Original Research Article

The role of urban structure in pedestrian-orientation capability (Case Study: Hamedan City)

Mohsen Varmazyar*¹ and Hasan Sajadzadeh²

¹Master of Urban Planning, Azad University of Hamedan, Hameadn, Iran
²Phd of Urbanism, Bouali University of Hamedan, Hamedan, Iran

*Corresponding Author's E-mail: mohsenvarmazyar2@gmail.com

Accepted May 26, 2014
 

Abstract

Today, the problem of urban traffic, especially in urban centers, has become an important issue in urban planning. Over the past decades, the overreliance of modern urban planners on motorists` needs, and neglecting organizing spaces followed by the decline of cultural, social, visual and historical values spaces, followed by walking, in these centers have been criticized by many scholars. In this regard, strategies to improve the situation and willing to favorable conditions in the world have been proposed among which (walking movement development) can be noted. Historical square of Hamedan, as one of the country’s oldest urban centers, has suffered, in recent years, traffic problems and the decline in its position as a platform for social interaction. In this paper we investigate the benefits of the pedestrian`s movement, in the area of the central ring in Hamadan to review the capability of six main streets into walking path and criteria and related indicators of the walking-orientation approach, by the method of hierarchical analysis (AHP) potential. Finally, using the results obtained from pedestrian`s movement potentiality in the area of central ring, we examined the capability of transforming six main streets into walking paths to which Bu-ali sina street was introduced as the first priority in this issue.

Keywords: Walking path, Traffic, Potentiality passages, Central Area of City