نشریه مطالعات شهری
پیاپی 1 (زمستان 1390)

This paper begins with definition and classification of Advanced producer services (APS)، continuing from a geographical point of view، emphasizes on spatial behavior of APS within Tehran Municipality regions. To determine the meta-national placement of Tehran metropolis within the world cities network، the corporate geography of APS analyzes Tehran consisted of 22 municipal areas. The analysis of data collected from 200 firms out of 2000، including questionnaire، interviews and published documents reveal the following First، Tehran is a national command and control center of APS sector in Iran. Second; Tehran has a very weak status in connection with World Cities Network by means of APS functions and it is not a world city yet. Finally، from the spatial organization point of view، APS has formed a new geography of corporate economy-based during the last two decades in Tehran (i. e.، ''Tehran Corporate Services District'')، which is different from the conventional CBD of the city.

Nowadays، one of the governmental challenges throughout the world is energy efficiency in creating cities. In this context، land use planning and its tool (density، uses distribution، etc.) plays a vital role in reducing energy consumption in cities. Serving as one of the key players in the field of energy in the world، Iran has to apply this tool in order to establish energy efficiency in its cities. The main objective of this paper is to study and to compare the method of integrating energy consideration in land use planning regulations and urban development plans in Iran and U. K. It is a comparative study in which، first، the land use planning alternatives for energy consumption reduction in cities were explored through literature review. Thereafter، an analytical comparing between Iran and U. K. with reference to the legal framework of land use planning for reducing energy consumption in cities and the way of implementing these regulations in the development plans was carried out. Our results revealed that the land use planning role in reducing energy consumption in cities has been ignored، whereas، integrating energy consideration in land use planning can enhance the sustainability development of the Iran cities. Since there is no data on considering energy in land use planning in Iran cities، our findings can be used by the national planning public and governmental authorities in order to integrate the energy consideration in land use planning and urban development plans.

One of the most important results of accelerative urbanization is the spatial expansion of the city and gobble of their surrounding areas، swelling villages، and agricultural lands، which is noticeable in regional metropolitan. Sanandaj City as a regional metropolitan has experienced a rapid growth in both population and plan during the recent three decades. Continuous sprawl in this city has merged eight villages including their agricultural lands، gardens، and pastures in the city. Moreover، discontinuous sprawl in this city has caused to protuberance population and extending of surrounding villages. The outcome of this process was extensive changes in Land use in those villages. The period of this study is 1976-2008، the statistical population includes 11 Surrounding villages of the Sanandaj City and Sample size is 315 households. The methodology of our research is based on extensive documentary and field study including household questionnaires، and identifying past and present land use. Our findings show extensive changes in land use of the villages studied. During 1976-2008، on annually averaging basis 104 ha and totally 3319 ha of the arable، garden and pastures of the villages studied have been converted to the other land uses. The abovementioned changes were made by different factors and agents of the Sanandaj city including discontinuous spatial expansion.

With respect to the urban sustainable development ideal، during the last decades، implementation of the bike-sharing projects has attracted the attention of the planners of different cities including Tehran. Since the first bike-sharing projects were not successful، evaluating/assessing new tentative preparation at different stages is required. This article examines the short-term achievements and challenges of the bike-sharing pilot project implemented during the last two years in Tehran Municipality’s Region VIII. A set of indicators including access، awareness، safety، commuting effects، beneficiary satisfaction، sustainability، and cultural advocacy were probed through field observations، information obtained from key stakeholders، and a quantitative survey of direct beneficiaries (a sample of 250 among ~8000 registered beneficiaries). Our findings indicated that the project has been successful in attracting and satisfying (male) users. Meanwhile، a number of shortcomings with regard to information dissemination، traffic signals، and maintaining the quality of bicycles and bike paths as well as cultural advocacy (particularly to include women) still need to be addressed. Furthermore، project sustainability hinges upon availability of funds for the maintenance and geographic expansion of facilities as well as periodic renewal of the fleet through secure budget allocations and sales of advertisement rights.

Urban development in the world، particularly in developing countries، has adhered various issues and complications. Nascent rise of towns، having urban-village nature is a phenomenon facing in many different countries including Iran. Role of towns in balancing regional development and life style in towns has resulted in attracting more attention in national and urban development policy-making in recent years. These towns with strengths and opportunities ahead are faced with many problems، especially in terms of financial management. Towns، with urban trends، have village simplicity nature and basically have the rural economic and social relations. Having special nature، these towns have their own problems (such as unstable financial resources، manpower and technical weaknesses، etc.); hence، require special management. With a new look to the urban management in towns، this paper deals with identifying and to some extend analyzing towns facing management problems. For this purpose، we analyzed the management problems through studying available documents and data collection using questionnaire and face-to-face interview with mayors of some of the towns in Kermanshah، Hamedan، and Kurdistan Provinces. The information achieved from this study reveals that the main issue faced by urban management in towns is financial issues and shortage of stable financial resources، accelerated by problems such as improper manager selection، lack of using available opportunities (due to the economical and management weakness). Our results indicated that financial support and stable income for town as well as utilizing experiences of private sector are among the essential requirements of urban management in towns. Meanwhile، these towns should fix the problems in the field of human resources، technical and show serious attention to the capacity building in various areas. Although the limited financial resources are the main factor fueling to other problems such as infrastructure defects، and technical and human capacities، but comparing different towns shows that urban management and innovation of urban managers as a determinant factor play a critical role in reducing financial and material problems in towns. Nevertheless، towns have their own particular social and cultural characteristics، which may result in creating opportunities such as beneficiary of the available social capital، and threats such as ignoring the present regulations.