Identification of Key Factors Affecting Urban Resilience with a Foresight Approach (Case Study: Mashhad Metropolis)

Nowadays, disaster management theories seek to create resilient societies against natural hazards. Attention to the futuristic approach and its role and position in promoting resilience is very important. The present study has used the futuristic approach to identify the status of the resilience system of Mashhad metropolis. For this purpose, descriptive-analytical studies, documentation and questionnaires and software analysis were used. Based on the studies, 31 primary variables affecting resilience in social, economic, structural-physical and environmental dimensions were selected. Finally, based on the opinions of 30 experts, six key variables of marginalization, migration, population density and urbanization percentage from the social index group and the variables of income level and housing price from the economic index group were identified in the matrix of cross-effects of Mic Mac software. Then, after defining the favorable, median and catastrophic situations for each of the key variables and evaluating each of these situations on each other by experts, the scenario patterns of Mashhad metropolis were analyzed using the Scenario Wizard software. The results have led to the presentation and proposal of a favorable scenario and a catastrophic scenario for the future of the metropolis of Mashhad. In case of creating and providing social, economic, structural-physical and environmental infrastructures and strategic and futuristic planning in the field of financing at different levels of urban planning, a favorable scenario for the future of Mashhad metropolis will be followed. Otherwise, in the long run, with the destruction and lack of necessary infrastructure, the realization of the disaster scenario and the destruction of the elements of resilience in the metropolis of Mashhad will accelerate.