A Geographical Study of School Attendance Areas Using the Multiplicatively Weighted Voronoi Method: a Case of Rasht City, Iran
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
A Geographical Study of School Attendance Areas Using the Multiplicatively Weighted Voronoi Method: A Case of Rasht City, Iran A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate School of Life and Environmental Sciences, the University of Tsukuba in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Science (Doctoral Program in Geoenvironmental Sciences) Fatemeh AHMADI NEJAD MASOULEH Abstract Like other Iranian cities, school boards have not created official attendance areas for schools at any education level of Rasht City to allocate students to schools within their local areas. In the absence of guidance from education authorities, parents are the main decision makers in choosing schools for their children. This is also the case for the selection of public female junior high or PFJH schools in Rasht City. Although this might invoke images of freedom under the current system, many female students go to school outside their local areas. To understand how this happens the research purpose was to analyze the parental choice system in order to detail its shortcomings and how they generate longer and inconvenient commutes to schools. To solve the problems the research aimed to replace the parental choice with defined school attendance areas that allocate students to the closest possible school on foot as much as possible. Multiplicatively weighted Voronoi diagram (MWVD) was the method for the construction of attendance areas given its utility in demarcating spaces so that all journeys within them are closest to a chosen point. It concluded that the projected school attendance areas can result in shorter and more convenient commutes on foot. This can nearly eliminate the need to travel by vehicle for the overwhelming majority of students and make their journeys more convenient. Key words: commute time and distance, commuting inconvenience, Iran, multiplicatively weighted Voronoi diagram, public female junior high (PFJH) school, Rasht City, school attendance area. ii Contents Abstract…………………………………………………………………………………………..ii List of Tables……………………………………………………………………………………..v List of Figures……………………………………………………………………………...……vi List of Photos…………………………………………………………………………………..viii Chapter 1. Introduction .............................................................................................................................1 1.1 Problem statement...........................................................................................................1 1.2 Research purpose.............................................................................................................2 1.3 Study area........................................................................................................................3 1.4 Research methodology ..................................................................................................18 1.5 Research significance....................................................................................................20 2. Literature Review..................................................................................................................21 2.1 Introduction ...................................................................................................................21 2.2 Complexity of parental-based selection of schools and its impact ...............................21 2.3 Equal access to schools .................................................................................................23 2.4 Size of school districts...................................................................................................24 2.5 Non-car travel to school ................................................................................................25 2.6 Techniques and methods for delimiting school boundaries..........................................28 2.6.1 Voronoi and multiplicatively weighted voronoi diagrams (MWVD).....................31 2.6.1.1 Definition ..........................................................................................................32 2.6.1.2 Application........................................................................................................34 3. Parental-based School Selection in Rasht and Commute Problems It Generates……...39 3.1 Introduction ...................................................................................................................39 3.2 A brief review of the education system in Iran .............................................................39 3.3 Parental-based school selection in Rasht ......................................................................41 3.4 Criteria used by parents for a school selection..............................................................44 3.4.1 Proximity of student’s residence to school .............................................................45 3.4.2 Accessibility of school to public transportation......................................................46 3.4.3 Journey safety..........................................................................................................48 3.4.4 School facilities.......................................................................................................49 iii 3.4.5 School reputation.....................................................................................................56 3.4.6 Portion of each criterion used for choosing the studied PFJH schools ...................57 3.5 The spatial outcomes of parental choice in the case of students attending the studied PFJH schools ............................................................................................................58 3.5.1 Expanded residential distribution of students within Rasht....................................64 3.5.1.1 Commuting to school on foot and by vehicle ...................................................67 3.5.1.2 Inconvenient commutes to schools ...................................................................75 4. Minimizing Commuting Problems by Constructing School Attendance Areas………..87 4.1 Introduction ...................................................................................................................87 4.2 Delineated attendance areas for all Rasht City PFJH schools.......................................87 4.2.1 General characteristics of the constructed attendance areas ...................................88 4.2.1.1 Residential-based attendance areas ...................................................................88 4.2.1.2 School-shift based attendance areas..................................................................91 4.2.1.3 Contiguous borders: No unallocated parts of the city.......................................92 4.2.1.4 School-size based attendance areas...................................................................93 4.2.1.5 Small attendance areas for the majority of schools...........................................94 4.3 Spatial assignment of students throughout the constructed school attendance areas in the studied schools ...................................................................................................97 4.4 Minimizing the student travel time and distance through the constructed attendance areas...................................................................................................................101 5. Conclusions ..........................................................................................................................117 Acknowledgements....................................................................................................................122 Dedication ..................................................................................................................................124 References ..................................................................................................................................125 Appendix ....................................................................................................................................134 Questionnaire provided to the five studied schools ..............................................................134 iv List of Tables 1-1 Number of students in Rasht City public junior high schools based on school shifts and gender for the 2003-2004 school year....................................................................................13 1-2 Number of students in Rasht City PFJH schools according to school shifts for the 2003- 2004 school year .................................................................................................................16 1-3 Number of students and classes in the studied PFJH schools by grade for the 2004-2005 school year…………………………………………………………………………...17 1-4 Number of distributed questionnaires and returned completed questionnaires for the five studied PFJH schools in 2004-2005 school year……….......................................………………19 2-1 The MW-Voronoi research, 1950s-1970s ………………………………………..……….36 3-1 Number and percentage of students who have been enrolled at the studied schools because of their parent decisions or Rasht Education Office guidance……………………….....43 3-2 Number and percentage of parents who chose studied schools for each reason…….……..59 3-3 Number and percentage of students who travel to studied schools by transportation type……………………………………………………………………………….76 3-4 The advantages and major problems associated with each means of transportation listed by questionnaire