Factors Affecting Participation of Citizens in Urban Affairs and an Optimal Participatory Pattern (Case Study: Dare Shahr)

Experiences in Iran and in the world have shown imperative, unilateral, top-down programs without intervention of the people (as the main beneficiaries of the programs) give no way. Instead of improving living condition and public satisfaction, such programs lead to their distrust and frustration towards the desired management of the urban affairs by urban managers. Thus considering such facts, it is necessary to seek help from participation strategies and at higher levels, from participation and empowerment of local communities and being involved non-governmental forces (citizens, private sector, landowners, etc.). Current research is applied in terms of purpose of the study and it is descriptive – analytical in terms of research method and data were collected through studies of the library documents and field studies. Data were analyzed using IBMSPSS version 20 and statistical measures such as Descriptive Statistics: Frequencies, Descriptive, Explore were used for calculating frequency, frequency percentage, cumulative frequency and means. In inferential statistics, data were analyzed using such tests as correlation, Chi-square and Wilcoxon. Finally considering subject of the thesis, some recommendations were given for promotion of public participation in Dare Shahr (in terms of 1. Support and assistance to municipalities, 2.­Participation in civic activities, 3.­Willingness to participate with municipalities, 4. Urban health and organizing nuisance classes and pollution of the city, 5.­Public Services and welfare, 6. Social, cultural and religious 7.landscaping and visual aesthetics and the city’s lighting). Results obtained from the questionnaire from 7 indices in Dare Shahr city as output of Chi-square test are reported. It should be noted that the obtained results were approved by Wilcoxon test. It shows that considering urban managers of Dare Shahr neglect toward public participation, but citizens of Dare Shahr have high willingness and capacity for participation in urban affairs and urban managers should provide necessary grounds for full scale participation of all public forces. Finally, optimal strategies for overcoming the problem were provided. Diagrams were also drawn in Microsoft Excel 2010. Statistical society included the whole population of Dare Shahr and sample size was estimated as 366 through Cochran formula. Then survey and questionnaire were used for collecting needed data from Dare Shahr people.