A Comparative Study of Social, Economic, Cultural and Spatial Inequalities across Urban Neighborhoods

Nowadays, some citizens do not have full access to existing resources and urban facilities. To this end, urban planning has become an important means for reducing inequality in urban neighborhoods in developing countries. The objective of this research was therefore to investigate and demonstrate the existent inequalities in the city of Kermanshah through a comparative study of urban neighborhoods and the assessment of human groups in these neighborhoods. Method & Material: A comparative research of descriptive – analytical design and applied nature was conducted in which factor analysis and Arc/Gis software were used. For purposes of comparison, statistical data blocks of 2006 and 36 indicators were used that were converted into 4 combined factors through statistical methods. The aforementioned results were then assessed through the factor analysis model. The statistical population consisted of Kermanshah’s ‘22 Bahman’ & ‘Shaterabad’ neighborhoods (2006). We compared social, economic, cultural and spatial indicators among the human groups residing in these neighborhoods and evaluated their statuses. Based on our results, Shaterabad consisted of 24 ‘very poor’ blocks (9.1%), 77 ‘poor’ blocks (29.2%), 95 ‘middle-class’ blocks (36%), 54 ‘rich’ blocks (20.5%) and 12 ‘very rich’ blocks (4.5%). However, the status of the ’22 Bahman’ neighborhood was as follows: 13 ‘very rich’ blocks (12.4%), 62 ‘rich’ blocks (59%), 10 ‘middle-class’ blocks (9.5%), 13 ‘poor’ blocks (12.4%) and 2 ‘very poor’ blocks (1.9%). In comparison to the ’22 Bahman’ neighborhood, the Shaterabad neighborhood exhibits an unfavorable status. According to our results, inequalities exist between Kermanshah’s neighborhoods. Spatial, economic, cultural and social differences are clearly evident in Kermanshah. Hence, its urban issues must be put on the agenda and addressed as soon as possible.