ayyoub mahmoudi

The engine of development, and particularism can have a significant role alongside it. The present study aims to investigate the impact of cultural elements on sustainable development in Ardabil with the mediating role of particularism, focusing on Ardabil City in the year 2021. The present study is descriptive-correlational and applied in nature. The statistical population consisted of citizens aged 18-65 in Ardabil, with a total population of 605,992. Therefore, using Cochran's formula, a sample of 450 citizens was selected through multi-stage cluster and random sampling. A researcher-made questionnaire witha reliability of 0.85 was used to collect the data. Finally, the data were analyzed using Pearson correlation, regression, and path analysis with the help of SPSS software. The findings showed a positive relationship between cultural elements and ethnocentrism with sustainable development, and a negative relationship between cultural elements and particularism. Regression and path analysis showed that 61% of the variations in sustainable development can be explained by independent variables. Furthermore, cultural elements have a direct effect of 0.62 and particularism has a direct effect of 0.53 on sustainable development. To achieve sustainable development, attention should be paid to cultural elements and particularism in order to create a better future for the members of society. Therefore, attention to cultural, economic, and social capabilities, as well as optimal utilization of potentials, can play a significant role in this regard.

Sustainable development aims at meeting the current and future needs and achieving a balanced social, economic and bio-environmental status. In fact, it can be considered as the digital currency of the development. Contrary to the fact that social system in Iran contains the required potential for socio-economic development, there exists a one dimentional development reflected in the form of socio-economic anomie. Therefore, the main purpose of the present study is the sociological analysis of the structure and function of socio-economic and sustainable development in Iran from 1978 to 2021. Documentary method and content analysis were used in the study considering Seyfollahi’s approach including geographic-climatic, socio-living, tribal-demographic, cultural and political-managerial elements. Moreover, in the process of conducting the research, two variables of local development and particularism were included in study. The overall results of the study indicate that ignoring the development structures would be the main reasons for the current unsustainable development in Iran. Therefore, the detailed results revealed that: 1. Unsustainable development in Iran is the result of domestic, foreign and global circumstances. 2) Petrol budgeting has led to petrol-oriented reductionism in Iran. 3) Recently, there exists a shift away from petrol-oriented reductionism to political party-oriented reductionism. It is concluded that all of the above-cited factors have played a leading role in the appearance of more serious problems and social harms including poverty, drug addiction, prostitution, anomalous fashionable suicide, inflation, academic-degree orientation, lampoonism, indiscriminate use of natural resources and environmental destruction.

Empowerment of neighborhoods requires the participation of all neighborhood citizens to achieve control and influence on the factors that determine the quality of life in that neighborhood, which is one of the essential goals in the sustainable development of communities. The present study investigates and analyzes the facilitation and participation approach in empowering informal settlements in Ardabil using survey and questionnaire techniques. The statistical population of the present study consists of all residents of the thirteen neighborhoods of Ardabil. This population includes districts 3 and 4 of the municipality, and according to the 2016 population and housing census, the neighborhood population is 84,732. Based on Cochran sampling, 384 people were selected as a statistical sample, and with a combination of multi-stage and quota cluster sampling, samples were determined. Pearson correlation coefficient and multivariate regression tests were used to test the research hypotheses. The results show a significant relationship between the dimensions of local community capital (formal and informal communication networks of neighborhoods, cooperation, trust, participation) and the empowerment of informal settlements socially, economically, physically, and environmentally. Regression analysis showed that 64% of changes in local community capital in empowering informal settlements in Ardabil could be explained and predicted. Finally, the regression analysis showed that the beta variable of local community capital is 0.34, and the beta value of formal and informal communication networks is 0.26. Also, the beta value of cooperation is 0.29, which shows that the variable of local community capital is that Its dimensions of cooperation have the most significant share in the changes of empowerment of informal settlements in Ardabil.

This article primarily aims to examine the urban neighborhoods’ identity of with emphasis on the sense of belonging to the place. The case of present study includes thirteen neighborhoods in Ardebil city. The research findings presented and discussed in this article are based on a survey, which includes 400 males and females. According to the results of this study based on the path analysis, the bottom-line conclusion supports two key patterns: first, the sense of belonging to the place is significantly and positively associated with both social solidarity and social interaction variables. Second, the variables of social participation, responsibility and knowledge do not play significant role in the sense of belonging to the place.