Evaluating the Resilience of Local Communities in Isfahan to Zayandehrood River and Madies’ Drying up

Zayandehrood River is the largest river of central Iran, which passes through the city of Isfahan. This river has constantly contributed to the growth of Isfahan and, throughout the history, has provided the city with a green landscape, despite the hot and arid climate of the region. Moreover, Madies are neighborhood aqua-ducts from Zayandehrood, initially developed for agricultural purposes and, as the city developed, turned into greenways for urban fabric. These aqua-ducts have been one of the major infrastructural elements of neighborhoods with key ecological and social roles. Recently, Zayandehrood’s drying up has become one of the most important incidents with devastating impacts on Isfahan and its local communities. Madies’ drying up has had negative impacts on the neighborhoods’ sense of place as well as local communities’ lives. Thus, the aim of this study is to evaluate the resilience of two local communities in the vicinity of Madies in Isfahan, namely Abbas Abad and Barazandeh districts.

 This research incorporated survey and secondary data analysis to evaluate the resilience of these communities. The research was conducted based on a pre-developed community resilience framework. Overall, 22 authorities and experts from the Municipality of Isfahan and 379 residents from the two local communities were surveyed. Afterwards, the resulting data was analyzed quantitatively through SPSS software.

The findings show that the overall community resilience level is below the moderate level. The lowest score, belonging to local institutional/governance factors, is 1.7 and the highest score is 3.25, a few points higher than the moderate level. The latter score belongs to spatio-physical factors in Abbas Abad district.

 Community resilience is not limited to the ability of communities in withstanding  adverse situations. Although the local communities of Isfahan are apparently accustomed to the status quo, the overall score of community resilience of these communities is below the moderate level. Therefore, there should be strategies to enhance the resilience of local communities in the city.