The Role of Production-Commercial Pioneers in the Improvement of Districts Facing Urban Decay (Case Study: Isar District of Mashhad)

جغرافیا و توسعه فضای شهری

Article 14, Volume 5, Issue 1 - Serial Number 8, September 2018, Pages 281-298   

Document Type: Scientific-Research

DOI: 10.22067/gusd.v5i1.74133

Authors

Javad Farhadi; Ahmad Zanganeh^* ; Moosa Kamanroodi; Mohammad Soleimani Mehranjani

Kharazmi University

Abstract

Extended Abstract

Introduction

An examination of the population of Mashhad city during the years 1986-2011 shows a population decline in the central region and population growth in the margins. The case of existing population and occupations can be explained by the concept of urban decay. The main problem investigated in the present study is that, contrary to this general process, Isar district has been successfully renovated and developed in a region, which faces urban decay. Subsequently, the main subject of the study is to examine the role of economic elites in such a development. It is an important experience due to relatively successful pattern documentation and expansion of the literature on the revival of unorganized urban textures, development based on the private sector, public-private cooperation, and good urban governance.

Methodology

The present inquiry is a descriptive-analytical study conducted using the causal, post-event method. The subject was explained through library studies, documents, and surveys. In addition to field data and official census, 97 questionnaires were distributed among store managers across Isar Bazar, 53% of which were completed. Moreover, the spatial and non-spatial relations were tested using general and spatial regression.
Instruments used for statistical processing and map cartography included SPSS, Excel, SAGA, and ArcGIS software. Since the concept of growth machine as an independent variable is abstract as well as the fact that decisions made by urban elites occur through real estate investments and population attraction. Some explaining indices were examined as mediator variables; finally, the independent variables were examined in two groups including variables related to investment (5 variables) and variables related to population attraction (12) in Isar district.

Results

Testing the hypotheses of the study shows that the coalition between production and commercial elite of Isar district (growth machine) along with the initial investments and business development have resulted in a rise in real estate value, population attraction, and retention along with physical, economic, and social development and an increase of services per capita. In this regard, the population and family growth of the district during the years 2011-16 have reached 1.1% and 2.6%, respectively. Regression between the explaining variables and population growth shows that the variable of commercial use area in 2015 is of the highest extent of explanation with a determination coefficient of 54%, compared to other variables. The spatial determination coefficient obtained for four explaining variables account for 64-66% of the spatial characteristic relative to the changes in population. An investigation of land use across the district demonstrates that during the years 2001-04, a number of functions were added to the district including 20 for education, 11 for religion, and 6 for healthcare.

Conclusion

In confirming the first hypothesis, field investigations showed that a small group of entrepreneurs who are residents of the district were the pioneers of entering Isar Bazar; their investments resulted in a rise in population growth rate and subsequent investments. Regression between the explaining variables and population growth shows that the variable of commercial use area in 2015 is of the highest extent of explanation with a determination coefficient of 54%, compared to other variables; consequently, the second hypothesis is also confirmed.
The third hypothesis is also confirmed through examining the district’s population, as the variable has been witnessing a rising trend during the years 2011-16, ultimately reaching 1.1%. These numerical changes have been accompanied by qualitative changes in the district. Furthermore, given the number of added service functions, the hypothesis stating the increase in service and welfare functions required by the residents as one of the uses of growth machine and a cause of population growth in the district, is confirmed. Other findings of the study are presented in the following:

Given a context of competition based on the free market, the growth machine could lead to economic growth and it could benefit low-income groups in the district’s society.
According to field observations, the elites’ strategy for action through the exploitation of a more efficient mixture of production factors, in other words, creativity and entrepreneurship, is the reason for their success.
The local community of Isar district has been improved which was not through forced migration of disadvantaged groups (the authenticity phenomenon) and replacing them with middle and upper-class groups.
As the growth machine’s fulcrum, entrepreneurs have had the highest share in developments taken place in Isar district, while others have been less influential. Their absence or lack of influence would weaken the district.
Since the members of the growth machine adjust their behavior according to the market system (maximum profit), private functions and services have the lowest chance to be actualized.
Factors such as overcrowded business spaces, fixed and variable population density of the district, noise pollutions, automobiles exhaustion, and increased crime rate are caused by the unlimited development of the district occurring outside its capacities.

As both the development and decline of Isar district is intertwined with the market development at Isar Bazar, the following actions are recommended in order to introduce competitiveness in Isar market:

Provision of the required urban infrastructure
Improving the environment and perspective quality
Preventing the formation of exclusivity in ownership, business, and obstruction in market development
Paying attention to the locality and endogenous aspects of district development
Paying attention to enhancing the district’s security

Keywords

Urban Decline; Urban Growth machine; Elite; upgrading Neighborhood; Esar Neighborhood of Mashhad

References

1. اسمیت، ن. (1390). مرزبندی نوین شهری، بهسازی بافت شهری از راه اسکان جمعیت مرفه در شهرهای کینه توز. ترجمه حسام زند حسامی. تهران، ایران: انتشارات دانشگاه تهران.

2. پیکتی، ت. (1393). سرمایه. ترجمه اصلان قودجانی. تهران، ایران: انتشارات نقد فرهنگ.

3. حبیبی، س. م. و مقصودی، م. (1389). مرمت شهری. تهران، ایران: انتشارات دانشگاه تهران.

4. دودینگ، ک. (1390). قدرت. ترجمه عباس مخبر. چاپ سوم. تهران، ایران: انتشارات آشیان.

5. سیدی فرخد، س. م. (1392). نگاهی به جغرافیای تاریخی شهر مشهد. مشهد، ایران: انتشارات مرکز پژوهش‌های شورای شهر.

6. سیف الدینی، ف. (1381). فرهنگ واژگان برنامه ریزی شهری و منطقه ای، شیراز، ایران: مرکز نشر دانشگاه شیراز.

7. شهرداری منطقه 4 شهرمشهد. (1397). نقشه منطقه ایثار. مشهد، ایران: شهرداری مشهد.

8. عسکری، ع. (1390). تحلیل آمار فضایی با Arc GIS. تهران، ایران: انتشارات سازمان فناوری اطلاعات و ارتباطات شهرداری تهران.

9. کلارک، د. (1392). زوال شهری. ترجمه احمد زنگانه و همکاران. تهران، ایران: انتشارات جهاد دانشگاهی واحد خوارزمی.

10. کلنیوسکی، ن. (1393). شهرها و جامعه. مترجم محمد حسن خطیبی بایگی، تهران، ایران: انتشارات تیسا.

11. لطفی، س. (1390). تبارشناسی بازآفرینی شهری. تهران، ایران: انتشارات آذرخش.

12. مدرس رضوی، م. و همکاران. (1386). مشهد در آغاز قرن چهاردهم خورشیدی. مشهد، ایران: نشر آهنگ قلم.

13. مرکز آمار ایران. (1365 تا 1390). نتایج سرشماری عمومی نفوس و مسکن. تهران، ایران: مرکز آمار ایران.

14. مرکز آمار ایران. (1395). نتایج مقدماتی سرشماری عمومی نفوس و مسکن. تهران، ایران: مرکز آمار ایران.

15. مرکز آمار ایران. (1397). قابل دسترسی در www.amar.org.ir

16. مومنی. م. و فعال قیومی. ع. (1389). تحلیل های آماری با استفاده از spss. تهران، ایران: مومنی.

17. نهاد مطالعات و برنامه ریزی شهرداری مشهد. (1397). لایه های اطلاعات مکانی. مشهد، ایران: شهرداری مشهد.

18. Bassett, K., & Harloe, M. (2006). Swindon: The rise and decline of a growth coalition. In M. Harloe, C. Pickvance., & J. Urry (Eds.), Place, policy and politics: Do localities matter? (pp. 33-47). London, England: Routledge.

19. Carter, T., & Polevychok, C. (2006). Understanding disinvestment and decline. Retrieved from http://ius.uwinnipeg.ca/CRC/Understanding%20Disinvestment%20and%20Decline.pdf

20. Clark, J. (2001). Six urban regime types: The effects of state laws and citizen participation on the development of alternative regimes. Public Administration Quarterly, 25(1), 3-48.

21. Davies, J. S. (2003). Partnerships versus regimes: Why regime theory cannot explain urban coalitions in the UK. Journal of Urban Affairs, 25(3), 253-270.

22. Dowding, K. (2001). Explaining urban regimes. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 25(1), 7-19.

23. Elkins, D. R. (1995). The structure and context of the urban growth coalition. Policy Studies Journal, 23(4), 583-600.

24. Friedrichs, J. (1993). A theory of urban decline: Economy, demography and political elites. Urban Studies, 30(6), 907-917.

25. Heying, C. H. (1995). Civic elites, civic institutions and the urban growth dynamic (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC.

26. Kuyucu, T. (2018). Politics of urban regeneration in Turkey: Possibilities and limits of municipal regeneration initiatives in a highly centralized country. Urban Geography, 39(8), 1152-1176.

27. Miszczyk, A. (2013). Specialized growth: Planning and politics in Rochester MN and the growth machine theory. Cities in the 21st Century, 3(1), 567-579.

28. Pacione, M. (2005). Urban geography: A global perspective. London, England: Routledge.

29. Pitkin, B. (2001). Theories of neighborhood change: Implications for community development policy and practice. Los Angeles, LA: UCLA Advanced Policy Institute

30. Smit, E. (2014). Neighborhood regeneration in a declining city: The case of Detroit (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands.

31. van Beckhoven, E., Bolt, G., & van Kempen, R. (2009). Theories of neighborhood change and decline: Their significance for post-WWII large housing estates in European cities. In R. Rowlands, S. Musterd, & R. van Kempen (Eds.), Mass housing in Europe: Multiple faces of development, change and response (pp. 20-50). London, England: Palgrave Macmillan.

32. Weir, M. (2001, December). Metropolitan coalition – Building strategies. Paper presented at the Urban Seminar Series on Children’s Health and Safety, Harvard University.

33. Weir, M., Wolman, H., & Swanstrom, T. (2005). The calculus of coalitions: Cities, suburbs, and the metropolitan agenda. Urban Affairs Review, 40(6), 730-760.