URBAN STUDIES
Year:2012 | Volume:1 | Issue:1|Papers Count:8

Urban spaces and social relations are undeniably linked to each other. Social action takes form through urban space and these spaces, in turn are created by the society. This article analyzes the role of urban spaces in creating social capital in shahrekord city. Method of research was survey and the research population consisted of all the citizens over 16 years of age of shahrekord of which 384 persons were chosen interviewed using a multiple-stage cluster sampling technique. In this study, harmony, identity, liveliness and access to the urban space were considered as independent variables and trust, solidarity and social participation which are the components of social capital were considered as the dependent variables. Statistical analysis of data showed that the level of social capital is dramatically different with respect to the qualitative situation of urban spaces, meaning that as the quality of urban spaces improves, average social capital increases too and vice versa.

The central objective of this research is to look at the social factors that affect Tehrani residents’ participation in separating and gathering domestic waste. The theories of Lerner, Engelhard and Homans were considered as the theoretical framework of the research and research hypotheses were accordingly formulated. The research methodology is documentary and survey and the instrument data collection is questionnaire. Research population includes all families residing in Tehran's district 13 of which 381 families were selected through cluster sampling. The questionnaire's validity was obtained via formal validity and its reliability alpha coefficient was 0.89. The results showed that there was a relationship between age, marital status, and participation rate of the citizens in separating and gathering domestic wastes at 95% level of significance. There was also a significant relationship between gender, education level, employment status, training mode, mass media utilization, satisfaction with civil services, social trust, sense of social belonging, sense of usefulness, and participation of citizens in separating and gathering domestic wastes (99% level of significance).

To obtain valid knowledge of urban old-fashioned sections as a phenomenon that has emerged as the result of human interaction requires the application of an organized and logical approach. Any kind of planning in urban old-fashioned sections as a social fact is, in fact, to embark on a scientific research in these areas. The core of any scientific research lies in its methodology. Ontology, epistemology, and methods are the three main components of any methodology. Qualitative and quantitative methodologies each have its own assumptions with regards to these issues and each method approaches the reality of urban old-fashioned sections in a different manner. In this article, a brief introduction of scientific methodologies (positivist, interpretive, and critical) is presented first, then their definitions of developmental plans are offered, and then their plans for the socio-economic development of urban old-fashioned sections will be evaluated. After that, a phenomenological approach to the development of urban old-fashioned sections will be presented. In closing, the characteristics of a culture-oriented, humanist, and procedural approach, in place of a context-oriented, environment-centered, and end-seeking one will be presented.

Various factors affect the formation of environmental behaviors. This study aims to investigate the relationship between the level of religiosity and environmental values and behaviors of Ahvazi residents. Several environmental sociologists assert that people with different religious orientations hold different attitudes toward the environment which can lead to different environmental behaviors. The research method was survey and the technique of data collection was questionnaire. Research sample included 384 residents of Ahvaz city who were selected through cluster sampling. The results showed that age, gender, and education were significantly related to environmental behaviors, but there was no such relationship between religiosity and environmental behaviors. However, there was a significant relationship between religiosity and environmental values ( R=0.158) and between environmental values and environmental behaviors (R=0.168), both of which were significant at the 0.01 level.

Recent approaches to and the progress that has taken place in studies regarding urban development and evaluation of public services indicate that community impact assessment has become a focus of attention. In this approach emphasizing the importance of citizens participation in local affairs the enhancement of their involvement in their neigh or hood is also very important. The present article while introducing this approach as one type of evaluation studies emphasizes the significance of this approach in local management and planning. Then the vaults of a survey that was done in Isfahan are reported and discussed. Based on those finding areas of weakness and strength of public services are identified and then related suggestions offered.

Rapidly increasing urbanization without accompanying socio-economic development presents cities with various difficulties, one of which is slum dwelling. Slums have various cleleterious effects on sustainable urban development as for a environmental health, mental health and social well-being are concerned. Slums-having characteristics like low standards of living improper housing high population density poor city services-and slum dweller- with characteristics like low educational level unemployment insecure jobs and…-provide a suitable environment for social vices such as addiction theft drug dealing selling of alconolic beverages prostitution and the like and this could be a huge threat to sustainable urban development. This study aims to study the problems of slum dwelling and therefore uses a researchers made questionnaire that was distributed among 523 slum dwellers of the city of Hamadan and 324 residents of Jafar Abad (a slum in the city of Kermanshah). The finding showed that close to 63 percent of residents were somewhat or complefely dissatisfied with the sanitation of their neighbourhoodi as for as their residences were concerned the average household had only two rooms. About 43 percent of residents evaluated their economic and financial situation as bad and weak.

Social capital and social safety are among key concepts in sociology today. Scholars have emphasized the importance of social safety as a basic human need and also of social capital as the context for increased efficiency and achievement. In this respect, studying the relationship between social capital and feelings of social safety among women, who can play an important role in development, has special significance. The aim of this study, thus, is to investigate this relationship among Tehrani women in 1389(2010). To do that, a questionnaire containing items on social trust, social solidarity, social participation and social awareness and also on perceived social safety was devised. The questions had face validity and reliability alpha of social capital was 0.89 and that of perceived social safety was 0.85. The research population consisted of all women between the ages of 15 and 65 who resided in the north (districts 1 and 2) and south (districts 19 and 20) parts of Tehran. Utilizing a cluster and random sampling technique, 265 women from each one the parts were selected as sample. The results showed that there was significant correlation between social capital and perceived social safety. Statistical analyses using Pearson correlation revealed a coefficient of 0.296 for women in the north and a coefficient of 0.640 for women in the south and that these relationships had a significance level of 0.99. The relationship was direct, meaning that an increase in social capital would lead to enhanced feelings of safety.

This atricle with preparing a model has tried to recognize components of urban management science. The goal is finding the all aspect of this subjective concept to analyze this concept more carefully and exactly. For this purpose we used two methods, Theory Construction and Theory Testing. At the beginning, we got viewpoints of professors in deferent fields near Urban management such as Urban planning, Geography and Social science and etc, to explain the scope and dimensions of urban management, Then with comparing the primary model with real examples, Theory Testing has been made. We used organizational charts of 10 city municipalities in the world, including Tehran, New York, San Diego, Paris, Dubai, Sydney, Santa Barbara, Toronto, Lubbock and Franklin. Research findings showed the final model of urban management components Research findings showed the final model of urban management components is: »Management«, »Engineering Sciences«, »Architecture«, »Accounting and Finance«, »Social Sciences«, »Environmental Biology«, »economy«, »Law«,» Political Science«, "Geography" and military and the police.