Evaluation of Citizens' Views, Awareness, and Participation Regarding the Development and Impact of Urban Green Spaces (Case Study: District 5 of Ahvaz Municipality)

The most important effects of green spaces in cities are their environmental functions, which are created by a balance in the metabolism of the city and raising the level of beauty that leads to the increase of biological qualities of cities. The purpose of this research is to evaluate the views, awareness, and participation of citizens regarding the development and impact of urban green space in the city of Ahvaz. The research method was conducted in the form of distribution and completion of a questionnaire with multiple choice questions for 4 consecutive weeks. The sampling method was cluster random and the statistical population was considered to be people over 18 years. After completing the questionnaire, the available information was entered into the computer using SPSS22. Pearson's correlation coefficient, T-test, chi-square, F-test, LSD, Duncan's test, and analysis of variance were used. The results showed that the relationship between the independent variables, including gender, level of education, age, and occupation, with the view index, is significant at the 1% level. The assumption of the equality of mean in the view index between men and women was rejected with 95% certainty. View index in the educational and occupational categories was significant at the level of 5%. Also, there was a significant relationship between the age of the respondents and their views. Therefore, with the increase in age, educational and occupational level, their view on the importance of green space development increases. The relationship between age, gender, education, and occupation of the respondents with awareness index was significant at 0.05 level. While none of the variables had a significant relationship with the participation index.