Analysis and Evaluation of the Livability of Towns from the Citizens’ Viewpoint: A Case study of Kashmar

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Associate Prof.inGeography, Payame Noor University, Tehran, Iran

2 MSc. in Geography& Urban Planning, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran

Abstract

With the ongoing rapid growth of urbanization and its adverse effects on housing, employment and income, public health, physical and mental health, environment, resources and social norms in cities, it is necessary to adopt certain strategies for revitalization of cities, although a number of theories and approaches, including livable city approach, have already been proposed. This study aims to analyze and evaluate the urban livability of Kashmar from the citizens’ viewpoint. The research method is descriptive-analytic, and the data were collected using documents and surveys. The statistical population consisted of the citizens of the city of Kashmar, of whom 384 were selected as the sample through the Cochran's formula. The validity of the questionnaire was measured based on the comments of university professors and urban management experts, and its reliability was found high (0.831) using Cronbach's alpha. The results showed no significant relationship between the individual characteristics (age and sex) and the livability indicators. However, there was a significant relationship between the livability indicators and three other variables including education, occupation and residence status. The results of Friedman test for the ranking of various dimensions of urban livability and the comparison of the mean ranks revealed that economic dimension with the mean rank of 2.64 had the highest livability rate among the other dimensions. In terms of the social dimension, the sense of identity and place attachment had the highest rank (4.67). In terms of the environmental dimension, the public space had the highest mean rank (2.26), indicating the higher satisfaction of respondents with the public space indicator compared to the other environmental indicators.

Keywords

References

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The Journal of Geographical Research on Desert Areas
Volume 8, Issue 1
October 2020
Pages 243-267

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