Measuring social-physical factors affecting women's sense of security in urban spaces (Case study: Imam Khomeini St., Gorgan city)

Security is one of the basic social components and women as human capitals of any society have a role in advancing the excellence and goals of the society. The results of the present study aimed to explain the factors affecting women's sense of security in the urban environment.

The current research is fundamental-applicative in terms of its objective and according to the investigated components, the dominant approach is descriptive-analytical, and in terms of the method and nature of this research, it is quantitative with emphasis on field data. The statistical population of this research is university professors and women over 15 years old in Gorgan city, which was determined by Cochran's formula of 200 samples, and finally this sample size was selected through simple systematic sampling. Cronbach's alpha of the questionnaire was 0.87. 7 indicators of physical, social, environmental, urban furniture, access, behavioral and supervision in the form of 34 items and SPSS21 and LISREL software were used for data analysis..

The analysis of the obtained information showed that the social factor with an effect coefficient of 0.941 is the most important factor in women's sense of security. The behavioral factor with an effect coefficient of 0.932 is the second group, and after that urban furniture is the third group with an effect coefficient of 0.931. The reason for this is the importance of social issues in the livability of life in the city of Gorgan and the diversity of ethnic groups in this city.

Based on the estimates of the research model, the highest factor loading among the indicators of the physical factor is the separation of public and private spaces (factor loading 0.73), among the indicators of the social factor, it is the item of disregard for the rights of others on the part ofOther citizens (factor loading 0.77), among the indicators of the environmental factor, the presence of noise pollution (factor loading 0.87), among the indicators of the urban furniture factor, the information booths and help in emergency situations (factor loading 0.79).