Modeling and Evaluation of Social Vulnerability at Isfahan Cities Level

In an increasingly urbanized world, cities and their inhabitants are facing significant human and economic losses from disasters. Recent disasters around the world reflect the vulnerability of our built environment and show the unfortunate consequences of disasters. In the vulnerability of settlements, only physical factors do not matter, but social elements have an important contribution to the degree of vulnerability. Considering the important role of social factors in reducing and increasing the effects of natural hazards, this study focuses on social vulnerability as one of the dimensions of vulnerability to natural hazards. The purpose of this study was to evaluate and prioritize the social vulnerability of counties of Isfahan province to natural hazards. Therefore, the present study is an analytical descriptive with an applied purpose. So, for estimating and ranking the severity of the vulnerability, the artificial intelligence model and geographical weight regression test have been used. The results show that the three indicators of households with disabled people, disabled people and divorced women had the highest impact on the increasing of social vulnerability in Isfahan province. Also in terms of spatially, the highest vulnerability is related to Falavarjan and Lenjan cities, which have the highest social vulnerability to natural hazards in Isfahan province.