Urban Sociology
Amir Ebrahimi Hasanakloo; بنیادی Bonyadi; Atoosa Modiri
Abstract
Highlights- This research seeks to investigate the factors affecting the levels of residents’ place attachment.- The results demonstrate that place attachment consists of four dimensions: spatial identity, spatial affect, spatial dependence, and spatial social bonding.- Of all these four dimensions, ...
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Highlights- This research seeks to investigate the factors affecting the levels of residents’ place attachment.- The results demonstrate that place attachment consists of four dimensions: spatial identity, spatial affect, spatial dependence, and spatial social bonding.- Of all these four dimensions, spatial social bonding was identified as the most powerful predictor of place attachment.- The method of validation factor analysis validated the place attachment structure as a quadratic component consisting of four dimensions. IntroductionMany urban planners and designers have considered the topic of the quality of the emotional relationship between man and their place of residence, or place attachment, in recent years. In the past, the relationships between neighborhood residents who knew each other and were aware of each other’s circumstances contributed to healthy, familiar emotional relationships among them. In other words, neighborhoods, being familiar social units, involved profound cultural roots, pursued certain traditions and customs, and even continued the rites and ways of life and the norms and customs inherited from the past. In modern cities, however, kinship, shared religious beliefs, and moral values give way to anonymity and individualism as the emotional bonds of the local community weaken. Over time, neighborhood connections have lost some of their function. Lack of familiarity with people in the neighborhoods, lack of joint activities, and lack of ethnic, linguistic, religious, and cultural ties as firm as before have reduced people’s levels of emotional connection, i.e. their senses of place attachment with their residential neighborhoods. Therefore, this article aimed to provide structural modeling to investigate the aspects effective on attachment to residential areas.Theoretical FrameworkIn recent years, many researchers have examined the aspects of place attachment through structural equation modeling, providing a framework for their classification. Understanding the dimensions of place attachment through structural equation modeling allows researchers to better explore the potentials of this concept and its complexity, which makes up the objective of this study along with identification of the dimensions. The construct of spatial attachment consists of spatial identity, spatial dependence, spatial social bonding, and spatial emotion.MethodologyThe development of a valid, trustworthy method to measure and evaluate the dimensions of place attachment has been the focus of numerous studies in recent years, with quantity-oriented academics highlighting the multidimensionality of the construct. However, no one, simple scale of measuring is agreed upon by academics and researchers in the field due to the diversity of the methodologies used in the operationalization of the idea and the levels of relevant multi-dimensionality. Because of this significance, this research sought to investigate the dimensions affecting the level of residents’ place attachment. Since this was not easily possible, the indexing technique was used for examination. In this technique, indicators were considered to identify the dimensions, and questions were asked in the questionnaire to measure them. For assessment of the respondents’ opinions about the research topic, their responses were measured with a 5-point Likert scale. Moreover, a simple random sampling method was used to select the sample in the Haft Chenar neighborhood. The sample size was 687, and data analysis was made using the SPSS software version 22. For this purpose, confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling were used. Results and DiscussionThe findings demonstrated that the level of attachment of the Haft Chenar neighborhood residents is high. On the other hand, the results of the analysis of the structural model of the research supported the hypothesis that place attachment is a quadratic component consisting of the four identified dimensions of spatial identity, spatial affect, spatial dependence, and social connection with the place. It is noteworthy that among all these four dimensions, social connection with the place was identified as the most powerful predictor of place attachment in the research, indicating that the level of social connection in a neighborhood is high, which can directly increase the level of residents’ attachment to the place. Meanwhile, spatial identity received the lowest score for the Haft Chenar neighborhood. Therefore, it seems that residents’ identity to place can be expected to increase due to the experiences formed in the context given that this factor has won the lowest score among the residents, who can realize this by planning and designing an active node and center in the context of these residential neighborhoods and by creating attractive, pleasant places for socializing and embedding community places in the long run. Moreover, a number of solutions were provided for urban planners and designers to increase attachment in the Haft Chenar neighborhood given that these four dimensions of convergent narrative for the structure indicated spatial attachment.ConclusionThe spatial attachment model was experimentally tested given spatial attachment as a secondary component and the claim of this research that spatial dependence, spatial identity, spatial affection, and social connection with place constitute different primary dimensions of place attachment. Hence, the validation factor analysis method confirmed the validity of the spatial attachment structure as a quadratic component consisting of four dimensions. As demonstrated by the fitness indices of the model, it is suitable for research data. AcknowledgmentThis article is taken from Amir Ebrahimi Hasanakloo's Master's thesis entitled "Investigation and evaluation of factors affecting the increase of residents' attachment to residential neighborhoods (with an approach to Haft Chenar neighborhood - District 10 of Tehran)" which was supervised by Dr. Naser Bonyadi and Dr. Atoosa Modiri in the urban planning department of the Islamic Azad University of Central Tehran branch.
Urban Planning
Mojtaba Rafieian; golkou giahhchi
Abstract
Highlights: Prioritization of Environmental quality indicators were done by structural equation modelling (SEM) method. Smart PLS software was used in order to analyzing data. Environmental quality indicators of coastal areas were investigated based on users’ opinions. Permeability is the most ...
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Highlights: Prioritization of Environmental quality indicators were done by structural equation modelling (SEM) method. Smart PLS software was used in order to analyzing data. Environmental quality indicators of coastal areas were investigated based on users’ opinions. Permeability is the most efficient factor in desirability of coastal areas. Introduction Human societies have always been interested in beaches and their surrounding areas. This can be attributed to the existence of two territories of land and water in these areas, which lead to the creation of competitive advantages in social, economic, physical, and other aspects. The considerable demand of the population for exploitation of coastal areas has caused systematic problems and disruptions in these areas. As explained by Iran’s Vice President for Strategic Planning and Supervision, these problems have a variety of dimensions, such as environmental, land use, political and security, and regulatory and legal aspects. Therefore, these areas require the adoption of an integrated planning and management approach. Hence, the comprehensive integrated coastal zone management plan has begun to link planning at the national, regional, and local levels since the early 90’s around the world and after less than a decade later in Iran (in the late 90’s). Theoretical Framework Since 1976, the concept of environmental quality has been examined in the field of urban studies (urban planning and design), which addresses all the aspects of urban environments and spaces (Rafieian et al., 2013). It has been discussed and developed by many theorists over the past few decades. In terms of content, the previous decade can be regarded as the period of maturity of this notion, but there are still a large number of challenges involved in the implementation and operation. [N1] The need for a comprehensive, integrated approach to coastal areas at the micro and macro scales, as well as the multidimensional concept of environmental quality, has provided an opportunity to view coastal areas from the perspective of this notion, to identify its indicators, and to prioritize them. Based on a review of the literature on coastal areas and environmental quality, the authors found that coastal users can provide one of the most important links between them. Fig. 1. Theoretical framework Methodology Most of the dimensions that affect citizen satisfaction are determined by the concept of environmental quality. This study sought to prioritize the components of environmental quality based on user opinions. According to the literature, national and international documents, and authors’ views, a questionnaire was made to collect different indicators of the nine components. Moreover, coastal areas have some aspects that have been identified by other studies. Fig. 1 shows the theoretical framework of this study, which involved different aspects of coastal areas and environmental quality. The method of analysis used in this study is based on Structural Equation Model (SEM). The data were analyzed using the SmartPLS 3 software. For testing the model, data were collected from 160 questionnaires based on the Likert spectrum distributed in the coastal area of Bandar Anzali. According to the SmartPLS outputs, space users had an indirect impact on the nine indicators of environmental quality derived from the theoretical framework. Results and Discussion Desirable environmental quality zones have nine features, of which permeability is the most powerful. According to this model, changes in environmental quality affect those in the permeability of the coastal zone by up to 87%. In this study, permeability is defined through four indicators, including absence of space confusion, quality of bike paths and sidewalks, visibility of natural and significant sights, and walkability and cyclability. According to coastal users, therefore, these four features are the most significant in this type of area. In addition to permeability, the flexibility variable is more influential than the others. In this research, flexibility was defined by four indicators: flexibility of outdoor spaces, services for individuals with disabilities, flexibility of buildings, and individuals’ unblocked access to spaces. If environmental quality is there in a coastal zone, therefore, the above four indicators are expected to be in desirable conditions. According to earlier experts’ and researchers’ findings on the indicators of environmental quality and a comparison to the results of the present study, we found that the proportionality indicator has been neglected in the definitions of environmental quality, as well as efficiency. Moreover, the comparison demonstrated that the present study examined a larger number of indicators over Iran, and considered issues such as meaningfulness, proportionality, flexibility, and functional compatibility for the first time. Conclusion Coastal areas are one of the most important zones around the world as they have a variety of advantages. Since there are different aspects to be considered in regard to coastal areas, it requires a comprehensive approach to plan and manage this kind of area. Theoretically, environmental quality can be addressed given a range of indicators corresponding to different dimensions of coastal areas. This research considered coastal users as the link between environmental quality and coastal areas, using structural equation modeling to examine the theoretical model. According to the PLS outputs, the indicators of environmental quality in coastal areas are prioritized as follows: permeability, flexibility, functional compatibility, efficiency, meaningfulness, proportionality, variety, presence of different groups of individuals, and sustainability. Thus, permeability is the most significant factor affecting the desirability of this kind of space.
