Explanation of the physical -spatial justice components of a justice-oriented city with an emphasis on the knowledge - power theory, case study: 5 areas of Rasht city

Introduction: Human life and the historical course of civilization have always been subjected to concepts such as justice and equality. Although the concept of justice is more than fair distribution and is considered a kind of social value, due to its content, there is no universal definition of justice, and it takes on different meanings depending on the social and geographical conditions. However, spatial justice theories emphasize its spatiality. Today, with the rapid growth of urbanism and excessive attention on the planning process, spatial inequalities derived from social and economic inequalities lead to the collapse of the balance of urban systems, the lack of content of urban planning measures, and unbalanced and unequal access to the district. Therefore, since the spatial organization in cities is influenced by the economic, social, political and cultural functions of the society, if these structures are formed based on justice, we will witness its impact in urban spaces, and its consequences can be spatial justice, and He pointed out equality in the distribution of services and resources in cities. In fact, spatial justice is the fair distribution of socially valuable resources such as power, environmental goods, and social services throughout space. In the public sphere, social claims can be negotiated and discussed, allowing multiple voices to be heard in the city. According to Michel Foucault, what sustains power and makes it acceptable is the fact that this power is productive, induces pleasure, shapes knowledge, and produces discourse. So it should be considered productive. A network that passes through the entire social body. With these words, the concept of a justice city can be studied in terms of its relationship with the two concepts of knowledge (truth) and power (Expediency), and by expanding Foucault's knowledge-power theory, it discussed whether the justice-centered city is based on Is communication action and Foucault's theory possible to be realized in the real world that has conflicting interests and complex power relations? The current research tries to find the theoretical foundations of justice and its roots in line with the concepts of spatial justice and the justice-centered city, emphasizing Foucault's theory of knowledge and power, to investigate the relationship between these two concepts in the urban space.
 Methodology:  This research is an applied-developmental research. The general strategy of this research is a combined strategy that uses a different and separate research strategy for each topic of the research. Thus, in the theoretical part of the research, using the qualitative approach and based on the library method, the concepts of the justice-centered city and its spatial and physical components are explained, and then by referring to Foucault's works in knowledge-power theory and others. Thinkers in power, the place of this theory in urban planning have been studied and finally, the theoretical framework and conceptual model of the research based on the relationship between the two sides of spatial justice and knowledge-power in urban planning has been presented. Also, the special strategy will be narrative and analysis, and the type of theory in this research is content-proof. The indicators obtained in this research are based on the theoretical framework including spatial knowledge, guidance and control, and participation, as well as the statistical population including the citizens of Rasht city, which was randomly sampled from the statistical population of citizens. Cochran's formula and Morgan's table were used to determine the sample size, and the sample size was equal to 384 people. The statistical results are presented in two topics, descriptive findings and inferential findings. In the descriptive topic, the main variables were explained and interpreted using frequency statistics, mean, standard deviation, and frequency percentage, and in the inferential topic, the research model was investigated using the structural equation modeling technique. The average of the factors was evaluated with one-sample T-test, the ranking of factors was done with Friedman's ranking test, the comparison of districts in terms of spatial-physical components of the city of justice was done with the one-way analysis of variance test, and the comparison of the existing and desired situation with A one-sample T-test was performed. Data analysis was done with Smart PLS version 3 and SPSS version 27 software. The maximum error level of Crombach's alpha for hypothesis testing was considered being 0.05 (p<0.05).
Results: The results show that because of the content of justice, there is no universal definition of it, and the concept of justice takes on different meanings depending on the social and geographical conditions. However, researchers emphasize that the material and non-material benefits of public policy should be distributed fairly. This point shows that planning is the product of power and politics. Urban planning, especially land use planning, is no exception to this. In fact, it is accepted by the public that citizens do not have much control over the forces that form the environment, and the changers, decision makers, creators and organizers of the environment are not citizens, but a group that changes the environment and makes decisions about it in the shadow and vaguely. The consequences of this trend lead to the privatization of urban spaces and injustice in the spatial organization of cities. Therefore, justice-oriented urban planning is a critical discourse against power inequality (poverty, corruption and discrimination) in urban spaces and a political effort against the privatization of public spaces for the benefit of capital.
Discussion: The present research states that for the principled movement of planning, it is necessary to identify the role of effective powers and forces in the society. In fact, justice-oriented cities improve the quality of life in cities by providing an empowering framework for urban actors. Therefore, understanding the dominant power structure and creating a control and monitoring system using technical knowledge and popular participation can lead to achieving a justice-oriented city based on the knowledge-power theory. The quality of life and the distribution of opportunities are two prominent axes of spatial and physical justice, which crystallizes in the majority of distributive justice and structural justice in the city. Also, Foucault's analysis of the space of the modern era emphasizes how specific spaces are produced, designed, constructed, controlled and regulated by disciplinary discourses and power-knowledge technologies. In the knowledge-power theory, Michel Foucault considers space to be the producer of power relations, which shows its influence in different ways, and believes that power flows in space and no space can exist without power flows. Therefore, planning is a mechanism that connects with the urban space through physical-spatial justice.
Conclusion: The findings obtained from the analysis show that almost all the components and indicators of the city of justice are lower than the average in all districts of the city of Rasht. However, spatial knowledge or technical rationality to some extent has obtaineda higher average in the city level than the other two components, guidance- control and participation. However, district 2, which forms the central fabric of the city, has the highest level of spatial knowledge component, which means the highest level of balance, diversity and spatial capability, the highest level of guidance and control, which means the highest level of visibility and regulation, and the highest level of participation, which means the highest level of monitoring and networking. And district 4, which often has an unplanned texture, has the lowest amount of these indicators. Finally, it can be concluded that by identifying the components of physical-spatial justice based on the theory of knowledge of power and the relationship between them, planning can be done through spatial knowledge (technical rationality) and by creating balance, diversity and capabilities. Spatially and by moving towards more complete forms of decision-making to reduce the intensity of injustice. Therefore, planning can be done by producing a disciplinary space toward guidance and control (discipline) and in line with the purposeful regulation of life by using concepts such as visibility and regulation in disciplinary spaces such as cities, streets, public uses, etc., To act toward social equality and influence the power of activists. Also, through participation (influence on choices) and considering the role of networks as relationships between forces and communication links, as well as the politics of difference and resistance, and the participation of weaker groups in decision-making, as well as the participation of disciplinary institutions from such as local governments, social representatives, local participants, etc., to play a positive role in liberation and standing. Finally, it can be said that understanding the dominant power structure and creating a control and monitoring system using technical knowledge and people's participation can lead to achieving a justice-oriented city based on the knowledge-power theory.