The Impact of Highway on Social Structure of Neighborhood, Case Study: Kerman and Fadak Neighborhoods

Today¡ due to the growth of cities and heavy traffic¡ highways have a crucial role in transportation network of cities while residential neighborhoods yet retain the most important urban textures that give meaning and identity to cities. Currently¡ the implementation of development projects (highways and arterial roads building) disrupts social discipline and construction of urban neighborhoods. In this paper¡ the theory of Giddens is used in order to indicate the meaning of social structure in urban neighborhoods. To investigate the theory of social structure of neighborhood¡ the relations between residents of the neighborhood and also the relations between residents and councils or municipalities are considered. In order to reduce negative impacts of highways on social structure of neighborhoods¡ studying these impacts and presenting prepare solution is significant. Studied samples are Fadak and Kerman neighborhoods of Tehran which are located in District 8 and Imam Ali Highway passes through them. This study has used quantity method and distributed 54 questionnaires based on Cochran table. Due to the lack of numbers of neighborhoods’ household¡ in the formula¡ the population of each neighborhood was entered and divided into the household. Also¡ the Multi-stages Sampling method was used and the software of SPSS was applied to analysis of the data through correlation coefficient and Man Whitney test. Based on the obtained data¡ the results show that Imam Ali Highway has weakened the social structure of Kerman and FADAK neighborhoods. To reduce the negative impact of the highway on social structure of these neighborhoods¡ some solutions can be applied regarding to the municipality’s budget and interest of neighborhoods’ residents. Today¡ the growth of cities and constant change of urban dimensions show that the Coherent and interconnected networks of urban roads as specified and defined hierarchy is required; a network based on the rules and regulations associated with urbanization where in all accessible roads¡ connections of them and Urban Highways are fully respected. In such networks¡ highway as the main factor of urban road network in the hierarchy (based on the definition in the regulations) is more valuable and effective in transportation and accessibility. Thus¡ Urban Highways should be able to move riders from one place to another and allocate the task of accessibility to arterial roads based on the hierarchical network. But the issue that neglected by road network designers is that regarding to the current state of urban road network¡ it should be arranged regarding to the neighborhoods’ internal changes. It shouldn’t be like a prescriptive map on current map of the city¡ it has to cause sudden changes in urban context and structure regarding to each position. Examining the process of urban spatial development shows that different neighborhoods in the past are formed based on the ethnic¡ religious and commercial characteristics and also has slow and organized growth. Despite of organized development and coordination of neighborhoods¡ implementation of development projects (construction of highways and arterial roads) regardless of social consequences¡ in recent decades¡ has disrupted the social structure of neighborhoods in various parts of the city. In the other hand¡ development projects form the urban spatial patterns and it is necessary to understand their influences on urban evolution. To achieve this goal¡ some shared points should be considered by urban makers and highway planners such as the issue of road privacy and its relationship with surrounding structures. Therefore¡ this article has explored the role of highway as weakening factor of social structure to suggest some solutions for joining separated neighborhoods and reconstruction of social structure. In order to achieve this goal¡ first¡ the investigation of social structure concept of neighborhoods in social structure theories is discussed. Then¡ with the proper perspective¡ the social structure of neighborhoods is defined and Fadak and Kerman neighborhoods of District 8 in Tehran are chosen as a case study to investigate the impacts of Imam Ali highway which has passed through them. This paper has used survey method via questionnaire. The unit of analysis is “individual”¡ the unit of referring is “household” and the statistic population is residents who are 15 to 64 years old- active age group - living in neighborhoods surrounding the highway. The survey was done during the summer of 1390 in the sample neighborhoods. The randomly selected sample was 54 people who were selected through 140 blocks in Fadak and 89 blocks in Kerman with the population of 37¡382 and 40¡632 people.