پارسا ارباب

Today, new problems in urban planning are considered wicked due to their complexity, uncertainty, and normativity. Despite introducing the wicked problem concept during the last five decades, identifying urban wicked problems and how to encounter them is still an issue at the center of focus and study among urban planning theorists. Therefore, this article aims to develop a framework to identify wicked problems in urban planning. The study’s methodology is a genealogical analysis that examines the phenomena in their historical development and creates a suitable critical position for understanding their current conditions. In this way, the concept of the wicked urban problem has been subjected to genealogical analysis in five stages, including identification, records, discourses, discontinuity analysis, and criticism of the present. According to the proposed framework, wicked urban problems could be identified in two general categories, problem-oriented characteristics and solution-oriented characteristics, which subsequently include features such as uncertainty in definition and configuration, uniqueness, interrelationship and closeness, the impossibility of defining a definitive solution, the inexhaustibility of the encountering process, and the extensive and inevitable consequences of addressing. Meanwhile, the absence of a leading authority, the limited opportunity for encountering, and escalating by those who encounter lead to the emergence of super wicked urban problems. The presented framework to identify wicked problems in urban planning lays the groundwork for a more detailed analysis and, accordingly, more efficient approaches to encounter them for urban planners and policymakers, which will need to be applied and scrutinized in future related thematic and case studies

Backcasting is a normative, target-oriented, and problem-solving approach, focusing on the desirable future vision and looking back for how to achieve it. Despite the growing global attention to backcasting and its efficiency in various fields, this approach has not been considered in urban planning and facing the complex issues and evolvements of the city in Iran. Therefore, this article uses the backcasting approach to develop a roadmap for Tehran’s vision. The presumption of this study from the desirable future vision is the same as that compiled in Tehran’s Strategic-Structural (Comprehensive) Plan. Thus, it indicates applying expert-based backcasting by stepping back from Tehran’s desirable future vision on the horizon of 2026 to the origin of the current situation in 2006. The ideals of the development perspective in the seven pillars have been scrutinized as the desirable future vision. Studying the current situation has been done by the qualitative content analysis of the document of Tehran’s Comprehensive Plan. Then, the roadmap was followed by defining key steps and targets, essentially placed in three distinct categories. Accordingly, Tehran’s desirable future vision will be realized through the pathway of three short visions, including “Tehran is aware of its existential nature with comprehensive knowledge about facilities and limitations for consolidation and modification,” “Tehran is the capacity builder for infrastructure and facility services, socially and organizationally capable, and prepared to all-round development,” and “Tehran is a prosperous and sustainable regarding cohesion and resilience, wealthy concerning the quality of life, and influential on a transnational level.”

Backcasting is a normative, target-oriented, and problem-solving approach, focusing on the desirable future vision and looking back for how to achieve it. Despite the growing global attention to backcasting and its efficiency in various fields, this approach has not been considered in urban planning and facing the complex issues and evolvements of the city in Iran. Therefore, this article uses the backcasting approach to develop a roadmap for Tehran’s vision. There is a difference between predictive, explorative, and normative methods that seek to study probable, possible, and preferable futures. In this way, the backcasting is distinguished from other future studies approaches. Forecasting goes from the present to the future, but backcasting starts from the future and connects to the present. Hence, backcasting as a process and not a method involves identifying a preferable future with desired goals aspired by the planning client and creating milestones or decisive steps on the pathway from that desirable future vision back to the present. It is relevant when short-term directional studies and longer-term forecasts indicate that the goals and targets will not be achieved within the designated time.

The backcasting approach can be classified as expert-based backcasting, participative backcasting, and interactive backcasting. Expert-based backcasting focuses on the technical analysis of future policy recommendations in a top-down process. In contrast, participative and interactive backcasting mainly emphasize defining future visioning in a bottom-up manner. After defining the desirable future vision in the first phase, the second phase is to look back to the present, study, and analyze the current situation compared to that vision. Accordingly, in the third phase, a roadmap is developed, including decisive steps and key targets providing short visions to achieve the end vision. The presumption of this study from the desirable future vision is the same as that compiled in Tehran’s Strategic-Structural (Comprehensive) Plan. Thus, it indicates applying expert-based backcasting by stepping back from Tehran’s desirable future vision on the horizon of 2026 to the origin of the current situation in 2006. The ideals of the development perspective in the seven pillars have been scrutinized as the desirable future vision. Studying the current situation under the mentioned pillars has been done by the qualitative content analysis of the document of Tehran’s Comprehensive Plan, including 11 volumes or main study areas. Then, the roadmap was followed by defining key steps and targets, essentially placed in three distinct categories.

The seven pillars of the desirable future vision include “Iranian-Islamic originality and identity,” “intelligence, smartness, and globality,” “greenness, beauty, and vitality,” “security and resistance against crises and risks,” “structural stability and coherence,” “prosperous, well-equipped, and fair,” and “centralized with national and global functions.” According to the pillars mentioned above, studying the current situation is the result of the content analysis of the plan and the inspection of the instances included in it, which generally have a physical-spatial nature and mainly indicate the inappropriateness of the context resulted in the occurrence of widespread functional disorders in Tehran. Accordingly, the roadmap to realize Tehran’s desirable future vision has been developed based on the current situation following the framework of the seven pillars. This roadmap includes normative key steps and targets, and their number varies in the pathway of connecting the current situation to the desirable future vision in the seven pillars. It means that in achieving the desirable future vision from the current situation, the number and priority of the steps and targets could differ depending on the pillars’ nature.

Accordingly, Tehran’s desirable future vision will be realized through the pathway of three short visions, including “Tehran is aware of its existential nature with comprehensive knowledge about facilities and limitations for consolidation and modification,” “Tehran is the capacity builder for infrastructure and facility services, socially and organizationally capable, and prepared to all-round development,” and “Tehran is a prosperous and sustainable regarding cohesion and resilience, wealthy concerning the quality of life, and influential on a transnational level.” By forecasting the current situation, these visions and targets could be considered as a basis for backcasting for a constant and continuous pathway towards the gradual realization of the desirable future vision and, simultaneously, as a topic for further related research. Meanwhile, using participatory and interactive backcasting approaches in differentiating or complementing expert-based ones is a significant field for study in the future.

Introduction :

Urban regeneration plans aim to transform ruined and abandoned areas into new active and attractive centers. However, these ambitious projects, initiated to improve living standards and physical conditions, generally result in gentrification and spatial inequality intensifying, weakening local identity, and reducing social capital by displacement, homelessness, and segregation. Gentrification, viewed by some policymakers as a measure of success against urban decay and poverty, with the problems it creates concerning housing and its affordability, is always one of the challenging and conflicting issues in contemporary urban planning. Consequently, there is a growing debate focusing on the adverse effects of gentrification, particularly when urban regeneration plans cause it. This attention has been concentrated on broader neighborhood and city-level outcomes and impacts, including the invisible increase in homelessness and displacement driven by market mechanisms, neighborhood unaffordability regarding consumption, services, and housing, and social injustice processes. Hence, this research explores affordable housing in urban regeneration plans, considering the realities of the Hemmatabad neighborhood of Isfahan.

Firstly, the theoretical aspects concerning the right to housing and the provision of affordable housing in urban regeneration are explained, drawing upon various views, theories, and experiences in this field. Then, while explaining the research area and methodology, objective examples derived from the Grounded Theory-based analysis of semi-structured interviews are discussed and concluded. These interviews were conducted with individuals directly involved in planning and implementing the Hemmatabad neighborhood regeneration project, identified through snowball or chain sampling. Hemmatabad is one of the neighborhoods of District 6 in the south of Isfahan, previously located outside the legal limits. With the gradual development of the city in the south of the Zayandehrud River, it became the residence of workers and the low-income class. Over the last two decades, several plans and programs have been prepared for the Hemmatabad neighborhood. However, these interventions, conflicting with the interests of local inhabitants, have encountered public opposition, impeding any regeneration operations. Following the realization of the theoretical saturation, 11 interviews were conducted and analyzed using the Grounded Theory approach. Accordingly, the interviewees’ experiences regarding affordable housing in the regeneration of the Hemmatabad neighborhood were scrutinized through initial coding, memoing, and focused coding.

According to the Grounded Theory-based analysis of the interviews and the corresponding focused codes, it was found that there was no requirement to provide affordable housing during the regeneration of the Hemmatabad neighborhood, at least in the early phases or initial proposals, and housing provision is actually treated as a separate matter from urban regeneration. However, the concept of affordability began to emerge, primarily by emphasizing the permanence, empowerment, and integration of the local community, which only encompasses the owners and excludes tenant groups who relied on rental housing. Based on the facts observed in the Hemmatabad neighborhood, in providing affordable housing in urban regeneration plans, the social aspects, including public participation, trust-building, negotiation with the local inhabitants, and addressing their needs and desires, and technical dimensions, predominantly of an economic nature, such as estimating project costs, allocating service share, land redistribution, economic justification of proposals, registration issues, project management, and establishing implementation schedule, are among the key and influential factors. Overall, the results indicate that there is no specific place for affordable housing within urban regeneration plans, and this relationship is not clear despite targeting the realization of the right to housing. There is no necessity for housing affordability and guaranteeing the permanence of former local inhabitants, particularly tenants, in the policies and guidelines for developing urban regeneration plans and subsequently preventing the occurrence of gentrification and segregation. 

Affordable housing in urban regeneration is a critical issue in Iran that requires attention in both the theory and practice of urban planning. The initiative in regenerating inefficient urban areas is often in the hands of the public sector and limited to information dissemination, establishment of facilitation offices, and provision of housing deposits and renovation loans. However, multilateral stakeholder participation, trust-building, convergence, and a balance between the needs and expectations of all actors are fundamental factors in urban regeneration projects. It is necessary to adopt flexible approaches that can enhance efficiency based on the unique characteristics and cultural, social, and economic conditions of each urban regeneration project beyond its physical dimensions. Changing the attitude and formulating more flexible and collaborative policies are essential, particularly in providing service share from public sector resources and defining various investment mechanisms in urban regeneration plans. Meanwhile, it is inevitable to review the resolution of the challenges related to small ownership, land registration, and land acquisition, as complex issues with possible and probable opportunities and threats, toward advancing urban regeneration projects. Besides, in preparing physical proposals, economic justification is vital alongside considering their physical-spatial effects, including population dynamics and quality of life. Finally, ensuring the sustainability of affordable solutions for the post-implementation period through sensitivity and proper understanding of the local context will be critical to the success of housing-led urban regeneration. Given the broad and challenging nature of urban regeneration, especially with a focus on housing affordability, integrating national housing programs for low-income groups with urban regeneration plans, emphasizing qualitative and non-physical aspects, and conducting comprehensive evaluations before, during, and after the implementation of these plans, are among issues suggested for future research in this field.

The proximity of brownfields to the city’s urban fabric, predominantly residential areas, due to urban development, is a severe threat and, at the same time, a vital opportunity to reduce or improve living qualities, such as environmental vitality, dynamism, and security. Despite recent efforts concerning the brownfields’ revitalization, the principles and considerations in their redevelopment process have been neglected. Therefore, the present study seeks to apply the principles and considerations in the redevelopment framework of urban brownfields. The research approach is qualitative, and the method adopted at the theoretical level is meta-synthesis. Accordingly, the principles and considerations were first extracted and compiled from the literature, then scrutinized and applied at the empirical level through the case study method. The principles of “understanding the importance and narrative of the place,” “determining the causes of site obsolescence,” “cleaning up or controlling pollution,” “adapting the secondary use to the site conditions and surrounding context,” “flexibility of the reuse,” “preservation, display and use of identified and valuable elements”, and “preservation and improvement of landscape” with their specific considerations have been applied in the abandoned industrial zone belonging to the Naab Vegetable Oil Factory, located in the Hakimieh neighborhood of Tehran. Fulfilling and implementing these seven principles under the particular conditions of each site is an important step and a fundamental approach in responding to the challenge of the redevelopment of urban brownfields and, subsequently, their planning and design phases.

As one of the most effective currents in urban development, comprehensive plans can be taken into account from various or related dimensions and arenas such as the planning system, plan content, the process of preparation, examination, and enactment, the manner of execution, and the executive organization. The present study was an effort to identify the reasons for the inefficiency of comprehensive plans, especially from the viewpoint of the nature and content of this attitude to urban planning. To this end, in line with the examination of the existing theories and standpoints in this regard, we sought to explore the objective instances of the foregoing reasons. This was done through the ex post evaluation of the implementation of the plans in the form of the assessment of the efficiency and feasibility rates of Nowshahr comprehensive plan in specific directions including social and physical dimensions. There are different content reasons for the inefficiency of urban planning based on the comprehensive plan approach. These include following linear, one-way methods, inflexibility and lack of realism, one-way perceptions and trying to solve the problems mainly through physical means, providing numerous details based on fixed and solid frameworks, and impossibility of making correct predictions. These factors are the very challenges that have maimed the effectiveness of Nowshahr comprehensive plan. The unrealistic approach to the determination of city boundaries, the incorrect policy in using open spaces and increasing building density that contrasts the ecologic, touristic, and port nature of the city, and non-fulfillment of most proposed land uses (which has led to a severe lack of service spaces) are among the most evident objective instances of the inefficiency of Nowshahr comprehensive plan through the lens of the foregoing content reasons. The consideration of the reasons for inefficiency and analysis of the objective instances are key solutions that can differentiate the content of urban plans – especially ones that are developed in line with changes in urban planning and proposition of novel attitudes – from the previous plans, and make them more successful and feasible.

This research aims to explore the outlook of global cities in developing countries through the critical analysis. Global or globalizing cities have emerged in the developing countries during the past two decades. Some of the latest cases include Bangkok, Beijing, Buenos Aires, Istanbul, Jakarta, Johannesburg, Kuala Lumpur, Manila, Shanghai, and Taipei. Other older cases involve Hong Kong, Sao Paulo, Seoul, Singapore, and Mexico City.Questions about the concepts and meanings of the global functions for development of these cities are raised when considering their role as part of the global cities network. The main body of literature on the patterns of the global city attempts to use the framework of the prime examples and paradigmatic cases of the global or globalizing cities such as London, New York, Paris, and Tokyo for evaluating the evidence of the globalization of cities in developing countries. Moreover, the success and the status of these cities are considered and measured mainly based on western criteria. This issue is due to the domination of western (Anglo-American) framework in the field of the globalization and the city. In contrast, an increasing number of academic researchersbelieve that the relationship between the global city concept and the issues of power, actors and institutions - that operate globally - is exaggerated. In their view, this challenge has led to the underestimation of the local context and probabilities. Hence, the application of the current dominant paradigm of the globalization for the outlook of the global cities in the developing countries has been criticized by them. They argue that achieving a general set of comprehensive and universal results is a barren probability. Meanwhile, a type of ethnocentrism dominates the literature of globalization and global cities. Moreover, it is problematic to focus the research on the limited and specific factors and criteria of globalization, especially when such research attempts to explain the results and outcomes of the global cities in the developing countries. Therefore, alternative approaches, differentiated with the current dominant ones, have been proposed in this regard. Other models based on the complexity and diversity of the effects and consequences must be adopted. Serious consideration for the valuation of the local and native capacities, priorities and differences is essential for any theoretical and empirical study on the process of the globalization in the developing countries. It is necessary to operationalize distinct types of measures instead of the current global city label in reference to them. Accordingly, it is very important to use innovative models or patterns through the adoption of new frameworks based on the various roles, positions, capacities, dimensions, effects and consequences. Instead of absolute acceptance of the dominant Anglo-American approaches, it is more useful to conduct further studies on the interaction between the global and local actors. Such approach, presented as an alternative conceptual framework in this paper, could act as a basis for further studies on new cases in the developing countries. 

This article, with a focus on the change and transformation process of the approaches and trends affecting the new towns policy, scrutinizes the first and second generations of the new towns in reference to the South Korea as a case study. The first generation of new towns development in South Korea is associated with the rapid growth of urbanization, industrialization and subsequently economic increase of this country. Lack of housing and inadequate housing supply, formation and growth of the informal settlements especially in connection with Seoul, and the subsequent centralization in the Seoul metropolitan area are the main and significant urban challenges of South Korea in this period. The second generation of new towns has been planned first with the aim of housing supply as their main function in the capital region. These cities are the result of approach that follow the qualitative, gradual and planned development in the form of small scale but multiple projects compared to the past. Decentralization of Seoul and Seoul metropolitan area, integrated regional development, and ultimately the balance of South Korea’s national territory are the key purposes of this process, in terms of spatial planning.

Urban addressing system includes various economic, social, legal, and civil aspects. This system provides the spatial locating of urban facilities, thereby affecting the quantity and quality of services available to citizens. Urban addressing system founds the vital potentials for the city and establishes wide opportunities in the field of urban planning and management considered in this paper. On this base, the efficiency of urban addressing system is very key and important in terms of logical, consistent, and transparent mechanisms for easy performance, use, and forecast. Thus, numerous projects in order to reform the existing urban addressing systems or fund for defining the new ones are being carried out in different cities around the world. These projects are operationalized by major steps and actions, such as feasibility study, codification, surveying, mapping, number assignment, installation of signs, setting up an address directory, and maintaining, in three phases of preparation, implementation, and maintenance. Civic identity, urban information, municipal services, tax systems, land management, and economic development are applied potentials through the development of efficient urban addressing systems projects.

This research aims to explain the key criteria of the process of place-identity formation in new urban development. Based on the theories, views, and researches that are identified and cited in the framework of the mentioned purpose, eight key criteria are important and considered. These criteria are included “Familiarity”, “Environmental Legibility and Distinctiveness”, “Satisfaction”, “Environmental Self-Efficacy”, “Social Interaction”, “Environmental Congruency”, “Attachment”, and “Memorability”. These eight key criteria have been investigated with 29 sub-criteria and 50 measures or variables in total through the confirmatory factor analysis with confirmation of 8 structures and validity and reliability. This analysis has been done in relation to the case study, selected neighborhoods from District 22 of Tehran including Dehkadeh-Olympic, Cheshmeh, Rah-Ahan, and Sadra Towns, respectively with reference to 154, 157, 166, 161, and 638 samples in total. To this end, the views of the local inhabitants have been focused through a questionnaire based on the 5-point Likert-type scale including “1: very poor”, “2: poor”, “3: average or fair”, “4: Good”, and “5: Very good”. Results of the factor analysis show that these structures are in the range of 61 to 81 percent in terms of the total variance explained and reflected. The values of this index in relation to the Familiarity, Environmental Legibility and Distinctiveness, Satisfaction, Environmental Self-Efficacy, Social Interaction, Environmental Congruency, Attachment, and Memorability are about 71%, 61%, 70%, 64%, 70%, 61%, 72%, and 81%. According to the statuses of each of the key criteria, as the scores show, all eight factors of the process of place-identity formation in new urban development are average (2.96 to 3.04). However, separate output indicates that their statuses are better than average in Dehkadeh-Olympic (3.21-3.4), average in Cheshmeh (3.03-3.15), close to average in Rah-Ahan (2.80-3.04), and between poor and average in Sadra town (2.47-2.76). Accordingly, it can be said that the situation of identification as the formation of sense and identity of place is more favorable in Dehkadeh-Olympic compared to the other towns. A measurement model for the process of place-identity formation in new urban development has been suggested based on the above-mentioned eight criteria or factor structures. This finding is an essential step on the path of developing a structural model in this regard. Statistical tests and indices of the model fit assessment establish that this suggested measurement model is acceptable in term of the coordination of actual data including 638 samples with factor structure. In reference to the contribution and role of this research, it can be emphasized that the foundation of any insight and vision on the mechanism of the place-identity formation in new urban development is only possible by simultaneous attention to all the key criteria: Familiarity, Environmental Legibility and Distinctiveness, Satisfaction, Environmental Self-Efficacy, Social Interaction, Environmental Congruency, Attachment, and Memorability. In addition, evaluation of this process, planning, and acting in order to accelerate and enhance it should be considered accordingly based on this framework. Further specific studies on these criteria or factors and their effectivenesses and relationships are issues that can be addressed in future researches for clarification of the theoretical and empirical findings.

This research aims to explore the relationship between the length of residence and the place-identity formation in new urban development in the case of the District 22 of Tehran. Based on this، the main contribution and orientation of this article is toward the length of residence among the other important criteria or factors in the process of place-identity formation in new urban development. In the literature review، based on the theories، views، and researches identified and cited for the above purpose، the significant and positive correlation between the length of residence and the discussed process is emphasized. This indicates a gradual، step-by-step and continuous formation and development of the place-identity through stability، sequence and continuity of mutual connection and interaction between the resident and residency over time. In addition، at the empirical level، in reference to case studies including Dehkadeh-Olympic، Cheshmeh، Rah-Ahan، and Sadra towns، respectively with 18، 16، 11، and 9 years as the average length of residence، this relevance is confirmed by analyzing the data using the Spearman correlation coefficient. To this end، the status of place-identity was assessed by synthesis of the eight criteria in total and for each town separately. The relationship between the length of residence and the place-identity formation has a correlation coefficient of 0. 84 for 638 samples، in total. Hence، identification as the identity and sense of place will be promoted and enhanced by increasing the length of residence، especially in new urban development. This finding shows that the length of residence is an essential factor in the process of place-identity formation in new urban development. The correlation coefficients in Dehkadeh-Olympic، Cheshmeh، Rah-Ahan، and Sadra towns are respectively 0. 75 for 154 samples، 0. 85 for 157 samples، 0. 87 for 166 samples، and 0. 77 for 161 samples that were considered. Thus، the correlation between the length of residence and the place-identity formation is stronger in Cheshmeh and Rah-Ahan compared to the other towns. Based on the analysis conducted، estimation of this relationship is possible by all three types of regression، linear with a coefficient of determination of 0. 64، logarithmic with a coefficient of determination of 0. 60، and power with a coefficient of determination of 0. 62. However، the fitness of the linear regression model is better than the other two. The coefficients of determination in linear regression are 0. 56، 0. 64، 0. 66 and 0. 57 for Dehkadeh-Olympic، Cheshmeh، Rah-Ahan، and Sadra towns، respectively. Consequently، analysis of this type of relationship illustrates that there is a positive strong significant correlation، well explained by the linear regression model، between the length of residence and the place-identity formation in new urban development. Therefore، any insight and vision on the mechanism of identification as the formation of the sense and identity of place in new urban development must be founded and operationalized by simultaneous attention to this fundamental fact. Accordingly، focus can be placed on the evaluation of this process، planning، and action for accelerating and enhancing it based on all the key criteria and factors with their specific roles and effectiveness.

This paper explored the conquest of the city of Qazvin and its physical-spatial changes in the Islamic era (first century to the early sixth century AH). According to available sources, although the details of how Qazvin was conquered by the Muslim were not clear enough, it seemed that it was not achieved at once and easily. Afterwards, Qazvin was considered as one of the most important bounds of Islam especially threatened by Dylmyan. The Efforts of caliphate to gain special status for this city by mentioning some hadiths and narratives about its habitation and defense were probably for this reason. It seemed the first significant step relating to Qazvin was the development of two cities with castles named Musa Medina and Mobarakeh Medina at a distance of less than a thousand meter from the city at the time of Abbasid caliphs. Perhaps, a milestone of events and developments influencing Qazvin was the travel of Harun al-Rashid that led to building of the Jameh Mosque, taking action to develop the city, and making an effort to construct the city rampart for which some endowed properties (Waqf) were allocated. Since then, Qazvin was considered as a valid and great city and its boundaries were gradually formed and defined which was led to the development of the city between the third and the sixth centuries A.H (completion of the rampart). During Seljukian dynasty (fifth and sixth century AH), particularly due to the progress of Ismaili sect in the area of Alamut, Qazvin was taken into consideration by the Seljuk Sultans. Consequently, several buildings were constructed at that special time.

This paper considers the spatial planning system in Russian Federation. Study of spatial planning system of Russia specifies three different stages from each other. The first phase consists of the sixteenth century until the early twentieth century. In this period, baseof the spatial planning was formed and gradually developed during approximately 400 years. The next phase is devoted to Soviet domination. Under reliance on centralized state power and socialist ideas, spatial planning declines or can be implemented by specific and different opinions. In the third period, from creation of Russian Federation in the late twentieth century to today, territorial planning schemes are adopted at various levels of national, regional and local with emphasis on RF Urban Development Code. This era promises regular move that its perspective is provision of more appropriate context for more consistency, transparency and participation of different actors, implementation and efficiency.

This research considers the recognition and evaluation of Identity Formation Process in New Towns, with special reference to Hashtgerd New Town in Iran, located in some 65 kilometers distance on the west of Tehran, the capital. The construction of Hashtgerd New Town and people settlement was started in more than 15 years ago. The concept of city identity, its divisions and elements, explanation of the new towns identity formation process, and its related criteria are considered. The conceptual frameworks of these issues are also discussed. The research also provides a framework based on six key criteria for recognition and evaluation of the identity formation process in new towns. The findings of the study show that, the process of identity formation is founded on the basis of continuous interaction between Society and Environment over time. This process is related to various factors and influenced by them, including legibility and personification, belonging to place, memory and social interactions. In addition the study proves this process has a significant correlation with Time and Satisfaction of habitation too. The results show that, when the period of the settlement time in Hashtgerd New Town has increased, its identity has promoted. Furthermore, as the level of people satisfaction is increased, the new town identity is promoted. The research findings indicate that the level of identity criterion is between poor (bad) and moderate. However, this level in the first phase of this town is close to moderate status, meaning that it is better than the second phase (status between poor and moderate). The third phase of the town has a weak identity. The main reason for these different situations is related to the four mentioned criteria for evaluating and analyzing the process of identity formation in the three phases. The first phase of the new town has provided more suitable context for the above process, rather than the second and third phases. Since there is a positive and strong relation between settlement duration and people satisfaction with identity, it can be considered the different conditions and their effects of these two criteria on the mentioned aspects. Identity formation process in new towns requires time and opportunity. It is necessary to use strategic and effective plans. Identity formation process can be achieved through clear vision on important criteria, including legibility and personification, belonging to place, memory and social interactions, as well as residents’ satisfaction. Designing central points, symbols and specific spaces for social interactions, are necessary to improve new towns identity. Emphasizing only on housing production, consequently as dormitory places, is a key problem in new towns development. Provision of public facilities is the most important factor to accelerate identity formation process. There are challenges affecting the process of identity formation, needing other strategies to consider for mitigation and solving the problems.