Revitalizing lost spaces around urban rivers with a social ecological approach (Case study: Goharrood River in Rasht)

Rivers are always one of the most important parts of the natural landscape as well as the vital arteries of any country, and human civilization is largely dependent on water resources such as rivers, seas, and oceans because they support sustainable life, residence, and transportation. The Goharrood River crosses the city of Rasht and experiences disruption in various dimensions such as environmental and landscape. The following research paper has attempted to provide appropriate strategies and policies to revive the lost spaces around the Goharrood River in accordance with the social-ecological urbanism approach. This is a qualitative-quantitative study and in this regard, by examining the theoretical sources and extracting the necessary criteria, the current state of the river was analyzed, and based on the QSPM method, the optimal types of strategies in five dimensions which are physical, functional Environmental, landscape and social were introduced, and most of them were the type of WO which seeks to reduce weaknesses to reach opportunities. But in the environmental dimension, the optimal type of strategy has been the WT kind, which encompasses conservative strategies. It seems that with the current unfavorable situation of Goharrood and the increasing presence of pollutants, it is now more than any innovative action, is necessary to take quick care of the problems to eliminate pollution. And later by eliminating these weaknesses, more aggressive strategies can be used.