Analysis of the Relationship between Physical Segregation and Multiple Deprivations in Urban AreasCase Study: Neighborhoods of Isfahan

Due to the sprawling development of cities, the pattern of the initial spatial organization and their original structure have changed. These factors have led to the spatial segregation of various parts of the city, especially urban neighborhoods, and as a result, socioeconomic segregation. On the other hands, deprivation has always been the subject of focus by sociologists, economists and urban planners as one of the important components of urban sustainability after the industrial revolution. Recently, urban planners in morphology and structuralism have claimed that changes in the level of physical segregation play a significant role in changing levels of deprivation in urban areas. Based on the literature, this research intends to examine the relationship between physical segregation and deprivation in the urban areas of Isfahan. Thus, neighborhoods with different socioeconomic conditions, forms, and configurations in this city have led this study to examine the hypothesis that there is a significant and strong correlation between physical segregation and multiple deprivations in Isfahan's neighborhoods. In this regard, this paper tries to test this hypothesis in 155 neighborhoods of Isfahan. So, the physical segregation of neighborhoods was analyzed by space syntax method and deprivation by factor analysis and numerical taxonomy methods for Isfahan’s neighborhoods, and then the correlation between these two characteristics was investigated. In this paper, in analyzing physical segregation used from the integration index as a space syntax index, and in analyzing multiple deprivations, 15 indicators are combined in four domains (employment, education, housing and services, and living environment). The results in the relationship between segregation and deprivation show that there is a significant and positive relationship between the level of multiple deprivations of Isfahan neighborhoods and physical segregation (the value of the integration from space syntax). It is also stronger at the local level than at the global level of physical segregation. Therefore, the internal structure of the neighborhoods, especially the deteriorated neighborhoods, will be more effective in increasing the deprivation of these neighborhoods. It also shows that the segregated form and structure of the neighborhoods plays a more effective role than the location of each neighborhood in the city. In other words, in the case that neighborhoods are located on the edges of the city or the distance from the center, there is fewer roles in increasing the deprivation than the structure and internal form of the neighborhoods. Therefore, it can be claimed that the changes in the level of deprivation (especially in socioeconomic deprivation dimensions) and the physical structure segregation in Isfahan are effective on each other, and it is possible to predict the changes of each indicator by changing the other indicator. These results suggest that the neighborhoods that their network configuration or spatial structure are not integrated to the city or are more segregated, are more at risk of socioeconomic segregation and deprivation.