Strategic planning for the development of Tehran's District 7th neighborhoods to fight urban poverty using the analysis of interconnected decision areas technique

Non-fragmented urban development which is inconsistent with spatial structures of cities is created due to the unreasonable concentration of facilities and services as well as unequal socio-economic development in various parts of the city. The extent of poverty is now an integral part of urban communities which has an adverse consequence on the delivery of municipal services and the development of communities. Tehran’s 7th District neighborhoods are suffering from spatial-structural imbalance leading to spatial poverty. The present research aims to identify neighborhoods with urban poverty in various (structural, economic, social, cultural and managerial) aspects and propose a strategic plan for their development. Due to the nature of the problem, the methodology of the study is functional analysis of 50 indicators divided into five dimensions of social, cultural, economic, physical and managerial in order of priority. Due to difference in the quality of data, this study identified neighborhoods with urban poverty, using 2011 statistical data and land use map of 7th District. The data were then analyzed in ArcGIS, SPSS and EXCEL. The Topsis model was used to weigh the indices. The West and East Khajehnezam neighborhoods with urban poverty were selected. Development policies and strategies were proposed for these two neighborhoods and strategic projects defined using the analysis of interconnected decision areas (AIDA). Findings indicate that the social and cultural aspects of the neighborhoods are in poorer conditions.