Modelling the Shifts in Activity Centres along the Subway Stations. The Case Study of Metropolitan Tehran

摘要

Activity centers are areas of strong development of a particular activity, such as residence, employment or services. Understanding theudsubway system impacts on the type, combination, distribution and the development of basic activities in such centers plays an important roleudin managing development opportunities created along the Tehran subway lines. The multi criteria and fuzzy nature of evaluating theuddevelopment of activity centers makes the issue so complex that it cannot be addressed with conventional logical systems. One of the mostudimportant methods of multi criteria evaluation is Fuzzy Inference System. Fuzzy inference system is a popular computing framework based onudthe concepts of Fuzzy Sets Theory, which is capable of accommodating inherent uncertainty in the multi-criteria evaluation process. Thisudpaper analyses shifts in activity centers along two lines of the Tehran subway system based on three major criteria by designing audcomprehensive fuzzy inference system. The data for the present study were collected through documentary analysis, questionnaires andudsemi-structured interviews. The result revealed that the level of the subway system influence on the pattern and process of the developmentudof activities varied with the location, physical environment and entity of each station. Furthermore, empirical findings indicated that theudsubway line might weaken residential activities while attracting employment and service activities to the city center. Specifically, residentialudestates have moved away from the city center to the suburbs whereas employment and service activities have expanded from the existingudcentral business district (CBD). The results can be applied to suggest planning policies aimed at improving the effects of public transit onudproperty development and land use change in a developing country.