سنجه‏هاي پياده‏پذيري؛ (نقش پياده‏راه‏سازي در بهبود حس مكان)

Walkability Criteria; The Role of Walkability in Improving the Sense of Place

اين مقاله، ارتباط ميان پياده راه سازي و حس مكان را مي‏سنجد. پرسش اصلي اين است كه چگونه‏ مي‏توان براي ارزيابي گذر، شاخص‏ها و معيار‏هايي بر پايه توان دريافت پياده به‏كار گرفت؟ روش اين پژوهش، كيفي و توصيفي است. نخست، بن‏مايه‏هاي پياده‏راه سازي و حس مكان از نوشتارهاي مربوط به طراحي‏شهري استخراج شده است؛ سپس مباني پياده‏راه‏سازي بر پايه جنبه‏‏هاي حس مكان، رده‏بندي شده و معيار‏هايي براي بهبودبخشي حس مكان با كمك پياده راه‏سازي تعيين شده‏است. يافته اصلي اين نوشتار، اين است كه رابطه مستقيمي ميان پياده راه‏سازي و حس مكان برقرار‏است. سنجش پياده‏راه‏‏ها از سه جنبه كالبدي (بوم‏شناختي، فضايي، ريخت‏شناسانه، زمينه‏اي، بصري)، ذهني (دريافتي) و رفتاري (اجتماعي، كاركردي و گزينشي) «مكان» با معيار‏هاي دقيق قابل انجام است. در پژوهش پيش رو برخي از اين معيار‏ها به اين صورت به دست آمده‏اند: پوشش‏طبيعي، تنوع و مرزبندي فضايي، اندازه‏ها، شيوه‏ آميختگي بدنه‏ها با گذر، تنوع بصري، يادمان‏ها و دريافت‏هاي غيربصري، آرامش و آسايش، تعامل مردمي، كاربري‏ها و شيوه دسترسي به آنها. با اين معيار‏هاي كيفي مي‏توان به ارزيابي پياده‏راه‏هاي موجود در شهرها پرداخت. ارزيابي حس مكان با اين معيار‏ها براي فضاهاي ديگر نيز قابل به كارگيري است. پياده‏راه‏سازي درست، برنامه‏ريزي شده و گام‏به‏گام مي‏تواند حس مكان را در شهرها و سكونتگاه‏ها بهبود بخشد.

After modern age, car dominance on the urban spaces has reduced the walkability and sense of place for pedestrians. Non pedestrians, somehow, are travelling in placeless cities as well. The ways that people appear and behave in streets, plazas and other urban places are now challengeable. The concept and meaning of the place is changed by inappropriate articulation of pedestrian and non-pedestrian and consequently the physical, social and perceptual values of the place are threatened. The main research question in this article is about the correlation between walkability and the sense of place. Which qualitative indicators and criteria can be adopted for walkability evaluation based on the sense of place? The research methodology is qualitative and exploratory. First, the extensive principals of walkability and sense of place in urban design are reviewed. Then walkability principals are sorted based on the aspects of the sense of place. Indicators for improving the sense of place, then, are highlighted. The aspects of the sense of place are, first, categorized into 3 components including Physical, Perceptual and Behavioral aspects, based on Punter’s ideas. Then, these are matched with eight layers of urban design proposed by Carmona including: Spatial, Morphological, Contextual, Visual, Perceptual, Social, Functional and Sustainability. One more layer is added, based on Jon Gehl’s contribution about people behaviors. For each of three aspects and 9 layers a series of urban design literature is studied and the key concepts and theories are analyzed. Meanwhile the walkability issues are matched with each level. The key findings of this article indicate that there is a strong relation between walkability and the sense of place. Assessment of the walkability should consider three broad aspects of the place including physical, perceptual and behavioral. The balance between these three aspects might also be measured in a quantitative research. Some indicators for walkability appraisal in this article are: natural features and climatic comfort, spatial variety and enclosure, dimensions, articulation to the surrounding, visual variety, memories, safety and security, people interaction, variety and permeability of land uses and finally the efficient of optional people behaviors. Applying these indicators, the walkability of the existing places as well as the sense of the place can be assessed. As the indicators coming out of this research are qualitative, therefore they remain so dynamic that means other researchers might improve or adjust it for specific target. There are also another factors including the number of people using the passage, local intentions and visions, type of vehicles, etc that can be classified into the studied layers. With the criteria resulting from this research, it is also possible to quantify the measurement for walkability. However, for the measurement, it is recommended to evaluate the area under the supervision of expert panel. Generally, in order to improve the sense of the place, the design of the pedestrian way should consider not only perceptual and behavioral but also ecological, spatial, morphological, contextual, visual and functional aspects of the walkability. Improving walkability will normally improve the sense of the place.