Realization of the ecocity concept considering the effects of urban interchange (overpasses and underpasses): Qazvin city

All cities, especially megacities in developing economies, are facing undesirable conditions in terms of environmental health and people s quality of life. In this regard, one of the solutions that was considered to solve these challenges is the concept of Ecocity. Creating and developing residential patterns suitable for sustainable cities, emphasizing the positive effects of an environmentally friendly transportation system, is one of the main goals of Ecocity. On the other hand, the construction of interchange, like any urban project, has many effects on different aspects of the city and the lives of citizens. The main purpose of this research is to investigate the effects of constructing interchange in relation to ecocity goals. In this research, five main dimensions of environment and resources, transport, economic, socio-cultural and perceptual-visual were considered for an ecocity. Nine interchange in Qazvin city were investigated in relation to the fulfillment of the mentioned 5 dimensions and their sub-indices. The research method is field research, survey and indirect documentary. At first, the criteria were weighted by 15 professors of transportation and environment therefore, a coefficient was considered for each criterion. In the next step, the opinions of 20 experts (informed about the status of the examined intersections) and then 384 citizens were collected and ranked using AHP. All data were evaluated with Friedman s test and finally multiplied by the coefficient obtained in the previous step. Results showed that Shahid Rajaei Intersection scored the highest in terms of achieving the goals of the Ecocity. Regarding the scores, overpasses have scored better than underpasses in achieving ecocity goals. Furthermore, highest level of realization of an Ecocity goals in relation to the construction of interchange in Qazvin city, has been in the perceptual-visual aspects and the lowest level of realizability belongs to the dimension of environment and resources. In general, the construction of interchange in Qazvin city is not in line with the realization of an Ecocity and is far from it.