The effects of urban design on the behavior and morality of the citizens (Case study: The streets of the Imam, Modares and Kashani of Urmia)

Introduction Urban streets as part of the public spaces are available for efficiency of the social and cultural environments. It can be said that the streets as the communication space have the role of dividing and reinforcing the structure of city. They are directly related to application patterns and user behavior in space and can place the formation of social interactions and behavior patterns. Given that most behavioral disorders are happenning in urban public spaces such as streets, these spaces are rarely able to provide the appropriate ground for organizing moral and behavioral patterns. Attention to the design patterns of the streets through physical and visual criteria such should be taken into consideration. Hence, this study investigates the effects of urban design on the behavior and morality of the citizens with an emphasis on the three streets of the Imam, Modares and Kashani of Urmia. This is looking to answer the following questions: Can visual and physical criteria on the street lead to desirable or undesirable feelings? Does the street design model affect how people behave in the street? Do physical criteria affect women's emotions and behavior more than men? Finally, in order to compare the three streets of Imam, Modarres and Kashani, this question arises as to whether the level of ethics in the streets of Imam, Modarres and Kashani is different.   Methodology Analytical-descriptive correlation research method has been used in this study. We have selected 80 people with confidence coefficient 95% as the sample using Cochran. These are mainly the people with Presence and Walking experience in these streets. The collected data are composed of 18 visual and physical criteria by field (primary data) and using interviews and questionnaires. The cluster is distributed equally between men and women. For evaluation and data processing methods of descriptive and inferential statistics, sach as Friedman test and Pearson correlation test, have been in SPSS. Hence, in order to investigate the effects of urban design on the behavior and morality of the citizens, 18 visual and physical criteria (Balance, fitness, harmony, homogeneity, opposition, contrast, clarity and readability, rhythm, continuity, alignment, flooring, skyline, visual pollution, furniture, closeness, sign, lighting and the quality of lines of pedestrian) have been discussed on the streets of the Imam, Modares and Kashan.   Results and discussion In order to analyze the data from the questionnaires, we have initially calculated raw scores the weighted average of each question. By multiplying the raw scores and weighted average of each question, weighted score for each of the streets of Imam Khomeini, Ayatollah Modarres and Ayatollah Kashani has been calculated separately. Based on the obtained ranks by Friedman ranking; the quality-oriented behavior in Imam St. with a score of 2.29 is greater than those of Kashani and Modares. The street Modares has the lowest rating. The reviews related to the impact of physical and visual elements on the street shows that in terms of the appropriateness of physical and visual elements Imam St. with 2.47 obtained  the highest rank. To investigate the relationship between physical - visual quality in the street with the quality of every street-oriented behavior, we have used the Pearson correlation coefficient. According to the results, the Pearson correlation coefficient obtained 0.884; this reflects the close relationship between variables. Finally, emotions of men and women in the streets show that the quality of urban space has a greater impact on the perceptions of women compared with men with the rank of 1.63 to 1.38.   Conclusion According to the results, a sense of emptiness and isolation, insecurity and fear, a feeling of confusion, use crosswalks, vandalism, and the pause to navigation in this street is effective on the women than men. This is in agreement with the results by Bazvandi and Shahbazi (2014) on the walkway of Sepahsalar St., Tehran. In other words, common results of the findings show that façade, appropriate lighting, space availability, space for sitting, variety of space usage times, pedestrian safety, and suitable flooring was considered as an effective factor in the use of space. The men have more relax feeling, easy access and routing, sense of pride and glory than women in Imam St. Stress and anger sense in Imam St. for women is more than that for men, the feeling for men on the street Kashani is more than women and in Madras it is equal for both men and women. According to the results, physical and visual criteria are more effective women than men. In order to increase design quality for access to space-based behavior in the streets following strategies are recommended: - Skyline in the streets must be regular and continuous. The creation of a suitable viewing axis is important for visual indicator principles guide. - Strengthening indicator principles in the body using the elements such as light and color - Reforming visual and environmental pollution in the street - Reduction of color density at intersections to increase anxiety and confusion. - Use of appropriate  size, color and different forms in the design of walls and also suitable materials and various lights for coloring. - Use of a lighting system to respond to the lighting of streets and providing comfort on the move and attractive sidewalks for pedestrians.