Explanation of effective physical component in creating a sense of place in the new urban development

The sense of place is an overall complex concept of human emotions about the environment and is created by human adaption and use of place. It is also among the important concepts in improving the quality of human environment and creation of environment users’ bases of communication. This research seeks to investigate the impact of physical factors on the sense of place and it is in line with identifying and developing the physical characteristics underlying the sense of place in the new urban development. It initially studies the concept of sense of place from different perspectives and explains its constituting factors, and finally provides an analytical model to indicate the impact of these factors on inducing the sense of place by identification of ten key indices. This research has descriptive-analytical method and survey type and evaluates the conducted studies through data collection tool and by library research and reference to the documentation and evidence, and questionnaires. Furthermore, the statistical methods such as the structural equation modeling, confirmatory factor analysis, maximum likelihood estimation, Pearson correlation test, and multiple linear regression model are utilized to confirm model and determine the nature of relationship between the sense of place and the physical components as well as TOPSIS multi-criteria decision-making method for ranking the factors which induce the sense of place. In this regard, Cheshmeh and Dehkadeh-Olympic neighborhoods from district 22 of Tehran Municipality are selected as the research examples. According to the research results, the physical factors are effective in creation of sense of place at two levels in the environment: At the first level, the physical environmental features provide the satisfaction with environment and create and promote the sense of place by facilitating the activities based on the individual behavioral models and fulfilling the place users’ needs.