URBAN STUDIES
Year:2015 | Volume:5 | Issue:16|Papers Count:7

Social sustainability is one of the most important factors in urban planning, particularly as it relates to the planning of residential complexes. Social sustainability is associated with the connections between the people, communities and the society. Residential social sustainability is a situation in which residents are satisfied with their life in their homes and apartment complexes. In the concept of social sustainability, basic human needs and equity assume a fundamental role. The main goal of this survey is to assess the level of the components of social sustainability and to evaluate the amount of satisfaction of residents with their residential complexes. This is a descriptive - analytical research that utilized questionnaires and interviews to collect needed data. The research population consisted of all the residents of “A. S. P.” apartment complex in the city of Tehran, of which, via stratified random sampling, 186 individuals were selected as the sample. The Delphi method was used to determine the weight of each of the indicators of social sustainability and Analysis Network Process (ANP) was used for measurement. The results showed that the indicators of protection against crime (0.103), social justice (0.0963) and satisfaction with the quality of access to the services (0.906), respectively, had the highest weight and role in social sustainability. Participation and environmental quality indicators did were not significantly related to the dependent variable.

Place attachment is among multidimensional constructs that has attracted the attention of researchers in the field of urban sociology. Place attachment is a symbolic communication with place that individuals form through giving shared emotional and cultural meaning to a special place. The city is an important place that residents can make attachments to it. The purpose of this article is to construct and validate a place attachment scale and a city was selected as a place to test it. This survey research was conducted among Tabrizi residents who were15-75 years old, using a multi-stage cluster sampling method. Sample size of the study is 420, Data gathering technique was questionnaire and data analysis was done with SPSS18. Content validity was confirmed by sociology professionals. Researcher used exploratory factor analysis in SPSS for Construct validity check and 20 of 38 items remained in the model with 4 factor. Moreover, for construct validity check, based on the past literature, it was hypothesized that place attachment was significantly related to length of stay. The hypothesis was confirmed. Scale reliability was assessed using Cronbach's alpha. It was acceptable for 4 subscales of place attachment. Eventually, confirmatory factor analysis was examined by LISREL and goodness of fit for place attachment 4 factor model was confirmed. Natural place dependence, social place dependence, natural place identity and social place identity are 4 factors of place attachment.

Although a city has to have certain physical characteristics to be considered as developed, but attention should also be paid to the mental and social needs of the residents and that the citizens should be energetic, dynamic and cheerful. University is a modern institution and the place of modern institution is city. Students, as an effective and important stratum, can act as the engine for happiness in city. Therefore, the aim of present research is to study the amount of happiness among students in Yazd University and to see what factors affect it. The method of research was survey and the research population consisted of Yazd university students in second term of academic year of 1389. The sample included 277 students (154 girls & 123 bots) that were selected via stratified sampling. The main technique of gathering data was questionnaire which had appropriate level of validity and reliability. The data analysis techniques were Pearson correlation, T- test, one way variance analysis & stepwise multiple regression. The results showed that the mean score of happiness were between 42±46 that congruent with the score of happiness in developing countries. There were no significant relationships between the amount of happiness and variables like age, sex, marital status, the place of residence, education. But the relationship between happiness and field of study was significant. Pearson's correlation showed that social happiness was significantly related to religiosity, the use of mass media, hopefulness about future, and self-esteem. The regression analysis also showed that the three variables of self-esteem, hopefulness about future, and religiosity explained about 44.8 percent of variance of the dependent variable.

Social isolation and loss of social support due to the liquidity and the weakening of social ties in modern society are among the problems that undermine the quality of social relationships, which in turn are associated with the spread and development of the loneliness. Therefore, this study aims to study the relationship between social isolation and the level of received social support with the experience of loneliness. The research population consisted of all the 18+ years' residents of Tehran, of which 384 individuals were chosen as the sample through multiple cluster sampling. This was a survey research and needed data were collected via a questionnaire. The research tool had face validity and its reliability was ensured through Cronbach’s alpha. Data processing was done by spss16 software that showed that the average for variables social isolation, social support and loneliness in the sample were, respectively, 62.94, 61.60 and 36.13 percent. Statistical analysis also showed a significant and negative relationship between social isolation and the levels of received social support and between the level of received social support and the experience of loneliness. Moreover these results indicated that with increasing levels of objective social isolation, the level of subjective loneliness experienced will also increase. And the results of multivariable regression analysis of factors affecting loneliness also showed that the variable family relationships had the most direct impact on loneliness.

The concept of sustainable urban development is based on human-environment relationship and it considers the development of urban facilities with regard to environmental considerations, and social justice. With the development of urbanization, concepts related to sustainable development have entered into this area and the concept of sustainable urban development is the outcome of new views towards social, spatial and environmental justice as they regard the city. Social justice in urban environment relates to the preservation of the interest of different social groups by means of distribution of urban resources, revenues and costs. An issue surrounding environmental justice, emphasizing the close association it has with social justice, necessitates a need for social auditing of public institutions and organizations. In this study, four dimensions of perceived social justice, that is, economic individualism, needs, equality, and fairness are considered and its relation to residents' participation in development of Tabriz is analyzed. The main objective of this study was to investigate the relationship between perceived social justices with the degree of residents' participation in development of Tabriz. Accordingly the researcher used a questionnaire to collect the research data. The study sample included 384 residents of ten regions of Tabriz. Structural equation modeling with LISREL software was used to analyze the relationship between variables. Based on the findings, there is a direct relationship between the four dimensions of perceived social justice and the degree of residents' participation in the development of the city.

The aim of this study is to assess the impact and influence of the information revolution on the lifestyle urban dwellers. In order to do so, a theoretical framework of theorists such as Toffler, Bourdiou and others in the area of communications and human life patterns was used. The research method was cross-sectional and a questionnaire was used for gathering information. The research population consisted of all the students of Islamic Azad University, Tehran Science and Research branch in engineering, basic sciences and humanities colleges which totaled a number of 9729 students in 2013. The research findings showed that utilizing the modern means of information and communication technologies leads to the emergence of a particular urban lifestyle in which people have different worldviews. These differences will lead people to act variously in any situation i.e. people will obey different patterns in leisure time spending, marriage style, religiousness and fashionableness. The ICT variable has a 0.07 effect on religiousness, 0.36 effect on fashion, 0.07 effect on marriage style and finally a 0.48 effect on urban lifestyle.

Nowadays, the issue of urban furniture is widely connected to concepts such as living facilities, welfare and social relations which can pave the way for the improvement of the quality of life of the residents. In order to study this issue, a secondary analysis of existing data about the good life in Tehran was undertaken. These data were collected by ACECR (of opinion polls of Iranian Students- Ayspa) and Iran University of Medical Sciences and Health Services with a sample of 20,670 people in city of Tehran. In the present study, 59% of the respondents have moderate quality of life, and its statistically significant Pearson correlation coefficient of about 3 percent showed that access to urban furniture was directly and significantly related to such components of quality of life like physical health, mental health, improved social relations, and the satisfaction with physical environment of the city. In general, the results showed that of the factors that influence urban quality of life, urban furniture plays an important part.