Analysis physical and social effective factors on the attainment of an age-friendly city - case study: Varamin city

The increase in life expectancy, along with the decrease in the birth rate in Iran, has caused a similar condition in recent years, and it is expected that many big and small cities, such as Varamin, will experience this condition in the future years. The current research was conducted to analyze the physical and social components of attaining an age-friendly city in the urban space of Varamin. The present research method is descriptive-analytical and, according to the purpose, is among applied studies. The data and information of this research were collected through the study of library and survey sources, and qualitative and quantitative methods were used for their analysis. The results of the research indicate that the highest rank in the components is related to "social participation," and the lowest average is related to the component "respect for the elderly and social respect," and respectively, the highest percentage of dissatisfaction of the elderly is related to the lack of conventional medical services, family counselors, and access to a safe transportation network for the elderly. Also, the findings of the research showed that the average of all the examined criteria is not at the standard level, and they are far from reaching the desired level. Also, in order to identify the factors effective for the age-friendly city of Varamin, the factor analysis method was used, which explains 64.05% of the total variance of 26 items out of 10 factors obtained with an eigenvalue higher than 1. Among them, 2 factors "Transportation and social activities" and "Physical infrastructure" have been the most important in this field with the explanation of 12 items.