The role of quality of life and defenseless urban spaces in the tendency to urban violence (Case study: Rasht )

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Ph.D. Student, Department of Sociology, Central Tehran Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran

2 Associate Professor, Department of Sociology, Central Tehran Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran

3 Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology, Tabriz Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tabriz, Iran

Abstract

Subject : Paying attention to the reduction of insecurity is one of the most important issues for achieving sustainable social development. Urban crime and violence are factors that undermine security in cities. Urban violence is one of the social harms that can be examined to determine the social health status in a city.
Goal : The purpose of this study is investigation of relationship between urban quality of life and urban defenseless spaces where have tendency to urban violence.
Method : in this research, descriptive-analytical method, documentary methods and questionnaire tools were used for collecting data. The statistical population of the study consists of 18-35 year elderly people in Rasht. This group of population include 224203 people. So sample size is calculated 384 people by Cochran's formula and multi-zone cluster sampling method. The concept of quality of urban life was assessed using Rabbani Khorasgani and Kianpour (2007) research, urban defenseless space was assessed using Mansouri, Ghanimati and Nafar (2017) and urban violence was assessed using Mohseni, Mikaeli and Talibpour (2016) research questionnaires. Data were analyzed using SPSS and Amos software and Pearson correlation tests and structural equation modeling.
Results : There is a significant negative correlation between urban life and urban violence and its quality (social line, psychological violence, violence and economic behavior). But there is a positive correlation between urban defenseless spaces and urban violence and its behavior (social violence, psychological violence, violence and economic violence).
Conclusion : Based on the results obtained from structural models, the quality of urban life has an effect of -0.18 on urban violence. It means when the quality of urban life increases, the tendency to urban violence decreases. Also, the effect of urban defenseless spaces on the tendency to urban violence is equal to 0.28. It means when access to vulnerable urban space increases, the tendency of young people to engage in urban violence increases.

Keywords


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