Investigating the role of good urban governance in the regeneration of inefficient urban textures: A case study of district 12 in Tehran

Introduction: Governance is an inherent element of cooperation between civil society and political society, as well as government and citizens. It is considered as a new vision of public administration. This theory deals with the causes and consequences of various forms of interaction between social actors and local governments. Urban regeneration means the revitalization and renewal of the old textures in a city. It is a process that leads to the creation of new urban spaces while preserving the main spatial features (physical-activity). In social, economic and environmental dimensions, the process takes place on urban, regional and national scales. From functional and historical points of view, District 12 in Tehran is one of the most important areas of the city that currently suffers from a kind of inefficiency and disorder. The growth of population has declined in recent years, which is due to the vulnerability of social context, physical instability as well as environmental, social and economic degeneration. Therefore, the present study has evaluated the role of the components of good urban governance in the reconstruction of dysfunctional urban structures in District 12 of Tehran Municipality.
Methodology: The research method in the present study is descriptive-analytical, and documentary data were collected through a survey using a questionnaire. As many as 383 questionnaires were prepared and completed using a simple random sampling method. The data were analyzed using the SPSS and PLS Smart software programs. In this research, heuristic factor analysis was done to classify the corresponding components, determine their degree of importance, analyze the relationships among the indicators and rank them through PLS path modeling with the help of the Smart PLS software and Friedman test conducted with the SPSS software.
Results and Discussion: In the present study, heuristic factor analyses were performed to determine the coefficients of the importance of the components of good urban governance affecting the regeneration of dysfunctional urban structures. Structural equation modeling and Friedman test were also done to identify the relationships among the indicators and the components and to rank the factors of good urban governance affecting urban regeneration.
In order to extract the coefficient of importance of the components of good urban governance affecting the regeneration of dysfunctional urban contexts, exploratory factor analyses were performed. In the factor analysis of 10 governance criteria affecting the regeneration of disordered urban structures in District 12 of Tehran Municipality, four factors were identified as the main factors. The variables of participation, transparency, legitimacy and empowerment on the first factor emerged to have more practical burden. The variables of responsibility, accountability, justice and fairness had greater effects on the second factor. Also, the variables of flexibility, efficiency and effectiveness on the third factor and the variables of strategic insight and agreement orientation on the fourth factor had the highest factor loads. As the comparison of the factor scores indicated, the first factor, including the criteria of participation, transparency, legitimacy and empowerment, was found as the most important factor of good urban governance affecting the regeneration of dysfunctional urban structures in District 12 of Tehran Municipality.
According to the results of the PLS path structure and the analysis model, the components of empowerment, efficiency and effectiveness and transparency with the path coefficients of 0.820, 0.766 and 0.653 had the first to the third ranks respectively. The components of flexibility, legitimacy, justice and fairness, strategic insight, agreement orientation, participation and responsibility and accountability were ranked next with the path coefficients of 0.639, 0.630, 0.552, 0.568, 0.537, 0.463 and 0.442 respectively. They had the fourth to the tenth ranks of impact on the regeneration of dysfunctional urban structures.
According to the results of Friedman test, the components of good urban governance affecting urban regeneration were prioritized by the respondents. Empowerment, regularity and transparency with average values of 7.85, 7.23 and 6.62 were ranked first to third. The components of efficiency and effectiveness, flexibility, participation, justice and fairness, responsibility and accountability, agreement orientation and strategic insight were also ranked fourth to tenth respectively.
Conclusion: The results obtained in the present study show that good urban governance as a new management model is of effects on a large scale on the regeneration of dysfunctional urban structures. Good urban governance has certain components ten of which were evaluated in the present study based on theoretical perspectives and a research-guided approach. All the components proved to have a positive effect on the regeneration of dysfunctional urban contexts. In terms of ranking and the extent of impact on the regeneration of dysfunctional urban contexts, the components of empowerment, transparency, regulation and efficiency and effectiveness are in at the top and are more influential. Therefore, in order to upgrade and organize these components based on their degree of importance and rank, it is possible through planning to facilitate the viability of regeneration in dysfunctional urban contexts.