational needs of neighborhoods in District 1 of Tehran (case study of Niavaran and Hesarbuali neighborhoods)

Master's thesis in the field of geography and urban planning

Abstract

Using the space, facilities and cultural, recreational and sports per capita is considered as a citizen's right, and in an era that is called "leisure civilization", planning to optimize the way of spending leisure time of different groups and strata of people is considered necessary and inevitable. Measuring the needs of the target group which is usually referred to as needs assessment, it is considered one of the first steps in the planning process and it is a process that identifies the distance and gap between "existing situation" and "desired situation" and then prioritizes in the form of needs. In the process of needs assessment and determination of needs, all interested groups have participated and "bottom-up planning" has been put into practice and implemented.

Global experiences show that from 1980 onwards in development programs and also urban development, increasing attention has been paid to the participatory approach, to the point where urban participation is currently the key to the success of urban development plans and one of the performance criteria of urban management and its pillars. (municipalities and city council).

1

The available information indicates that in the past, many neighborhood development plans were prepared and implemented without carrying out needs assessment projects and the participation of experts and residents of the neighborhood in determining the needs of the neighborhood, and the resulting parallel work, creating opportunities for unfair access to social and cultural facilities and spaces at the level Different neighborhoods and finally, the preparation and implementation of development plans were incompatible with the requirements and cultural-social considerations of the neighborhood, which were not usually welcomed by the residents of the neighborhood. Foresight and prediction of developments is one of the basic needs of planners and managers. The interviewed residents mentioned the most important benefits and results of residents' participation in the implementation of needs assessment projects and determining the needs of the neighborhood, increasing the rate of neighborhood participation and strengthening the feeling of belonging to the neighborhood, and finally preparing neighborhood plans based on real needs. According to them, the active participation of residents in the process of preparing, implementing and exploiting neighborhood development plans requires gaining the trust of the neighborhood residents by acting on the promises made and fulfilling the promises made. The trust of the neighborhood residents in the organizations involved in the preparation and implementation of the neighborhood development plans is gained, and gaining the trust of the residents leads to the spontaneous participation of the people at the neighborhood level.

Planning and stating the problem

Using the space, facilities and cultural, recreational and sports per capita is considered as a citizen's right, and in an era that is called "leisure civilization", planning The purpose of optimizing the way of spending leisure time of different groups and strata of people is considered necessary and inevitable.

Planning to enjoy and improve the indicators and cultural, recreational and sports per capita and optimizing the way of spending leisure time requires knowing the current situation of cultural, recreational and sports facilities and per capita in each neighborhood and assessing the needs and determining the cultural, recreational and sports needs of different neighborhoods.

Assessment of needs The target group, which is usually referred to as needs assessment [1], is considered one of the first steps in the planning process and is a process that identifies the gap between the "existing situation" and the "desired situation" and then prioritizes it in the form of needs. In the process of needs assessment and determination of needs, all interested groups have participated and "bottom-up planning" has been implemented by the government.

In this way, the approach of the organizations involved in the preparation and implementation of urban development plans to needs assessment and determination of people's needs is the first step towards attracting public participation and transformation in the planning approach from "planning for the people" to "planning with the people" and in simpler terms Paying attention to the most important element of development, i.e. people, is considered in the process of preparing and implementing urban development plans. For this reason, in the new development literature, considering the importance of people's role in society, "people" are referred to as the real wealth of society, and the specialized term "bottom-up development" also refers to the participatory role of people in the development process.

Global experiences show that since 1980, in development programs and also urban development, increasing attention has been paid to the participatory approach[2], to the point where urban participation is the key to the success of development plans.

Global experiences show that since 1980, in development programs and urban development, increasing attention has been paid to the participatory approach [2], to the point where urban participation is currently the key to the success of urban development projects and one of the performance criteria of urban management and its elements (municipalities and city councils).

The main results and consequences of urban participation are:

People's awareness of their skills and abilities

Strengthening the sense of trust and confidence towards city managers

Strengthening the sense of cooperation between citizens and city managers

Emergence of citizens' creativity and presenting plans and proposals

Feeling more belonging to the urban society

Urban participation has various functions for the urban management system and urban development, among which these functions can increase access to information. Urban means determining the priorities and needs of citizens and collective efforts to implement development plans. Urban participation in the implementation of development plans has several different levels. "Roger" has mentioned at least six levels:

Spontaneous participation (spontaneous presence of people)

Active urban participation (cooperation of people and project managers)

Passive urban participation (mere physical presence of people)

Functional urban participation (people being involved in projects)

Effective urban participation (presence of people in institutions without voting rights)

Consultative urban participation (advising the project implementers)

The neighborhood approach, one of the most important goals of which is to strengthen the culture of social participation at the neighborhood level, to involve the local people in the decision-making process, to prepare, implement and exploit neighborhood development plans and to "leave the work of the neighborhood people to its residents" has led to the intersection of "people's needs" and "municipality opportunities" at the neighborhood level and the needs The neighborhood is determined by the councilors, which are considered the most important authority for identifying the needs of the neighborhood and is determined with the participation of the residents of the neighborhood and presented to the municipality so that neighborhood development plans can be prepared, implemented and exploited based on the real needs of the neighborhoods.

The available information indicates that in the past, many neighborhood development plans were prepared and implemented without carrying out needs assessment projects and the participation of experts and residents of the neighborhood in determining the needs of the neighborhood. And the result of that parallel work was creating opportunities for unfair access to social and cultural facilities and spaces at the level of different neighborhoods, and finally preparing and implementing development plans incompatible with the requirements and cultural-social considerations of the neighborhood, which were usually not welcomed by the residents of the neighborhood.

According to what was said and in order to avoid parallel work, the inequality of neighborhoods in terms of access to facilities and the preparation and implementation of development plans needed and compatible with The socio-cultural structure of the neighborhood, with the cooperation of the deputy of social and cultural affairs of the municipality of Region 1, and in order to achieve the desired situation in the indicators of social and cultural development and increase the cultural, sports and recreational per capita in the neighborhoods under its coverage, has turned to a needs assessment in order to prepare and implement socio-cultural development plans in the neighborhoods of its territory by using the results and findings.

1-2-Research questions and assumptions

Are the facilities And the urban per capita in the studied area is consistent with the common standards?

It seems that the urban facilities and per capita in the studied area are not consistent with the common standards and need to strengthen and increase the existing per capita with the standard per capita.

Can the participation of people in neighborhood management be effective in improving neighborhood administration? 1-3- Necessity and importance of investigation

Socio-cultural development at the neighborhood level requires knowing the current situation of development indicators and taking advantage of the potential capabilities and actual potentials in order to achieve the desired situation and improve the socio-cultural development indicators, and this goal is realized when the real socio-cultural needs of the neighborhood are identified through the authorities The neighborhood (councilors and residents of the neighborhood) is determined and presented to the social and cultural deputy of the municipality, and based on the findings and achievements of the needs assessment, the socio-cultural development plans of the neighborhood are prepared and implemented.