Assessing the Mediating Role of Identity in Livability Concept using Structural Equation Modeling (Case study: The central district of Bojnord City)

The livable city is one of the new and effective concepts in the current urban systems that has found a significant place due to its important and fundamental role in the evolution of the ideas and ideals of the contemporary society. Due to the importance of improving living conditions in the central part of cities on one hand and the importance of quality instead of sole focusing on quantity on the other hand, the purpose of the present work is to examine the mediating role of identity in the relationship between the livability of the central part of Bojnourd and some of its key and selected indicators. The theoretical foundations of this study were collected using a library study and the required data for analysis were collected using a questionnaire completed by 384 residents of the central part of the city. To meet the goals of the study, SPSS and Smart PLS software were used to prepare and process the data. The findings of the study indicate the significant role of the variable of identity and sense of belonging as a mediator on other indicators studied in this study, namely social participation, security and education in the viability of the central part of Bojnourd. Therefore, the variables of identity and sense of place belonging are not only an effective factors on the livability of a place but also they play a significant role in the impact of other factors and variables, which adds to the importance of the identity and sense of place belonging in livability studies. Thus, giving special attention to these concepts has a crucial role in improving urban livability.