Localization of Sustainable Ecological City Model based on EC and IES Standards (Case study: Dorcheh city)

Today, environmental challenges and urban infrastructures have become important issues for urban planners, managers and those who are involved in urban issues. Various approaches have been proposed to achieve urban balance and sustainability, one of which is the ecological city. An ecological city is a city whose physical and economic structures have been formed with environmental considerations and are compatible with natural environmental conditions. The purpose of this study is to localize the ecological city model in order to achieve sustainable development in the city of Dorcheh. This research is considered as qualitative research in terms of paradigm, applied in terms of purpose and descriptive, analytical and exploratory in terms of nature. The method of data collection was documentary and field through interview tools with Delphi method. In this method, 30 experts and specialized people on urban issues were interviewed. The results show that the environmental dimension and its indicators have the highest frequency (5) and the highest average (4.22) among other dimensions and indicators of the ecological city of Dorcheh, followed by the economic dimension and the index. It is in the second place with frequency (4) and average (4.11). Therefore, in the proposed model of the ecological city, the indicators of these two dimensions should be in the planning priority of city managers; Also, EC and IES standards were used to localize the model of sustainable ecological city. Therefore, the indicators such as using the clean energy, green building, public pedestrian, and bicycle transport should be on the agenda of the urban planners and the managers to achieve an ecological city.
 Extended Abstract
1-Introduction
Sustainable development gradually introduced different approaches with different goals over time. One of the approaches in which the issue of environment is more prominent and emphasizes the relationship between urban development and nature is the ecological city. An ecological city is a city that its physical and economical structures have been formed according to either its environmental considerations or its natural environmental conditions. Today, the discussion about the sustainability and sustainable development without considering the environmental capabilities of the city will be meaningless, since the main causes of instability in the world are cities. Therefore, the sustainability of human life depends on the environmental sustainability of the cities. The importance of this issue becomes clear when we accept that cities are different from each other, so a sustainable development in the form of an ecological approach should be based on ecological and indigenous criteria and the capacities of regions. The main purpose of the study is to localize the ecological city model in order to achieve a sustainable development the city of Dorcheh.
2-Materials and Methods
The study is considered as a qualitative research in terms of paradigm. The study can be regarded as an applied one in terms of purpose and descriptive analytical, and exploratory in nature. The method of data collection was documentary and field through two tools of questionnaires and interviews with experts based on the Delphi method. The group of experts was identified by snowball method and based on theoretical saturation. First, a list of people who were able to participate in the interview was prepared. It includes 15 people such as members of the city council, mayors of different periods, experts of the urban planning unit of Dorcheh municipality and environmental activists including 15 people. When the interview was finished, another 15 people were identified. The interviewees, while having knowledge and expertise in the field of urban planning issues, are often residents of Dorcheh or have worked in the field of Dorcheh city issues.
3- Results and Discussion
Based on the results of the qualitative method (Delphi interview), the most important indicators and effective factors considered by the group of experts have been investigated in presenting the native model of the ecological city in the city of Dorcheh in the third stage of Delphi using the mean comparison test. The results show that the environmental dimension has the highest frequency (5) and the highest average (4.22) among other indicators, followed by the economic dimension with the frequency (4) and the average (4.11) in second place. Therefore, what indicators of these two dimensions should be in the planning priority of city managers in the proposed model of the ecological city? Based on this, the proposed indigenous model of Dorcheh, Ecological City was designed in the form of 8 main indicators with the priority of the indicators of these two dimensions, and at the same time, according to the spatial perspective of geography, indicators of other dimensions were also considered. Considering that the urban geological approach is now widely implemented at the international level and in various regions, especially in Europe and China, standards called European and Chinese (EC) standards and international standards for ecological cities (IES)have been designed. As a result, based on the current situation of the country's cities, especially the city under the study and environmental, physical, Economic, managerial and social conditions, some standards were recommended to ecological city in 1420.
4- Conclusion
In this study, the localized model of a sustainable ecological city (Case study: Darcheh city) was presented. The results of the qualitative method (Delphi interview) show the environmental dimension with the indicators of prioritizing per capita urban green space, restoring the destroyed environment of Zayandehrud, prioritizing per capita material and urban streams, improving waste and sewage, proximity and symmetry of nature with human habitat has the highest frequency and average among the other indicators. The economic dimension with indicators of food tourism sustainability, attention to urban green jobs, attention to self-sufficient economy, attention to Pigeon ecotourism centers and towers are in the second place. They have a positive impact on the development of the ecological city. It reveals that in order to achieve the ecological city and localize its model, more emphasis should be placed on the indicators of these two dimensions. The construction of Dorcheh urban ecological model was done based on EC and IES standards. Therefore, the reconstruction model of these two approaches should be considered.