A Research on Delivering the Analysis Framework of Social Capital in Urban Structure, Focusing on Public Urban Spaces Role (Case Study: Tehran city)

Subject Areas : architecture

Farah Habib ¹ ( D Associate professor, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran )
Seyed Majid Naderi ² ( Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran Tehran. Tehran, Iran )
Laala Jahanshahlo ³ ( . Assistant , Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran )
Hamideh Forouzangohar ⁴ ( D stuudent , Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran Tehran. Tehran, Iran )

Received: 2009-02-19 Accepted : 2009-04-26 Published : 2012-12-21

Keywords:

Abstract :

The background of studies on social capital have been closely related to various aspects of development in a way that some researchers have even linked it with establishment of 'good governance', emergence and acceleration of the activities of organizational networks, and lowering the burden of local governments. A positive relation has been found in other research works between social capital on the one hand and the level of success in development plans, taking more and greater advantage of shared lands , boosting the joint action potential, improving health standards, increasing the national income, and encouraging the level of public participation in urban projects. Just like the physical capital that contributes to reshaping the raw material relying on taking advantage of tools that facilitate the production, 'human capital', too, changes the quality of the people's conduct by improving their skills and boosting their capabilities. People are thus taught to behave differently and to do their jobs more effectively. 'Social Capital', too, is in its turn accumulated when relations among the people would be subject to such evolution that they would interact more easily. Social capital is a concept without a long and detailed theoretical background. The concept was first used in academic texts and articles in 1990s and its usage has gradually increased up to the present day. That gradual increase in such fields as sociology, economy, politics, and education is indebted to research works by professors, such as James Coleman, Robert Putnam, Fukuyama, and Bourdieu.  Coleman considers the 'social structure' as the generating source for the 'social capital', but reiterates, "Social capital is defined based on its functions."  He believes the social capital is not a solid concept, but a combination of various factors that share two characteristics: 1) they are all different aspects of the social structure; and 2) they facilitate certain actions of the people within the social structure. Social capital, like all other forms of capital, is generative, and facilitates achieving certain goals gaining which would have been impossible in its absence. Social capital is considered as a hidden potential among society members interactions which causes most actions and behaviors in societies. The prerequisite of such phenomena is a space in which people are presented and their social interactions are created.   The present article aims on codification and analysis of social capital concept in urban structure and delivering a framework towards analysis based on documentary and descriptive measurement survey and studies on the proposed framework indicators. The result of the researches show that the social capital analysis indicators in urban structure can be considered in different fields such as citizens’ sense of security, social interactions, public participation, community partnership and the amount of social interaction tension. Amongst all, the public urban spaces play the basic role in ground building for social participations and strength of social and community interactions through providing the possibility of public well-known religious and unreligious ceremonies and friendship interactions. Furthermore, the analysis of such indicators in case study provides the ground for delivering strategies in betterment and optimization of actions towards more social capital.

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