Evaluation of smart sustainable urban regeneration in the central context of Tabriz city

A B S T R A C T
Today, all officials involved with the challenges of city sustainability have accepted the idea of a smarter city, using more technologies, creating better living conditions and protecting the environment for a better quality of life. The central part of the metropolis of Tabriz is based on Region 8 and part of Region 10, a historical-cultural area with an area of 286 hectares and a population of about 40 thousand people in 8 neighbourhoods. This research was compiled to evaluate and explain the regeneration of the central part of Tabriz city with the approach of smart growth and in line with the sustainable development of problematic neighbourhoods in the 8th district of Tabriz metropolis. The present review is methodologically practical, to describe and analyze the goals of regeneration based on library studies. The statistical population of the research includes experts and people living in the central context. In the first part, the Delphi method was used by asking experts. In the second part, the structural equation method of SPSS and AMOS software is used. According to the results of using the scales of design, pedestrian-oriented, intergenerational justice in the actual situation and 3 indicators of management and productivity, stable and value-creating jobs are in the potential situation. Also, two environmental indicators with the most direct and indirect effects and a cultural index have been decisive in the regeneration with the smart growth approach in the central part of Tabriz city. Therefore, in the regeneration of the central part, the studied indicators should be used simultaneously and integrated into the reconstruction projects of the central fabric of the city to lead to smart sustainability
Extended Abstract
Introduction
Smart growth is considered a lever for revitalizing neighborhoods and urban centers. In a general scenario of smart growth, knowing the time and resources of investment provides a new and sustainable life in the city center and worn-out and old textures. Moreover, finally, it will improve the quality of urban neighborhoods, especially worn-out ones, and revive them. Tabriz metropolis, one of the most important and largest cities in the country, with a long history of settlement, especially the central and old texture, due to developments in information and communication technology, extensive environmental, social, and economic changes in terms of time requirements, the traditional texture of roads, Deterioration of residential units, lack of equipment, infrastructure and urban services and environmental problems have caused the failure and physically turned into inefficient and problematic textures. Urban planning and development science must adopt a new decision and approach to face the existing and complex issues of worn-out texture. The main problem of the research is to evaluate and explain the regeneration of the central texture and strengthen them in line with the sustainable development of the problematic neighborhoods of Tabriz metropolis according to the solutions and principles of smart urban growth. Therefore, the main goal of this research is to answer the following question:
- What are the effective indicators and components in the regeneration of the central texture of Tabriz metropolis with a smart growth approach?
 
Methodology
This research is applied and fundamental in terms of purpose and descriptive-analytical. The collection methods are based on documentary and library studies, surveys, and interviews. In the first part, qualitative data was prepared with an open questionnaire and through interviews, as well as the review of documents and quantitative data used in this research numerically and through the weighting of Delphi questionnaires based on the
 
consensus index model to determine importance, certainty, and priority. The panel members were 19 people (including 5 university faculty members, 7 field research experts, 4 executive experts, and 3 graduate students) selected based on the non-probability (targeted) method. In the second part, Cronbach's alpha method was exerted to measure the reliability of the questions, which was obtained as 0.89. In order to evaluate the validity of the questionnaire, the Lawshe method was exploited. The statistical population of the second part includes District 8 of Tabriz, which is the central texture of the city and is equal to 34,231 people. According to Cochran's formula, the sample size was equal to 379 people.
 
Results and discussion
In the next step, path analysis was performed using AMOS 23 software to compare the integrated model with the hypotheses. The results of the path analysis, while verifying the structures, show that the value of the index of the critical ratio to the degree of freedom (CMIN/DF) is equal to 4.01, which is an optimal value for the model fit. Also, the goodness of fit index (GFI) is 0.952, which indicates the acceptability of this amount for the optimal fit of the model. The value of the root means the square error of estimation (RMSEA) is 0.065, which is acceptable because it is smaller than 0.08 and indicates the confirmation of the research model. Also, the Tucker-Lewis index (TLI) is 0.917, the comparative fit index (CFI) is 0.92, and the normalized parsimonious fit index (PNFI) is 0.882, which all indicate that the fit and verification of the research model are desirable.
Therefore, none of the objects are removed and remain in the model. Therefore, it is confirmed that the factor structure of regeneration indicators with the smart growth approach has reliability and construct validity. Also, the second-order factor analysis shows that the factor loadings of all regeneration indicators with the smart growth approach are greater than 0.4 and are significant at the 95% probability level. According to the results, the environmental dimension with a factor loading of 0.94 has the most significant effect on urban regeneration with the smart growth approach in the central texture of Tabriz city. After that, quality of life with a factor loading of 0.92, social dimension with a factor loading of 0.88, economic dimension with a factor loading of 0.83, physical dimension with a factor loading of 0.81, transportation dimension with a factor loading of 0.74 and cultural dimension in order with a factor loading of 0.72, are in the following ranks.
According to the final structural model results, the environmental index has the highest value, with a direct effect of 0.594 and an indirect effect of 0.275. Moreover, after that, respectively, the quality of life index with a direct effect of 0.513 and an indirect effect of 0.236, a social index with a direct effect of 0.476 and an indirect effect of 0.217, an economic index with a direct effect of 0.451 and an indirect effect of 0.222, Physical with the direct effect of 0.435 and indirect effect of 0.205, mobility index with the direct effect of 0.373 and indirect effect of 0.182 and cultural index with the effect of direct values of 0.295 and indirect effect of 0.153 are influential in regeneration with smart growth approach in the central part of Tabriz city.
 
Conclusion
In this research, seven main indicators related to the subject were investigated. The results showed that the environmental index with the most significant direct and indirect effect is the focus of the evaluation. After that, dimensions and indicators of quality of life, social index, economic index, physical index, mobility index, and cultural index have been influential. According to the results, the urban environment index was analyzed as the most important factor at a high level, and this means that for urban regeneration with a smart growth approach, improving the environmental and physical conditions in the worn-out and central texture of Tabriz city in the current situation is a priority. It is first. This is the most well-known part of regeneration with a smart growth approach. The analysis results show that this is not the case only in the case of transportation infrastructure. However, more comprehensive urban infrastructure such as the urban landscape, open spaces, green and parks, etc. are also crucial in improving the physical conditions of the infrastructure. Also, this study's results show that the economic sector's importance is as important as improving the physical conditions of the infrastructure. In addition, in the worn-out texture of District 8 of Tabriz city, the sociocultural sector is essential, and the revival of historical and cultural resources is considered one of the urban regeneration options.
 
Funding
There is no funding support.
 
Authors’ Contribution
All of the authors approved the content of the manuscript and agreed on all aspects of the work.
 
 
Conflict of Interest
Authors declared no conflict of interest.
 
Acknowledgments
We are grateful to all the scientific.