Social Factors Related To Citizen Participation In Urban Affairs (Case Study Of The Citizens Of Chelgard)

Subject Areas :

Akbar zare shahabadi ¹ , yaghoob nasiri ²

1 - Professor of sociology, Faculty of social sciences, yazd university, yazd, Iran
2 - M.A. in Sociology, Faculty of Social Sciences, Yazd University, Yazd, Iran

Received: 2021-04-22 Accepted : 2022-06-25 Published : 2024-02-20

Keywords: Religiosity, Social trust, Arnstein, Citizenship participation, Participation ladder,

Abstract :

Abstract Urbanization and its expansion is one of the most important human achievements. Undoubtedly, the participation of all individuals, layers and classes in the urban management process has an important role in its development and sustainability. Participation in urban affairs affected by the cultural, social, economic contexts of each society is different, but what matters participation at all levels, including the city level, must be created from the heart of society and in effective communication between people and people with urban management. The purpose of this article was to investigate the social factors related to participation in urban affairs. The present study was a survey and a statistical population of citizens aged 15 years and older in Chelgard city. Based on the Cochran's formula, a suitable sample size of 324 people was obtained. Data were collected by using a questionnaire and multi-stage cluster sampling. The validity of the questionnaire is based on content validity and Cronbach's alpha coefficient was used to test its reliability. SPSS statistical software was used to analyze the data. The results showed that there is a significant relationship between the variables of social trust with a significant level (0.001), religiosity with a significant level (0.002), gender with a significant level (0.030), employment status with a significant level (0.004) and monthly income with a significant level (0.025) with participation. Regression analysis showed that the variables of social trust, religiosity, employment status and monthly income in total were able to explain 1.11of the variance of participation in urban affairs. The results showed that the level of participation of the citizens of Chelgard in urban affairs is affected by underlying factors such as gender, employment status and income of citizens and increasing the variables of social trust and religiosity. Extended Abstract     Introduction   Urbanization and its expansion is one of the most important human achievements. Undoubtedly, the participation of all individuals, layers and classes in the urban management process has an important role in its development and sustainability. Participation in urban affairs affected by the cultural, social, economic contexts of each society is different, but what matters participation at all levels, including the city level, must be created from the heart of society and in effective communication between people and people with urban management . In recent years, the class structure and social interactions of the citizens of chelgard have expanded by changing the production method and income of residents, creating new job opportunities, expanding the city and facing domestic and foreign tourists. However, many citizens still have an ethnic-tribal mindset, through which they deal with the social world in general and urban issues in particular, which is an obstacle to participation in urban affairs. The purpose of this article was to investigate the social factors related to participation in urban affairs. Accordingly, in this study, we decided to examine the level of citizen participation in urban affairs, to identify the social factors associated with it. This goal has been tracked by asking two main questions: 1) what is the level of participation in urban affairs in the city of chelgard? 2) what are the social factors associated with participation in urban affairs? Methodology The method of the present research is survey. The statistical population of the study is citizens of 15 years and older in Chelgard. After using the cochran's formula, according to the measurement error of 0.05 and the acceptable confidence level of 1.96, the sample size of 324 people was determined. The required data were collected using a questionnaire and multi-stage cluster sampling. The validity of the questionnaire is based on the validity of the content and cronbach's alpha coefficient was used to test its reliability. In order to analyze the research data, Spss software version 25 and statistical methods of correlation, regression and non-parametric statistical tests were used. Results and discussion Findings showed that there is a positive correlation between social trust and participation in urban affairs, which means that with increasing social trust, their participation in urban affairs also increases. The existence of social trust in society is a powerful force for the formation and development of secondary relations, which gives a special atmosphere to the public space and is an effective source for collective actions such as participation in urban affairs. Social trust as a catalyst encourages citizens to do voluntary, group and participatory work. When citizens trust each other and city managers and planners, they will feel more responsible for their city affairs and ultimately more involved. The results also indicate a direct and significant relationship between religiosity and participation in urban affairs. Thus, with the increase of religiosity, we see the promotion of citizen participation. Given that iranian society is a religious community and citizens from the first years of their lives are formally and informally faced with religious education, so they are familiar with the principles of religious beliefs. On the other hand, islam not only holds the individual accountable and committed to god, but also holds him accountable to society. As a result, those who are more committed to religious affairs will feel obligated to participate in the political and social activities around them. Finally, the results indicate that there is a significant relationship between gender, employment status, and monthly household income with participation in urban affairs.This significance is higher in women with average (71.14) than men with average (67.90) and in non-employed with average (71.77) than employed with average (67.46). Also, the group "no income" with an average (74.95) has the highest and the group "more than 5 million" have the lowest level of citizen participation. The prerequisite for moving in a sustainable urban path is the participation of all citizens in effective areas, including decision-making in the areas of urban planning and urban management. Access to this situation is possible only with the responsibility of individuals in society and the joint efforts and support of women and men. In traditional iranian society, where men have a breadwinner duty and spend most of their time and energy on business, they have fewer opportunities to volunteer and participate in urban affairs, but women and unemployed on the one hand because of the more time they have on the other hand, the existence of urban security in small cities such as Chelgard have more opportunities to participate in the public arena of the city and participate in voluntary and voluntary programs. Conclusion Overall, this study showed that there is a relationship between social factors and participation in urban affairs. Thus, high levels of social trust and religiosity among citizens play an important role in their participation in urban affairs and can play a role as a facilitator for participation in urban affairs. In the end, it is suggested that workshops and training and justification programs be held to persuade and justify men and employees, and to provide a platform for safe and reliable participation and investment for all. Urban institutions can also increase trust as a social asset in the city by increasing frankness, honesty, conscientiousness and integrity in order to increase the participation of citizens in urban affairs.

References:

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