International Journal of

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This paper examines the utility of the air pollution Model (TAPM) in simulating meteorology and dispersion of PM10 and wind data in order to assess The Impacts of Wind Variability Function on Urban Heat Island for the day of 25, November,

2012 in Karaj city that experienced severe degradation in air quality. Drawing, Skew-T diagrams, maps of surface pressure (500hp), omega (850hp) and atmospheric conditions at 300 – 900hp  level are used for analysis. Due to wind patterns, the air pollution behavior is simulated regarding to resolution of 5 km for output amplitude. Simulations of the PM10 and wind data in ten metric levels from three point of city are prepared according to synoptic conditions. Meteorology and PM10  dispersion results indicate that in spite of prevailed wind direction (West to East) in the mentioned day the effect of wind threshold on the air filtration is reduced and heat island formation is occurred as a result of reduction in air flow speed in urban areas. Therefore, it is essential to consider adopted strategies to mitigate urban heat islands such as the principles of bioclimatic architecture,  urban  morphology,  urban  infrastructure-related  measures  (architecture  and  land  use  planning) for  urban planning.

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Trust, along with transparency, is an important indicator of a satisfactory relationship between a government and the public. Considering transparency as the key to trust in government, the purpose of this paper is to postulate a link between transparency and trust taking into account satisfaction as a psychological factor. This paper tries to find the answer of these questions: “Is there any significant relationship between institutional transparency and citizen trust? And what is the role of citizen satisfaction in this context?” In order to investigate these questions, through survey method of research, this paper presents the results of an experiment (N=384) testing three hypotheses by statistical analysis which involve the relationship between institutional transparency, citizen trust and satisfaction. Tehran municipality is elected as a specific institution. This study found that transparency will significantly increase citizen trust, and satisfaction will play a significant role in the relationship between transparency and citizen trust. As well, trust will increase satisfaction. This study found that transparency and satisfaction play a substantial role in enhancing citizen trust. Furthermore, transparency and citizen trust play a significant role in enhancing citizen satisfaction. The results show that among background variables (gender, age, education, income and history of residence) the two variables, education and income have a week significant relationship with trust.

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Urban planning has received tremendous public attention in the last few years. Energy cost, environmental issues, traffic congestion and the feeling of lack of belonging in the cities are among the factors that have contributed to the development of pedestrian areas. These public spaces provide opportunities for shopping, entertainment, eating facilities and gatherings where people can experience urban life as pedestrians. Over decades, the concept of pedestrianisation has become part of social urban life in the developed countries. However, developing countries such as Iran have just recently paid attention to pedestrianisation and walking as a mode of transportation. The historic core of Tehran, the capital of Iran, embraces significant tangible and intangible values. For a long time, enhancing the mobility in the area has been the important concern of the urban developers; pedestrianisation is their recently solution to this issue in this site. To study and evaluate this project, a literature and field research have been performed through investigating the valid documentations and using questionnaires and interviews with the locals and visitors. Taking advantage of the Historic Urban Landscape approach, the results of the field and bibliographic research have been evaluated and recommendations have been made for improving the pedestrian-oriented areas in the historic context. The findings of this research show that converting a street to a pedestrian zone does not mean to simply ban the vehicles from entering the site. On the contrary, there are essential bases in the site such as multifunctional places, human-scale dimensions or activities during the whole day and night that should be taken into consideration to provide a suitable space for pedestrians including citizens and tourists. Pedestrian zones include different functions such as residential, social, cultural, tourists, physical, economic, etc. on various dimensions and scales which affect the whole city design and management. Moreover, these spaces should be supported by variety of facilities like parking lots, public transportation and equipment for people with disabilities. Assessing the impacts of pedestrianisation in Tehran Grand Bazaar can pave the way for future studies with the aim of conserving unique features of the historic sites within an urban development process.

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There are studies about interlocal relations of local governance, but it would be unique to explain these in urban management mechanisms of unitary country in Middle East, like Iran. One of the important issues for the city's urban management system is its state actors’ interrelations and probable challenges of this process, which mentioned by terms like inter-local, intergovernmental, or inter-organizational relations and is the main issue of this article. Present study aims to find the main challenges in the iranian multi-level intergovernmental relations, especially in local-level urban management of small cities. After a review of conflicts among local actors in iranian town’s administration, the contradictory components are summarized in the propositions. In order to better explain findings and utilize the opinions of local decision makers of Natanz city (the study case in Iran), the importance of existing conflicts and challenges was measured via questionnaire and interview. Through factor analysis method, such propositions as lack of updated plans and programs (prepared at national level but for local level), and the unbalanced proportion between scope of duties and authority at local level, are among the most important concerns of them.

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The life of Towns has become more important and greatly emphasized in recent years and this heralds the arrival of a new era when this type of settlements is introduced as major living and investment capacities. Therefore, it is necessary to study the different aspects of towns in order to plan and manage their development and answer the question about different decision-making mechanism in them. In the present study, after explaining the place and role of towns in the development transition period, the local governance mechanism is introduced as the main issue of such cities through a qualitative radial model literature review. By examining several recent studies on towns, it is found that the type of relations between individuals and actors on the one hand, and the impact of their activities and functions on the decisions made on national and regional scales on the other hand, create a different form of local governance mechanism in these cities than in large cities. Accordingly, the existing recognition and analysis processes and tools, that are primarily designed to assess the conditions of large cities, cannot be used. According to the present study, the decision-making mechanism can be an appropriate structure for expressing the complex relationships between actors in towns. As a result, a relational framework can be introduced to explain the decision-making mechanism in the local governance process of towns. This framework is designed based on the general international literature and experiences and can serve as a preliminary tool used for the identification and examination of the administrative mechanisms in towns and be modified and improved in various fields through future researches.