Analysis of Social Resilience based on Social Capital Indicators in Tehran

Cities and residential communities have been created or built in places that are exposed to all kinds of natural disasters or due to advances in technology. So far, a confrontational and risk reduction approach has been taken in disaster and urban management.  According to that the metropolis of Tehran is the most important city in Iran in terms of politics and administration and in view point of population density has a high one, so paying attention to its resilience against all kinds of crises is doubly important. The high population density of the city, the location of some of its areas on the fault, the instability in terms of geology, the worn-out texture, air pollution, the lack of a plan and operational capability for disaster and crisis management, etc. are among the most important damages can be seen in Tehran. The purpose of this study is to analyze social resilience in three regions such as 1th, 6th and 19th ones of Tehran. The reasons for choosing these areas, in addition to the above-mentioned geographical distribution and spatial coverage, also include topographic and class differences (socio-economic), to some extent climatic differences, physical differences and the existence of dangerous areas such as proximity and crossing faults such as Mosha, North Tehran, Rey ones.

The present study is descriptive-analytical and applied research. The method of data collection was documentary and survey. The statistical population was citizens of 1th, 6th and 19th districts of Tehran. Also, the sample size was estimated to be 230 by using of the Cochran's formula. The Sampling method was random. Credibility of the questionnaire was performed through content validity and Cronbach's alpha coefficient was used to measure the reliability of the questionnaire and its value was 0.854, which shows that the internal correlation between the items was high and the reliability of the questionnaire was desirable. The reliability of each variable was also calculated separately, all above 0.7. The information was obtained via a questionnaire and through SPSS software, descriptive statistics, factor analysis, Pearson correlation, one-way analysis of variance and follow-up tests were used to achieve the objectives of this research.

The results of factor analysis and the VARIMAX rotation showed that eight factors for social resilience from the perspective of social capital including shared values and beliefs, sense of spatial belonging, awareness, participation, social-institutional networks crisis management, intimacy and accountability, social trust and institutional trust building were identified. Social capital had a positive and significant effect on resilience, empowerment and innovative performance. Geographical communities, with high levels of social capital, collective effectiveness, and access to socio-economic resources, also performed significantly better after a crisis. The impact of sense of spatial belonging on increasing social capital can be achieved through variables such as participation, in other words, in an indirect causal relationship, strengthening the sense of spatial belonging increased participation and social capital. Lack of individuals’ participation in issues such as education, shortage of information and awareness of relevant organizations in relation to education or in other words, creation skills, awareness and citizens’ empowerment in the face of crises reduced social resilience.

According to the results of correlation analysis in region 1th, the highest correlation was related to the variables of social relations and beliefs and the lowest correlation was related to the variables of awareness and social relations. The use of cultural sites as a strong point is aimed at raising citizens' awareness, which the research did not support. In fact, other factors besides cultural spaces such as empowerment and skills of citizens, their awareness of the performance of officials and the preparation and implementation of projects can be effective on the resilience of 1th region and as the findings showed, this was not the case for it. In 6th region, there was no significant relationship between some variables, and among them, the highest level of meaningful relationship was related to the public and institutional trust and sense of spatial belonging variables and the least correlation between variables was related to awareness and beliefs. However, based on one-way analysis of variance, this region had the most favorable status among other study areas. In 19th district of Tehran, there was no complete significant relationship between any of the variables, and among them, the highest level of meaningful relationship was related to the public trust variable which had a significant relationship with social relations, sense of spatial belonging, awareness and beliefs variables. An examination of the correlation between the variables showed that the highest correlation was related to awareness of social relations and public and institutional trust. Compared to the other two regions, this region indicated a weaker situation in relation to social resilience and more exposed to various harms. In general, based on the results, it can be noted that the use of local social networks and transparency of city officials in relation to crisis management and informing citizens about various issues and public spaces for in times of crisis and strengthening the sense of spatial belonging cause social resilience in different areas of Tehran.