Ali Hosseini

Combination of fuzzy-AHP and DEMATEL-ANP with GIS in a new hybrid MCDM model used for the selection of the best space for leisure in a blighted urban site

AbstractUrban blight issues have transformed over time. Today, the focus is on the social context and such services as recreation and leisure. Considering that the insufficiency of leisure spaces in blighted urban neighbourhoods gives rise to social and cultural problems in Tehran, this research aims to identify the best leisure space in a blighted urban site. The selection process uses the combination of a new hybrid MCDM model and GIS. The integration of GIS and MCDM makes a powerful tool for the selection of the best leisure space in a site because GIS provides efficient manipulation, analysis and presentation of spatial data while MCDM supplies consistent weight of sub-criteria and criteria. The results show the interrelations between dimensions and criteria, also influential priorities and the most important sequences of those. Afterward, this study employs DANP to obtain the weight of each criterion and select a site for leisure using GIS, based on INRM from the DEMATEL method.

Assessment of Institutions in Sustainable Urban-Management Effects on Sustainable Development of Tehran: Learning from a Developing Country

AbstractLand-use patterns are important to urban planning and management and face challenges from market forces, government, and local urban management in Iran. This research examines the problems arising from such issues in the comprehensive urban-planning and management system. The Article Five Commission (AFC) of Tehran is a legal intersectoral institution for urban planning intended to coordinate the actions of organs influential in the development of Tehran. It acts as the supreme decision-making authority for approval of detailed plans and land-use change for the city. The AFC as a legal institution that can take action to preserve sustainable urban development (SUD) by approving or rejecting land-use-change proposals with the goal of preserving the social benefits and public rights of residents. This study evaluated the effective factors for the function and positions of the AFC toward SUD of Tehran. It used an analytical survey that collected data using documentary methods and a questionnaire on t...

Risk assessment in tourism system using a fuzzy set and dominance-based rough set

AbstractThe purpose of this study is to identify risks, discover rule base structure and the impact of risks by knowledge base system design in one of the Iran tourism destination. Based on tourism system approach, the factors of risks are divided in two dimensions: internal risks and external risks and seven criteria: political, economic, cultural-social, technological, environmental-health, functional and safe-security. Data were analyzed by fuzzy inference system and Dominance-based Rough Set Approach (DRSA) synthesizing to construction of forecasting risk assessment system. Tourists’ perspectives towards the possibilities of risks were first assessed within seven risk factors and converted into a systematic structure within the structure of rough sets. Designing of a fuzzy expert system was dealt with using the created knowledge database. Then, the system’s sensitivity analysis was examined. The results indicate that the system can be a good way to estimate the risks and their fluctuation rates and im...

Tourist Value Assessment of Geotourism and Environmental Capabilities in Qeshm Island, Iran

Geotourism incorporates the concept of sustainable tourism, while allowing for ways to protect a place’s features. The purpose of this study is the assessment of geotourism for Qeshm Island as one of the most important islands in Iran. The landscape here offers a very special and unique experience of an unspoilt natural environment. The tourist value assessment method is used to determine the potential and capabilities of each of these geotourism sites, which were studied for geomorphologic values—esthetic, scientific, cultural, and economic values. The results of this study showed that Qeshm Island is a national geopark, which includes some geosites and is a geotourism destination. But Qeshm Island is not a fully developed geotourism site yet. It has high scientific value and potential, but those get eclipsed, bringing the overall value down. The low obtained values are mainly due to the factors like the difficulty of access, distance from major population centers of the province and the country, the lack of familiarity with the area’s potential, people’s attitude to tourism and spending leisure time, and the lack of attention to geotourism in its real concept.

Exploring neighborhood inequality in female breast cancer incidence in Tehran using Bayesian spatial models and a spatial scan statistic

OBJECTIVES The aim of this study was to explore the spatial pattern of female breast cancer (BC) incidence at the neighborhood level in Tehran, Iran. METHODS The present study included all registered incident cases of female BC from March 2008 to March 2011. The raw standardized incidence ratio (SIR) of BC for each neighborhood was estimated by comparing observed cases relative to expected cases. The estimated raw SIRs were smoothed by a Besag, York, and Mollie spatial model and the spatial empirical Bayesian method. The purely spatial scan statistic was used to identify spatial clusters. RESULTS There were 4,175 incident BC cases in the study area from 2008 to 2011, of which 3,080 were successfully geocoded to the neighborhood level. Higher than expected rates of BC were found in neighborhoods located in northern and central Tehran, whereas lower rates appeared in southern areas. The most likely cluster of higher than expected BC incidence involved neighborhoods in districts 3 and 6, with an observed-to-expected ratio of 3.92 (p<0.001), whereas the most likely cluster of lower than expected rates involved neighborhoods in districts 17, 18, and 19, with an observed-to-expected ratio of 0.05 (p<0.001). CONCLUSIONS Neighborhood-level inequality in the incidence of BC exists in Tehran. These findings can serve as a basis for resource allocation and preventive strategies in at-risk areas.

Environmental sustainability in cities by biophilic city approach: a case study of Tehran

ABSTRACT Pollution (air, water, soil, etc.), waste management, and biodiversity depletion are the most important environmental problems of Tehran city. This paper considers the biophilic urbanism as a complementary approach alongside the other strategies and plans to promote the environmental sustainability in Tehran city. In this research, we used D’ANP method to determine the influential and importance weight of indicators and dimensions. The result showed that biophilic institutions and governance, and biophilic infrastructure and conditions are the influencing dimensions, whereas the biophilic attitude and knowledge, and biophilic activity are the affected dimensions. Also, results showed that ‘percentage of population engaged in nature restoration and volunteer efforts, priority given to environmental education, Priority given to nature conservation and education by local government, adoption of green building and planning codes and adoption of a local biodiversity action plan or strategy’ are the most important indicators among the indicators respectively. In general, this paper concludes that the biophilic planning and designing increase the environmental attitude and knowledge of citizens, and enhanced environmental attitude and knowledge lead to environmental behaviour modification and green lifestyle of citizens and thus environmental sustainability.