The Identification of Natural Hazards Effective in the Urban Vulnerability(Case study: Ardabil City)

The city of Ardebil is not an exception in this regard and it always has been exposed to a variety of these natural hazards including: earthquakes, heavy snowfall, and extreme cold climate. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to identify the most important natural hazards effective in the city of Ardabil’s vulnerability. With regard to these issues, the purpose of this study is to identify the most important human hazards which are deciding factors in Ardabil's vulnerability.This study is an applied and experimental one in terms of its purpose. In addition, considering the combination of both qualitative and quantitative methods, it is mixed-method and exploratory in nature. The required data was collected through documentary and field methods (through both interviews and questionnaires). According to the rules of research models and the experts available in the city, 200 participants completed the questionnaire purposefully. The data was analyzed by applying parametric statistical methods. Moreover, in order to analyze the data and to test the hypotheses and the conceptual model, the variance-based structural equation was used (by using partial least squares). The extreme cold and frost, earthquake, wind, and storm allocated the highest values of t-statistic for themselves, i.e. 5.27, 5.583, and 6.04, respectively. Extreme cold and frost (0/798), earthquake (0/715), wind and storm (0/681) have the most path's coefficient Alpha, respectively. Therefore, his study makes it clear for the managers that they should have some programs to prevent such hazards so that they can make the city resilient.