Ph.D

Mrs Ghamari Sabzevari Nasibeh will  present his P.H.D thesis on "Understanding and Modeling the Carrying Capacity of Diversity in Land Use" in Iran at 11:30:00 A.M on Feb 14^th 2017.Supervisors:Dr. Mostafa BehzadfarDr. Esmaeel shie

Abstract

In relation to the two broad purposes of urban policy_ stimulating growth and achieving equity_ it is now claimed that ensuring diversity is key. According to this view, diversity attracts human capital, encourages innovation, and ensures fairness and equal access to a variety of groups.

Diversity is a relatively new term and planners' understanding of it is clouded by unfamiliarity with diversity issues. So they do not consider these issues as a priority in planning practice and procedure. Diversity is a relative concept that has several meanings based on the beliefs and condition of each community. So diversity has a variety of meanings in urban literature. But what is interesting about the concept of diversity is that, across radically different contexts, it refers repeatedly to a remarkably similar and particular set of properties. It is better to present a general definition as a reference level in order to achieve a systematic understanding of the concept of diversity

In this paper, dictionaries and encyclopedias were studied in order to investigate the meaning of diversity. Then, the frequency of each identified meaning was measured through quantitative content analysis. Diversity is introduced mainly with four words in semantics references: Disparity, Variety, Balance and Difference. Also, heterogeneity, discontinues, conflict and heterogeneous are the other meanings of diversity. As the various concepts can be interpreted from these meanings, so a certain conceptual framework is provided. These concepts are generalizable in different fields of sciences.

Also, effective factors, which are causing the diversity in urban spaces, have been identified by literature review in the fields of diversity. As well as, the quantitative measuring models of diversity are summarized. Then, the quantitative amounts of land use diversity in some neighborhoods of Karaj are measured. Finally, the presence or absence of a significant relationship between the causes of diversity and land use diversity are determined by using the appropriate statistical test. Finally, a suitable quantitative model based on Data Envelopment Analysis has been defined in order to measure the carrying capacity of diversity in land use of Karaj neighborhoods as case study.

According to the findings of research, by using Shannon-Wiener model, Jahanshahr and Azimie have the highest level of land use diversity in Karaj while Kalak and Hesarak are in the middle level and Mehrshahr and Asiabborji have le lowest amount of land use diversity. Also by using Chi-Square test, there is a meaningful relationship between diversity and criteria such as oldness of neighborhoods, existence of buildings with diverse architectural and economic value, existence of short blocks length, vitality and the suitable transportation network.

Keywords: Diversity; Urbanism; Land Use; Statistical Analysis; Modeling of Carrying Capacity