Clustering of Tehran Districts Based on the Distribution of Public Places Using a Passive Defense Approach

Nowadays, cities are centers with high population density. Although the presence of public spaces and places in cities show their dynamism and vitality, the presence of a large number of people greatly increases their vulnerability. In such circumstances, the issue of prevention and reduction of risks due to unexpected events becomes highly important. Therefore, assessing the distribution of spaces and public places would be one of the most basic measures in the field of crisis management and passive defense. Hence, in the present study, by analyzing the location and distribution of public places in 114 districts of Tehran, these areas have been classified into 10 relatively similar clusters. In this descriptive-analytical research, the data was collected through documentary studies. Therefore, after collecting theoretical foundations, spatial analysis of some types of public places in Tehran was done using GIS software and then the data was analyzed using hierarchical clustering in SPSS software. The results indicate the unbalanced distribution of spaces and public places in the city of Tehran, which is an alarm for Tehran City managers and urban planners. In fact, the imbalance in the distribution of public places as well as the lack of spatial justice in access to services, increase of unnecessary travel, etc. are not compatible with the principles of passive defense. Thus, these circumstances make the city vulnerable to natural and man-made disasters. Therefore, it seems that balancing the distribution of public places in the city should be on the agenda of planners and city managers as a key strategy.