URBAN STUDIES
Year:2015 | Volume:5 | Issue:15|Papers Count:8

With the advent of new developments, the cities usually adopt these changes and transformations rather quickly. Some changes such as rapid population growth and physical growth have been unbalanced and uncoordinated. Now one of the problems of all cities is rapid urbanization and one of the consequent growth of urban areas is unbalanced budget. Municipalities are the main governmental agent responsible for development and prosperity in the city, but in the execution of this important task they face great difficulties because they are always faced with financial difficulties and deficits. In terms of sociological concerns, fair allocation of funds to urban areas should be based on population priorities than to physical and spatial considerations, because it is closer to social justice. This paper aims to investigate the effects of physical-spatial and demographic factors on the budget of the development of urban areas based on the premise that "the share of physical and spatial factors in the allocation of funds to different areas of the city more than that of the population." Thus, using regression techniques, TOPSIS, this article aims to look closely at this issue. The research population consisted of all fifteen districts of the city. The data were collected using Isfahan statistics yearbook. The results showed that physical-spatial distribution of funds between the districts were not related to the population of those districts.

Feeling of social safety is a critical component of social cohesion and community development. Given the prominent role of social security in national planning and considering that it is important for residents to have a stable sense of safety, it is worthy that the dimensions and facets of social disorder are identified, policies and strategies to control and harness their impact be developed. Therefore, in the present study, it is attempted to identify the component of social security in the city of shiraz in order to find ways to enhance the sense of security among residents of the city. The theorretical framework of the article was provided by Parsons social systems theory. Also, given that the research population was too large, using Cochran formula, a sample size of 700 was chosen. The results showed that independent variables cultural capital (r =0.548), Social capital (r =0.540) and social organization (r =0.471) had the strongest correlation and variable social support (r = 0.096) had the lowest correlation with the dependent variable, Shirazi residents' sense of safety in their community.

In today's modern world, an important part of the children and adults’ education programs occurs their children's leisure time; the way of spending the leisure time in teenagers can be effective in their growth and efficiency, which certainly manifests in the future of those children and the society. The present study aimed to assess the amount, type and the way of spending leisure time in children and adults living in slum and non-slum areas. This study was a cross-sectional survey. The research population consisted of all the children between 7 and 18 years old living in Khorramabad city. The number of children and adults in the time of data collection were 200; they were selected randomly among children and adults living in slum and non-slum areas of Khorramabad. The required information was collected using a questionnaire. The results showed that the higher and the socio-economic status of the families, the more amounts of and fruitful the leisure activities children and adults (r= 0.539). And also there is a significant difference between the amount, method and type of leisure activities for children of the two regions. It was also found that slum children, due to economic or cultural poverty of families, were forced to work in their leisure time and sometimes faced social and physical problems.

Quality of life is a concept that, due to its role in both mental and physical health of people, has assumed high importance in recent years. In this regard, the objective of this research is the determination of the quality of life of residents of historic and cultural center of rural-town of Aslanduz. In addition the factors that affect the quality of life will be analyzed. This is an applied research and has an eclectic approach in which a combination of various methods (descriptive-analytic and correlation) has been used. The research population consisted of all the residents of Aslanduz rural-town of which, on the basis of Cochran's formula, 384 residents of the study area were chosen as the sample. To analyze data, the various statistical methods including multiple regression analysis have been used. The obtained results showed that residents of this district are relatively satisfied with their quality of life. Also significant relationships were observed between individual variables with factors and sub-factors of research that in this regard, the identified independent variables are able to explain 59 percent of the variance of the dependent variable. Moreover, the variable of mental health with standardized Beta coefficient of 0.464, had the most impact on the satisfaction of residents with their lives.

Since urban life is fundamentally different from that of rural and tribal communities, its expression is usually manifested in most human actions, such as cooperation, conflict, competition, deviant behavior, social adaptation. It should be noted that every social system creates its own patterns of values, norms, interaction and communication through which social conformity to the norms is guaranteed, and that this same issue can make difficult the social adaptation of immigrants and newcomers to urban life. This is what can produce the more complex and various forms of social adaptation (conformity, consistency, subjective and objective acculturation) to urban life. This study, using survey and documentary methods seeks to check the status of social adaptation of migrants to urban life. The necessary data were collected through questionnaire and personal interviews. The research tools had face validity and reliability coefficients were all above the 0.7 threshold. The results showed that the more the immigrants ‘dependency, attachment and social ties with their home environment, the less is the harmony, conformity, consistency, subjective and objective acculturation to urban life.

The concentration of development in the cities and paying attention only to geometrical and special concepts and the neglecting of social goals in the development of cities have presented urban areas with numerous social, economic imbalances and ecological problems, like poverty, cultural conflicts, the declining of quality of life, and so forth. Therefore, this paper aims to study the impact of social capital on the subjective quality of life of the residents of new neighborhoods with the goal of promoting the quality of life in these areas by increasing social capital. The studied area is JahedShahr neighborhood, located in District 12 of Mashad city. Data collection was conducted using a questionnaire. With the aid of the Cochran formula, 372 people were chosen as the sample via simple random sampling. For data analysis SPSS and AMOS software were used. Validity of the research tool was obtained through face validity and reliability through Cronbach alpha coefficient which was above 0.7. The results showed that there was a significant relationship between social capital and Subjective quality of life. Also, according to residents' opinions, the amount of social capital and mental quality of life of residents in the JahedShahr neighborhood is moderate to poor.

Neighborhood-management, as a newly established plan to organize and promote residents' participation in the affairs of local communities, contributes to the provision of an opportunity for community-based participatory planning. Although the neighborhood-management plan has been in place for more than 4 years now, but more efforts are needed in order to remove its weaknesses. The central question of the article is: to what extent can neighborhood-management plan attract residents' participation? Both qualitative and quantitative methods were used in this study. 384 individuals (residents and visitors to neighborhood centers) were selected to fill out the research questionnaire and 22 neighborhood managers were interview. The Evaluation model was developed using both Pantham Performance Measurement and also Evaluation Model of Cultural Affairs by Rezaie. Theoretical framework was costructed by using the theories of social trust, participation and social interaction of Fukuyama, Giddens, Midgley, Davidson, Driskell. The findings showed that the neighborhood centers have been able to attract the trust of some of the residents. On the other hand, in the areas of promoting awareness and engaging residents and increasing their level of participation, the centers have not been very successful.