نشریه جغرافیا و آینده پژوهی منطقه ای
پیاپی 3 (زمستان 1402)

What is perceived as a fundamental gap in Iran's agricultural development and following it in West Azerbaijan province is a lack of recognition and awareness of the potential of border areas in agriculture, which requires special attention. The main goal of this research is to investigate the role of the agricultural sector in the development of border towns in West Azerbaijan Province. The criteria that have been evaluated in this research include the area under cultivation of crops, the production of crops, the area under cultivation of garden crops, the production of garden crops, and the area under cultivation of greenhouse crops. The research data was collected from the statistical yearbook of the Statistics Center in 2019. The analysis of the collected data has been carried out quantitatively and through the VIKOR decision-making model, and finally, using GIS software, the stratification of the cities of West Azerbaijan province was displayed for the spatial analysis of agricultural development in the province. The results of this research show that based on the ranking of the border cities of West Azerbaijan province, Urmia City is in first place, Salmas City is in second place, Piranshahr is in third place, Khoi is in fourth place, Oshnavieh is in the fifth place, Sardasht is ranked sixth, Chalderan is ranked seventh, and Mako is ranked eighth. The status of leveling and clustering of the development of the agricultural sector of the border counties of West Azerbaijan province shows that Urmia city is in developed clustering, Salmas city is in semi-developed clustering, Piranshahr and Khoi cities are in relatively deprived clustering, and finally, Oshnavieh, Sardasht, Chalderan and Mako cities are in the deprived clustering.

Peri-urban territories as a socio-economic space with a combination of urban and rural characteristics are often known as surrounding areas where agricultural, urban, and natural systems are in stable and continuous interaction with each other. In these areas, there are various connections according to the conditions and economic bases. These connections can create development or anti-development effects for any of the urban or rural spaces (especially villages). By understanding the mentioned issue, this research aims to analyze these regional relations in the center of Zanjan province. Therefore, with a descriptive-analytical method, the method of mutual communication between the surrounding sample villages and the city of Zanjan has been studied, and in this regard, the relevant indicators that were extracted by trusted sources have reached acceptable validity and have been used for the analysis of the research. Documentary and survey information data was collected. AHP and TOPSIS models were used for data analysis. On the other hand, based on the collaborative method carried out by the researchers of this research and some available scientific documents and sources, the degree of dependence of each of the peripheral sample villages to the center of Zanjan city has been determined. The obtained results indicated that peri-urban settlements, despite their spatial integration with urban areas, can be distinguished from both urban and rural areas due to their rapid growth, dynamics, and mixed social, economic, and environmental characteristics. Also, the final results of the research indicate the high dependence of Valaroud village on Zanjan city, and the villages of Dovasb, Dizjabad, and Razbin are placed in the next ranks respectively.

As the political center of the province, the city of Kerman has major urban elements. Physical and functional planning to meet the needs of citizens and better performance in order to achieve development is essential. The present study was conducted with the aim of ranking the barriers to the growth of the smart city in the urban area of Kerman. The research method is a descriptive survey. The statistical population of this research is 30 managers of executive bodies in Kerman city. The research tool is the paired comparison questionnaire. The method of statistical analysis is AHP. The results of the survey based on the respondents' point of view show the most important obstacles:  physical infrastructure (C3) with a weight of 0.448 ranks first, managerial (C5) with a weight of 0.233 ranks second, environmental sustainability (C1) with a weight of 0.111 ranks third, economic (C2) with a weight 0.072 ranks fourth, technology and information (C4) with a weight of 0.069 ranks fifth, and education (C6) with a weight of 0.067 wins the sixth rank. In conclusion, it should be said that due to the city’s various environmental problems, attention to the development of the smart city has been introduced as a solution to reduce these problems. Also, it is suggested that the development of the city’s infrastructure should be taken into consideration. Moreover, the conflicts between the development of the smart city and the government's plans should be reduced.

One of the basic challenges in the cities of the world is the issue of traffic and transportation. The excessive growth of cars in cities and the imbalance between the land use level of urban transportation and the large number of cars have prompted city planners and managers to use public transportation to reduce the excessive entry of private cars into the city. The purpose of this research is to organize the public transportation system of Khorramabad urban area with an emphasis on the bus transit system. The current research method was descriptive-analytical and based on documentary and library studies as well as field observations, finally, some results of this research were displayed on the map using the Geographical Information System (GIS). In Khorramabad urban area, buses are the main means of public transportation, therefore, in this research, we have shown the physical development and increase of neighborhoods under the influence of the bus organization's services, as well as the approximate location of the construction of bus terminals in the city in the future. Paying attention to the fact that the streets of Khorramabad, especially in the central part of the city, are narrow, vans are recommended for public transportation in these streets.

While studies have been carried out to evaluate the level of citizen satisfaction with municipal services, no evaluation of the results of these studies has been done.

To investigate citizen satisfaction with municipal services globally, this review was conducted.

This study made use of meta-analysis. For the literature review, papers indexed in the Web of Science (WoS) and Scopus were searched using the following keywords: ‘municipal services', 'citizen satisfaction', and citizen satisfaction with municipal services'. During the keyword search, 60 English-language articles were chosen for review based on their relevance and importance. Finally, a review analysis was done to obtain results.

The results revealed that the level of citizen satisfaction with municipal services varies among countries, contingent upon the quality of the services provided. The study also indicated that while municipalities generally provide adequate urban services, there is still room for improvement. The findings also showed that socio-demographic characteristics, quality of service, and institutional performance collectively impact citizen satisfaction.

This review concludes that citizens' expectations can be met through improved service quality. Balancing the performance of municipalities within the country involves providing better services in rural areas as well, ensuring a more equitable distribution of services.

The goal of the current study is to analyze the urban poor’s food insecurity and coping mechanisms. As a result, both primary and secondary data are used to support the current research. A well-structured questionnaire was used in a field survey to gather the primary data. The secondary sources include studies, journals, business publications, and published literature. For the current study, FGD has also been conducted to gather further details. The data collecting method has been stratified random sampling. A sophisticated statistical method was used to determine the sampling size for the current investigation (i.e., the Yamane formula, 1967). Furthermore, 396 houses have been chosen based on the sampling size calculation in order to conduct in-person interviews to gather responses. Simple descriptive statistics, such as frequency, percentage, and mean, as well as the coping strategy index (CSI) and FGT food insecurity index have all been employed in the study of the data. As a result, households experience food insecurity 77.35% of the time, with a depth and severity of food insecurity of 21.45% and 9.42%, respectively. Additionally, food-insecure households consume an average of 1222.93 kcal per day, with a maximum and minimum intake of 1948.15 kcal and 497.70 kcal, respectively. Furthermore, the findings show that the top five coping strategies used by the households to combat food insecurity and food shortages were reliance on less preferred or less expensive foods, reduction in meal frequency and size per day, food purchases made on credit, and food obtained from family and friends.

Assessing municipal solid waste management systems is crucial for improving the quality of waste disposal services in urban areas. The main objective of this study is to assess the operational capacities and challenges of Metropolitan Corporation Quetta in managing municipal solid waste (MSW). Applying a mixed-method approach, this study used a case study research design. The primary data was collected through semi-structured interviews from the selected six key informants and official data on waste management services. The findings showed that MCQ's waste lifting capacity for 2020-21 and 2021-22 were 256523 tons and 259350 tons, respectively. The average daily waste lifting capacity in 2020-21 was 657.75 tons, while in 2021-22, it increased to 665.00 tons. The findings also revealed that the amount of waste generated in Quetta is estimated at 1500 tons a day, of which almost 50% is disposed of daily. MCQ has 231 vehicles for solid waste management. Of the total human resource capacity i.e., 2595, 1600 work on daily wages. MCQ needs more funds, machinery, and vehicles. The findings of the study concluded that the Metropolitan Corporation Quetta needs more operating capability due to inconsistent and insufficient funding availability, a lack of machinery and vehicles, and a shortage of human resources. The MCQ has successfully disposed of about half (50%) of all the waste generated daily. This study suggests a dire need for enhancing the operational capability of MCQ through allocating sufficient finances, equipment and machinery, and adequate human resources for an improved and sustainable solid waste management system in Quetta.