Journal of Geographical Studies of Mountainous Areas

Journal of Geographical Studies of Mountainous Areas

Spatial analysis of road network resilience in the 2nd district of Karaj metropolis against environmental hazards with an emphasis on earthquakes

Document Type : Original Article

Authors
1 Master's degree, Geography and Urban Planning, Amayesh Shahri, Payam Noor University, Tehran, Iran.
2 Associate Professor, Department of Urban Planning, faculty of Art and Architecture, University of Guilan, Rasht, Iran
3 Assistant Professor, Geography and Urban Planning, Payam Noor University, Tehran, Iran.
Abstract
Introduction

Infrastructures, services and urban areas are generally damaged by the occurrence of crises and suffer different degrees of damage based on their nature, structure and proximity to insecure areas. Risk reduction programs should seek to create and strengthen the characteristics of resilient communities. and pay attention to the concept of resilience in the process of crisis management as one of the most important factors for realizing sustainability. The high vulnerability of cities to earthquakes and insufficient attention to the role of communication networks in reducing the effects of earthquakes is the most important necessity of this research. As one of the most important infrastructure fortifications, they play an important role in reducing or increasing damage caused by natural disasters such as earthquakes. The communication network of the city plays a critical role in increasing the resilience of the city in times of crisis. If the communication network of the city is not damaged after the occurrence of unexpected incidents and maintains its efficiency, the casualties of these types of incidents will be greatly reduced.
 

Methodology

The research is a combination of descriptive-analytical methods and field study. After the field study and library, theoretical foundations were collected and the geographical information system was used to prepare the necessary maps. The statistical community of the present research consists of 30 experts and specialists in the field of urban planning. It is worth mentioning that the identified statistical community was available to 30 people, and the minimum number of questionnaires required was set at 28 items. In this research, data analysis method was used according to the objectives and available facilities. For this purpose, the collected data were first ranked in the hierarchical evaluation analysis and then digitally stored using ARC GIS software, which led to the preparation of factor maps and distance maps. Information and data analysis were performed in ARC GIS software.
 

Results

One of the main communication routes of the province are east-west roads, which are Tehran-Karaj and Karaj-Qazvin highways and Karaj metro station, which is located in the study area. The eastern part of this road, that is, Azad Road, Tehran-Karaj, and parts of this road that have bridges and non-level intersections, have little resilience. Also, the existence of the old Karaj-Qazvin road parallel to the freeway of Karaj-Qazvin has created an alternative way in times of crisis for this freeway, which is one of the strengths of the roads in this area. The society is in a time of crisis, when the demand for its use sometimes increases to several times in normal conditions, in this regard, quick and easy access to these centers becomes more important in times of crisis. One of the most important functions of open spaces during the occurrence of a crisis is to separate one area with potential danger from another, thus concentrating the activity of destructive forces and preventing the development of a chain of events. Also, green and open spaces play an important role in reducing the effects and results of most natural and artificial accidents..Other open spaces of the city, such as squares, access networks, open environment of public buildings and gardens are also in this direction.
 

Discussion

In this research, the parameters that were effective in the resilience of roads were investigated and based on the way these criteria are influenced, they were normalized, and their influence weight was obtained according to the figure below using the fuzzy hierarchical analysis weighting model. And finally, for the overall overlap, after preparation and standardization according to the mentioned methods, it entered the Fuzzy Overlay model to identify the areas that have worn texture conditions. Figures 7 and 8 show the final map resulting from the integration. The final map shows the transportation network resulting from the fuzzy data. According to the resilience of the roads (the presence of open and empty space, lack of concentration of the structure, the number of floors, low population density and width of roads) and the communication routes between the crisis management centers, in fact, include the 1st grade emergency roads of the region, sugar factory roads, Misbah intersection, Haft Tir intersection and Imam Hossein square and Karaj metro. Due to being located in the communication routes between security centers, fire fighting centers, medical and aid centers and the level of overall resilience, these places are included.
 

Conclusion

According to the results obtained from the extent and scope of the vulnerability of the use of open and green space, the central localities of the region (Masbah, Heft Tir and Sassani) have the highest level of vulnerability and other localities have an almost favorable situation and position, which should be improved with more attention. The uses located in these areas should be looked at so that the current situation can be preserved or even the level of vulnerability of these uses can be reduced by applying and implementing the criteria in urban land use planning. Also, in the central and northern areas of the region, necessary measures should be taken regarding the transfer and relocation of threatened uses or reducing the traffic load of such threatened uses. It is noted that by adopting such considerations, the destructive and harmful effects of accidents or even terrorist operations in this area will be prevented and the damage to the city will be minimized. A number of vulnerable bridges in the region and their high density in the main line of the communication network have cut off the flow of the network and make rescue operations difficult. There is a lot of traffic on the roads in the region and this will make relief operations during the crisis more difficult.
Keywords

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