نشریه جغرافیا و برنامهریزی (Jan 2022)
Title: Assessing the social sustainability of urban neighborhoods with an emphasis on composition of land use (Case study of 15th district of Tehran
Abstract
Introduction Over the past few decades, the social sustainability of urban areas has become an important planning model in developed countries. The present study aims to assess the social sustainability of urban neighborhoods in District 15 of Tehran with an emphasis on the land-use mix index. The land-use mix and distribution of activities are among the factors affecting the social sustainability of urban neighborhoods. These two factors are examined with items such as accessibility of land-uses, distribution of land-uses, diversity and equality of land-uses, age and compatibility of land-uses, design considerations in land-use planning are examined. And social sustainability, as a dependent variable, is investigated at the urban neighborhood level with items such as involvement and empowerment of local communities, sense of belonging to neighborhoods, security and health, capital and social solidarity, the cultural identity of neighborhoods, vitality of neighborhoods, social accountability and sense of neighborhood. Data and Method The present study is applied, descriptive-survey research in which data are collected using both library and field studies. Using a library study, the required indices are extracted by reviewing relevant studies and theories on land-use mix and sustainability. First, the land-use mix measure of each neighborhood is calculated using Shannon entropy and the studied indices in the neighborhoods are ranked using the COPRAS method. Due to the lack of a standard questionnaire on the research subject, a researcher-made questionnaire is used. The statistical population includes urban managers and experts as well as the residents of the study areas. The sample size is estimated to be 385 using Cochran's formula. The questionnaires are distributed according to the population of the neighborhoods. The reliability of the questionnaire is estimated to be above 0.8 using Cochran's alpha, indicating that the items or questions are fully related to each other. To analyze the relationships between variables. Spearman's correlation coefficient, descriptive and inferential statistical methods such as one-sample t-test and Kruskal-Wallis test, are used in SPSS software. Results and Discussion In total, 81.2% of the respondents are men and 17.9% are women. Most of the respondents are in the 38-52 age group. The results of Shannon entropy show the weights of each land-use mix index, with the greatest weight (0.9943) for the component of accessibility to land-uses and the least weight (0.7542) for the component of design considerations in land-use planning. The studied neighborhoods are at different levels in terms of social sustainability; so the neighborhoods of North Afsariyeh (NJ= 98.23), South Afsariyeh (NJ= 96.83), and North Kianshahr (NJ=84.23) have the best situation in the land-use mix indices while the neighborhoods of Hashemabad (NJ = 27.043), and Minayi (NJ = 22.43) are in the worst condition. Conclusion The results of the research show that in the studied neighborhoods, "accessibility to land-uses" (β = 0.485), "the density of land-uses" (β = 0.482), and "the distribution of land-uses" (β = 0.479) are the most important indices of social sustainability, respectively. The social sustainability of urban neighborhoods is affected by several factors, one of which is the land-use mix index. The present study is conducted to investigate the social sustainability of urban neighborhoods in District 15 of Tehran with an emphasis on the effectiveness of the land-use mix index. To investigate the social sustainability of neighborhoods, the following indicators are studied: involvement of local communities, sense of belonging, security, social capital, cultural identity, vitality, and social accountability. Moreover, to investigate the impact of the land-use mix index on social sustainability, the following indicators are investigated: accessibility of land-uses, land-use density, distribution of land-uses, land-use diversity, age, and compatibility of land-uses, are design considerations in land-use planning. Weighting land-use mix indices using Shannon entropy shows that the greatest weight (0.9943) belongs to the "accessibility of land-uses" component. In the next step, in order to measure the social sustainability of urban neighborhoods, the VIKOR method is used.
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