Ph.D

Mrs  Sahragard Monfared Neda Sadat will present his P.H.D thesis on " Improvement of design principles in participatory local center with perceptual approach (case study: Chizar)     " at 17:00 P.M on 27 September 2015.

Abstract One of the most important problems in today’s cities appears when the quality of citizen’s social relationship is getting decreased. What is proposed as a solution for this phenomenon by the recent sustainable development and community-based planning is the local participation. The literature review studied about this fact. Sociologists have pointed out that both social and spatial evolutions could improve local participation, and therefore, the main standpoint and innovation of this thesis was to analyze the missing link between the two issues that, as we considered, was the process of citizen's perceptual concepts. What could lead a person to have social participation is his behavior being based on imaginary figures. The imaginary figures, per se, are basically formed upon the perceptual concepts. The thesis' basic objective is to show the model of those design principles in local centers that positively impact the perceptional concepts of Iranian citizen and finally improve their social participation. Three facts were presented as variables of the thesis including local participation, design principles and perceptional concepts. The research method stood upon six steps. The first was to gather the effective perceptual concepts on participation and their similar design principles by reviewing bibliographical resources and studies. On the second, the concepts were prioritized considering the case study (Chizar) using the Delphi technique and survey method. Socialization and security were selected for Chizar. On the third, their similar design principles assessed. The research tool in this step was questionnaire. The reliability and validity of that was proven. The sampling method was multistage cluster sampling and 171 persons were determined as sampling size. On the fourth, six significant design factors for improving participation in Chizar community were derived by factor analysis. On the fifth, factor analysis was done on the questionnaires of specialists in Delphi technique. Two categorized approach were found among specialists. In the final step, path analysis was done. The model of effective design principles on participation in Chizar local community center was derived and the features and path co-efficient of the relations were also The thesis concluded six significant design factor could improve social participation in Chizar local community center by the preference of security and socialization. These design factors included “mixed use with focus on commercial use”, “visibility”, “legibility”, “gathering center”, “undefined spase”, and “pedestrian facilities”. The most important factors were “legibility”, “undefined spase”, and “pedestrian facilities”; therefore we named it as “participation cycle”. These three factors have an increased effect on each other during a time in a cyclical relationship and supported the context of participation. Another conclusion was that “pedestrian facilities” formed by both physical and meaning dimension.