Investigating the Feasibility of Good Urban Governance with Emphasis on Spatial Justice (Case Study: 5 Regions-Urmia)

Subject Areas :

mirnajaf mousavi ¹ , reza ghaderi ² , Nima Bayramzadeh ³ , Roya Kamel Nia ⁴

1 - Professor in Department of Geography and Urban Planning, Urmia University, Urmia, Iran.
2 - Assistant Professor of Payame Noor University
3 - M.A in Urban planning, Young Researchers and Elite Club, Tabriz Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tabriz, Iran.
4 - M.Sc. in Geography and Sacred Defense, Urmia University, Urmia, Iran.

Received: 2022-02-01 Accepted : 2022-04-21 Published : 2025-01-24

Keywords: Urban Management, Spatial Distribution, Urmia, spatial justice, good urban governance,

Abstract :

The main purpose of this study is to investigate the feasibility of good urban governance with an emphasis on spatial justice in the five regions of Urmia. The method of the present study is applied in terms of purpose and descriptive-analytical in nature. Data collection is in the form of documents and field surveys. Data collection tools are in several forms: observation, questionnaire, interview. The statistical population of this study is the residents of 5 Regions of Urmia city. Using Cochran's formula, 384 numbers have been obtained which have been randomly distributed. To evaluate the status of good urban governance, the following indicators have been used: participation, efficiency, and effectiveness, transparency, justice and equality, accountability, responsibility, rule of law, and consensus. Data analysis was performed quantitatively using statistical methods such as one-sample t-test, Kruskal–Wallis and Spearman correlation, and SPSS and GIS software to analyze the data. The results of this study indicate that based on the analysis of per capita status of service Land uses, Region 5 has gained the first rank and Region 3 has gained the last rank. According to the evaluation results of good urban governance indicators, regions one, four, and five had a higher level than the average, and regions two and three had a lower level than the average. The results of correlation evaluation between independent and dependent components indicate that there is a strong direct relationship between them. According to the ranking results of the Kruskal–Wallis test, region one has the first rank, and region two has the fifth rank. Finally, according to the results of the Spearman test, there is a direct relationship between the distribution of land uses and indicators of good urban governance.

Extended Abstract

Introduction

 

Today, the situation of urban management in Iran indicates that for reasons such as the externalization of urban plans and programs, the centralization of the rent-based economy and oil, etc., urban management is dominated by the government. And it is constantly moving away from integrated and systemic management and is caught in the vortex of sectoral, cellular management, and top-down perspectives. Despite the long history of urbanization and the existence of traditional patterns of participatory urban management in Iran, following the centralized patterns of urban planning and management in the present era, has not allowed citizens to participate in the management of urban affairs. While the complexity of urban issues and the diversity of citizens' needs are increasing day by day, in such a situation, the urban management system is looking for ways to facilitate urban management in order to reduce the harmful effects of urbanization and also to deal with the difficulties of urban management. Therefore, paying attention to the issue of good urban governance as the main to support urban management for sustainable development of metropolises and cities seems necessary and important, so that spatial justice in the dispersion and distribution of service uses in urban areas should be considered by urban management. The general purpose of this study is to investigate the feasibility of good urban governance with emphasis on spatial justice in the five regions of Urmia so that while evaluating the indicators of good urban governance, it examines the distribution of spatial justice among these regions. From the innovation aspects of the present study in the field of spatial territory, due to the possibility of differences in the results of research in different spatial domains with each other, in this study, the five regions of Urmia have been considered. In the field of the time period, due to the COVID-19 effects of the society and the change of Urmia regions from four to five regions, it seems that it can make a difference in the research results. In the field of research method, due to the comparison of field harvest data (distribution and dispersion of land uses) and questionnaire data (indicators of good urban governance) and the relationship between the ranking of these data with each other seems to affect the research results.

Methodology

The method of the present study is applied in terms of purpose and descriptive-analytical in nature. Data collection is in the form of documents and field surveys. Data collection tools are in several forms: observation, questionnaire, interview. The statistical population of this study is the residents of 5 Regions of Urmia, which according to the statistics of 2016, is 736224 people. To determine the sample size, Cochran's formula was used. The sample size was 384, which was randomly distributed. To evaluate the status of good urban governance, the following 8 indicators have been used: participation, efficiency, and effectiveness, transparency, justice and equality, accountability, responsibility, rule of law, and consensus. In order to obtain the validity and reliability of the questionnaires, the validity of the questionnaire was initially evaluated and approved by 20 experts, including urban planners and city managers. Then the reliability of the questionnaires for 30 questionnaires was evaluated by Cronbach's alpha test. According to the results of this test, the value of Cronbach's alpha with 0.734 is higher than the value of 0.7, which indicates the reliability of the questionnaire. Data analysis was performed quantitatively using statistical methods such as one-sample t-test, Kruskal–Wallis and Spearman correlation, and SPSS and GIS software to analyze the data.

 

Results and discussion

The results of this study indicate that based on the analysis of per capita status of service Land uses, Region 5 has gained the first rank and Region 3 has gained the last rank. Also, the results of evaluating the indicators of good urban governance in the five regions show that the indicators of good urban governance in region one are above average, in region two less than average, in region three less than average, in region four above average and in region five it is above the average level. Also, in order to rank the regions of Urmia based on the indicators of good urban governance, Kruskal–Wallis test has been used. The results of this test indicate that region one of Urmia is ranked first and region two of Urmia is ranked fifth. This indicates that the dispersion and distribution of seven service uses in the city of Urmia is not fair and confirms the research hypothesis. Spearman correlation test was used to evaluate the correlation between the independent variable of good urban governance and the dependent variable of justice and equality. The results of this test indicate that there is a strong direct relationship. Finally, the Spearman test was used to correlate field harvest rankings (distribution and dispersion of land uses) and questionnaires (indicators of good urban governance). The results of this evaluation indicate the existence of a direct relationship that with the improvement of the distribution and dispersion of land uses, the indicators of good urban governance also improve. The results of this study with the research of the WGI (2020), Azouz (2015), UNESCAP (2009), Nallathiga (2008), UNDP (2003), Ziari et al. (2021), Momeni et al. (2021), Pazaki et al. (2021), Abdi et al. (2020), Askarizadeh et al. (2020), Heidari Sarban (2020), Khoshfar et al. (2020), Habibi and Mahboubi (2020) and Bastin et al. (2019) have the same effect which confirms the positive effect of spatial justice on good urban governance.

 

Conclusion

Today, the reduction of quality and welfare of urban life due to the unfair distribution of service uses and lack of attention to good urban governance has created many problems for cities and metropolises such as poverty, social harms, lack of infrastructure, etc. Which requires special attention to the components of spatial justice, good urban governance, equitable distribution of urban services, and participatory approach. To this end, good urban governance was considered as a new approach as the key to the success of achieving sustainable urban development in order to mobilize the internal capacities of cities. According to the results of this study, there is a direct relationship between the ranking and distribution of land uses and indicators of good urban governance

 

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