Analysis of the barriers to rehabilitating urban worn out buildings against hazards, (Case study: city of Urmia)

It seems that the rate of vulnerability of urban worn out buildings, especially in metropolises, beyond the oldness of construction, is due to various social, economic, managerial, and environmental factors that need to be investigated. Therefore, any planning to deal with hazards should pay enough attentions to the mentioned factors. The present study aims at investigating the barriers affecting rehabilitation of worn out residential buildings in five regions of Urmia city. The research type is exploratory and its method is descriptive-analytic. A total of 35 indicators have been selected in order to investigate the barriers of the rehabilitation of worn out buildings. The statistical population of the study comprises 53254 heads of households living in worn-out buildings. Household’s postal codes were obtained through the Urmia municipality's sources of information. Based on simple random sampling, 383 people were selected as the sample size from the household codes using the Cochran formula. Formal validity of the questionnaire was calculated by Cronbach’s alpha formula based on oppinions of professors and experts as well as the final coefficient part of the questionnaire. Calculated Cronbach figures include 0.874 to 0.894. To complete a factor analysis, the number of variables were reduced to four significant factors namely; economic, managerial, social and environmental factors respectively. The findings showed that the economic factor with 85.7 per cent was the main barrier to rebuilding the worn out constructions in Urmia. Totaly, the four mentioned factors are capable of explaining 94.17 percent of the subject. Also, the results of the fuzzy topsis model and the spatial analysis rank regions as 1, 2, 3, 5, and 4, respectively. According to the findings, preparing and implementing the retrofitting programs with a financial support approach are necessary for the rehabilitation of Urmia worn out houses.