Evaluation of Sustainable Neighborhood Development (case study: Sagharisazan neighborhood in Rasht City) with Using PESTEL analysis

In the new ideas of urban planning, attention has been paid to the role of residents in planning at small scale, and in line with the goals of sustainable urban development, the neighborhood development approach has been recommended. Sustainable urban development measures face local uncertainty and subjectivity and are affected by the definition of indicators of measurement and the degree of recognition of local circumstances. However, measuring sustainable development indicators is one of the first steps to logical planning and design. The main objective of this paper is to assess the status quo of sustainable urban development indicators in the Sagharisazan neighborhood of Rasht, north of Iran. This research is in the field of applied research which has been done by descriptive and analytical method. Data collecting method is field survey using questionnaire tool. The statistical population consisted of residents of Sagharisazan neighborhood. A number of 362 cases were selected as random samples. The PESTEL (Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Environmental and Legal) model is used to categorise indicators and scores based on the responses received from the sampled residents. Then, the proposed strategies are prioritised with the help of the QSPM technique. The results of the analysis show that the scores of the neighborhood of Sagharsizan in the four dimensions of physical (2/4), social (2/6), economic (1/9) and environmental (2/5) are low. The highest score is attributed to sustainability in both economic and physical dimensions. In this regard, the development of neighborhood tourism is proposed to strengthen the affluence of residents and workers and contribute to improving economic sustainability. It is also recommended to enhance physical stability, strengthen access to essential services, and improve the quality and quantity of these services.