Comparative Assessment of Walkability in the Neighborhoods of Semnan City (Case Study: Historical Fabric (Pachnar Neighborhood), Middle (Golshahr Neighborhood), and new (Modiran Neighborhood))

Abstract

The old cities, which are often built based on the pedestrian model, had a favorable walkability level; But with the passage of time, especially after Pahlavi era and with a greater desire to use cars, this desirability started to decline. At the present time, the development of cities is car-oriented, while the walkable city encourages citizens to walk in the city by planning the environmental structure and land use. Based on this, the current research aimed to evaluate and compare the walkablity in developed urban neighborhoods at different periods and with different physical, social and economic characteristics. The research case study of Semnan city has been selected, which consists of three districts, and one neighborhood will be investigated from each district. Pachenar neighborhood is located in District 1 and the historical context of the city and formed the city's core. Golshahr neighborhood is located in the second district of Semnan city, and its formation and development are mostly related to the forties and the second Pahlavi period. Modiran neighborhood, located in the third district, has a new texture, and its formation is due to the development after the revolution and is mainly related to the 80s. The approach used in the research is descriptive-analytical, and the walk score method was used to evaluate the walkability in these three neighborhoods. This method is a valuable tool for quantitative measurement of walking in a specified urban area, which can be done in four steps and calculates the final score based on the distance of a user from her required users. These uses can be classified into five categories. If they are within 400 meters (a quarter of a mile) or less from the center of the neighborhood or the designated origin, they will be given the highest score, and if they are located at a greater distance, a lower score will be given to them. The results of using the walk score method in the research show that the Golshahr neighborhood in the second district is the most walkable among these three options due to the number and variety of activities and its location at an accessible distance for the residents. After Golshahr, the Pachenar neighborhood, in the first district, with its historical context and mainly lack of planning, has the most favorable situation. Finally, the Modiran neighborhood, in the third district, with a primarily residential structure, the least amount of variety of uses, narrow sidewalks, uniform the atmosphere of the neighborhood and the lack of identifying elements are placed in the last priority in terms of the pedestrian condition. On the other hand, according to the results of the research and field investigations, there are suggestions such as improving the condition of the lighting system, improving security, creating greenery on the side of the roads and increasing the visual quality of the roads, paving and improving the condition of the sidewalks, observing the human scale in constructions, increasing mixing Uses, improving the quality of urban furniture and the legibility of the environment (the ability to identify routes) and finally using attractive and diverse facades in buildings in order to improve the pedestrian condition in each of the neighborhoods.

Keywords

• walkability
• urban neighborhoods
• walk score
• semnan city