نوع مقاله : مقاله پژوهشی
عنوان مقاله English
نویسندگان English
Introduction
Policymaking is an essential and powerful arena in producing space and creating spatial justice or injustice in cities. Accordingly, spatial justice is a conceptual tool within which urban space production dynamics, processes, and tools can be examined and analyzed to achieve a justice-oriented city. Reviewing and evaluating development plans based on spatial justice theories is one of the topics that has been neglected in Iranian urban planning. Theoretical and empirical studies show that spatial injustice in Iran is caused by neglect of spatial planning and poor political management of space. Therefore, the government decision-making system in Iran faces contradictory challenges in achieving geographical/spatial justice. On the other hand, Tehran, as a metropolis, faces many problems that do not have a physical, spatial, and functional structure appropriate to its needs and is far from sustainability indicators and environmental standards.
Macro policies can play a vital role in achieving spatial justice in the Tehran metropolis, which has not happened much so far. Tehran does not have very favorable conditions in terms of spatial justice criteria. In other words, it can be said that macro policies have not been able to improve the conditions of the Tehran metropolis in terms of spatial justice. Therefore, there is a need to conduct a pathology analysis of the macro policies of urban management in achieving spatial justice in the Tehran metropolis. In this research, in addition to conceptualizing spatial justice in the Tehran metropolis, an attempt is made to identify the damages of the macro policies of urban management from the perspective of spatial justice. In summary, it can be said that the central issue of the present research is to answer the question: What are the dimensions and components that shape the concept of spatial justice in the Tehran metropolis? Also, what are the findings of the pathology of the macro policies of urban management in achieving spatial justice in the Tehran metropolis?
Materials and Methods
The current research aims to diagnose and explain urban management policies in realizing spatial justice in the metropolis of Tehran. This research is applied-developmental in terms of purpose and is considered among qualitative research. This research used a semi-structured method with experts and a thematic analysis technique to design the research model. For this purpose, a semi-structured interview was conducted with 24 academic and executive experts in the Tehran municipality who were selected purposefully and using the snowball method. Thematic analysis was also used to analyze the data, and coding steps were carried out to identify the themes.
Findings
Three categories of factors, including antecedents, spatial justice, and consequences, were determined for the research model. Also, five physical, value, cognitive, ideological, and sustainability dimensions, 15 components, and 88 indicators were identified for spatial justice in the Tehran metropolis. The physical dimension indicates that justice must be established in the metropolis of Tehran in order to distribute services and improve living conditions among citizens. In other words, the concentration of urban services in specific areas, the deprivation of the other regions, and the large gap in housing conditions and access to land between different areas of the city contradict this dimension. The value dimension also indicates that citizens, in an ethical environment where individual differences are not so decisive and everyone is considered a citizen, should be able to choose where to live freely and the conditions for using city services. The cognitive dimension also relates to the participation of stakeholders and different groups living in the city in creating plans and programs that can affect justice in the city. On the other hand, urban management plans and policies must be transparent to citizens, who must receive the necessary training in this regard. The ideological dimension also indicates that spatial justice at the level of discourse and ideology should be included in all urban plans and programs, and institutionalize concern and sensitivity towards the concepts of spatial justice among citizens and officials. Also, the ideological dimension notes the need for all stakeholders to participate in the discourse of spatial justice and its inclusion in urban management procedures and methods. Finally, the sustainability dimension indicates that there should be an acceptable proportion between different city areas in terms of economic costs and capacity building for citizens, which provides the basis for the growth and development of weaker areas. Also, capacity building for environmental and social issues should be carried out according to the conditions of different regions to provide the basis for reducing injustices.
Also, based on the findings, the damages of urban management policies (precedents) in the three dimensions of formulation stage, implementation stage, and evaluation stage include 15 components and 112 indicators. According to the research findings, experts have raised some disadvantages in all stages of policy-making, including formulation, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation. The disadvantages of the formulation stage are mainly related to the content and approach adopted in the urban management macro policies, as well as the programs created based on them, which cannot meet the requirements needed to achieve spatial justice. The formulation stage is very important because it is the basis for the implementation, evaluation, and monitoring stages, and if it is poorly implemented, the subsequent stages cannot achieve valuable results. The implementation stage is also one of the most important stages, which, unfortunately, has numerous problems in the metropolis (even in the entire country), and in many cases, despite the fact that the formulated policies are of acceptable quality, the implementation stage is very weak. This problem also exists in the field of urban management in Tehran, and the fact that policies cannot lead to the achievement of spatial justice is due to a weakness in implementation. The problems of policy implementation range from the performance of implementers and the Tehran Municipality to inter-organizational and environmental issues, and even governance and political problems. Unfortunately, there are also numerous issues in the field of monitoring and evaluation of urban management policies, and why the goals related to spatial justice are not achieved, and who is responsible for the failures are not followed up on much. Finally, the monitoring and evaluation structure is not very scientific and systematic, and cannot pave the way for reform and continuous improvement in the path of achieving spatial justice.
Also in this research, a set of implications for spatial justice was identified. Realizing spatial justice in the metropolis of Tehran can create valuable results in the field of urban management and in relation to various stakeholders, including citizens, and transform the city into a suitable and desirable environment for a better life and away from various social harms. The findings of the present study, while in line with the results of previous research, are much more comprehensive and have been able to cover the existing research gap to a large extent.
Conclusion
The results of the research showed that urban management macro policies in the realization of spatial justice face many damages in the stages of formulation, implementation, and evaluation. Also, the realization of spatial justice can create many valuable results in the field of urban management and in meeting the demands and expectations of stakeholders. The result of this research included the creation of a comprehensive model consisting of antecedents, spatial justice, and consequences that can create a comprehensive and deep understanding of the pathology of spatial justice in urban management policies. The findings of the present study, while increasing knowledge in the field of scientific foundations of spatial justice and policymaking in this field, can be used by managers and policymakers in the field of urban management in the Tehran metropolis to move more scientifically and appropriately towards the realization of spatial justice. Also, this research partially filled the existing research gap in the field of spatial justice issues and provided a path for broader research. Finally, the most important limitation of the present study is that the findings are related to the Tehran metropolis and cannot be generalized to other cities and regions.
کلیدواژهها English
