The Impact of the Underpass Construction Project of Karim Khan Zand Street in Shiraz as a Flagship Development Project on Citizens’ Perceptions of Environmental Qualities

Flagship development projects can perform an effective role in enhancing the environmental quality of urban spaces and present the foundation for strengthening the economic, identity, and social aspects of such spaces. Evaluating infrastructure projects and discovering desirability, suitability, and considering determinants such as space exploitation practices are some of the points that should be addressed in defining a pleasing urban space. Citizens’ content with infrastructure projects related to the environmental qualities of urban space relies on understanding the level of response to the user’s demands, the assessment of which is the objective of this study. Research related to the influence of infrastructure flagship development projects and comparative comparison of urban space environmental qualities before and after the project is quite limited from the inhabitants’ point of view. Hence, this essay intends to provide answers to promote environmental quality in this area by comparing the impacts of the underpass construction project on citizens’ perception of environmental quality elements in the Zandieh complex span. Research on flagship development project has focused more on the introduction and analysis of the chief affecting variables, as well as the ones influencing the success of such projects and the satisfaction of residents with the results of their implementation. To date, however, there has been little independent research on comparative analysis of how citizens understand the environmental qualities of urban spaces affected by them in the two periods: before and after a development stimulus project. This matter is the principal goal of this study, and in fact, it is a novel aspect and innovation of this research. Another foremost objective of this investigation is the comparative analysis of citizens’ perceptions of the environmental qualities of urban spaces in the two periods before and after the development of a development project. In fact, this study seeks to answer the question, “Has the perception of citizens of the elements of environmental quality of Zandieh complex as a significant urban space in Shiraz altered after the construction of an underpass on Karim Khan Zand Street?”

In this study, the underpass construction project of Karim Khan Zand Street in Shiraz and the urban spaces carried out in the area of Zandieh Historical Monuments Complex (Bazaar-e-Vakil, Arg-e-Karim Khan, and Bagh-e-Nazar) are selected as case studies. In this study, descriptive-analytical and survey methodologies are adopted. The statistical population of this research involved all businessmen, employees, and citizens over the age of 18 who continuously used the urban spaces within the extent of the underpass project constructed. Because of the ambiguity of the exact number of the statistical population, the sample size of the sample group was 384, and the sample size was calculated using Cochran’s formula. Environmental components, namely access, security, legibility, identity, attractiveness, adaptability, social interaction, and economic efficiency are presented in the form of four dimensions: functional, perceptual, aesthetic, and environmental, to progress the study. Moreover, citizens’ perceptions of the status of each of these elements in two periods, before and after the construction of the project, are studied and analyzed using the questioning technique. The Wilcoxon nonparametric test was adopted to compare items related to each quality before and after the project.

According to the respondents, the findings of this test confirm that the most difficult problem is the environmental quality of access with an average of 1.78. At the same time, the environmental qualities of legibility and economic efficiency, with an average of 1.87, are next. While environmental qualities of security, interaction, and sustainability are relatively improved. The average score of each item in all nine environmental qualities is less than 30, which is the average. This matter means that the respondents are unsatisfied with the current situation in all aspects. The repeated measurement test results and the T-test with Bonferroni generalization reveal that the access situation is not significantly different from the environmental qualities of legibility, adaptability, and economic efficiency. But it differs significantly from other dimensions and is less than all of them. The environmental quality of legibility with an average score of 1.87 does not significantly differ from the dimensions of access, identity, adaptability, attractiveness, and economic status. But it significantly differs with environmental quality, sustainability, security, and interaction, and has a worse situation than all of them. Environmental quality of security with an average score of 2.33, which has the best situation among the studied environmental qualities, significantly differs from the environmental qualities of access, adaptability, and economy. The environmental quality of identity with an average score of 0.27 is significantly different only from the environmental quality of access and has a better position. The environmental quality of the interaction with an average score of 2.26 is significantly different from the environmental, accessibility, and economic environmental qualities and has a better position than these three environmental qualities. The environmental quality of sustainability with an average score of 2.24 differs significantly from access, legibility, and economic environmental qualities and has a better position than them. The environmental quality of compliance with an average score of 2.02 is not significantly different from any other environmental quality. The environmental quality of attractiveness, with an average of 2.18 differs significantly only from the environmental quality of access and is better positioned. Eventually, the environmental quality of economic efficiency with an average score of 1.87 differs significantly from the environmental qualities of security, interaction, and sustainability.

According to the respondents, the findings of this test confirm that the most affected component is the environmental quality of access, with an average of 1.78. The environmental qualities of legibility and economic efficiency, with an average of 1.87, are next. Furthermore, in this study, solutions have been suggested to increase the environmental qualities of urban spaces that are related to flagship development projects.