Evaluation of social stability in the new towns (Case Study: Town Mehregan in Mashhad)

Social sustainability is one of the main pillars of sustainable development and one of the key tools in urban planning and policy making. Lack of attention to social sustainability, endangers various development programs and projects, as well as causing irreparable damage to neighborhoods and their inhabitants. Due to the importance of social dimension of sustainability, the present study aimed to investigate social sustainability in Mehregan Town of Mashhad. This study was applied in term of its purpose and it’s based on the survey method. In this method a questionnaire was used which its validity was confirmed by Cronbach's alpha test (0.79). The statistical population consisted of inhabitants of Mehregan Town (16745) and the sample size was determined 375. Friedman test and T-Hoteling test were used for data analysis and path analysis was used to represent the conceptual model. Respectively, social capital, housing satisfaction and spatial equality had the most effect and in the next priority sense of belonging, social participation and identity had less effect on social sustainability of Mehregan Town, according to the results of Friedman test, t-hoteling and path analysis. Also the results of Friedman and T-Hotelling tests show that three indices of sense of belonging, social participation and identity are lower than the mean and three indices of social capital, housing satisfaction and spatial equality are higher than the mean. In general, social sustainability is not desirable in the area of study.