Investigating the Sustainability of the Physical Environment of Poor ‎Neighborhoods With emphasis on social capital, Case Study: Zamzam ‎neighborhood in Tehran Metropolitan, district 17‎

Today, in various approaches to urban development, social capital has been ‎emphasized as the main factor and necessary condition for the development of ‎localities and poverty reduction. Hence, the study of social capital, especially in ‎poorer neighborhoods, is essential. The purpose of this study was to analyze the ‎status and relationship of social capital with physical environment sustainability in ‎Zamzam poor district in order to obtain the necessary knowledge and provide ‎appropriate strategies. The research method is descriptive-analytic. Data were ‎collected by field method and by household questionnaire. The sample size was ‎determined by Cochran method and equal to 250 households. Sampling was done by ‎systematic random sampling. Measurement of social capital indicators and physical ‎environment sustainability was performed using SAW model. The weight of the ‎indicators was also obtained by the AHP group methodology and by asking 15 ‎academic experts in related disciplines. Data analysis was done by descriptive ‎statistics, Pearson correlation and multivariate regression. The findings showed ‎that the total value of the social capital of Zamzam neighborhood is 32.2, ‎which is moderate to high. The overall index of the sustainability of the ‎physical environment is also 1.71, indicating low and inadequate status. ‎Correlation coefficient between physical environment sustainability and ‎social capital is 0.48 which is significant at level 0.05. The explanation ‎coefficient also showed that more than 80% of the level of physical ‎sustainability was due to social trust indicators, participation, solidarity ‎and social network‏.‏