Assessing Urban Social Resilience to Natural Hazards and the Contribution of Its Dimensions: The Case of Tehran, Iran

This study assessed the social resilience of the city of Tehran, Iran, to natural hazards and the contribution of its constituent dimensions. In this applied, descriptive–analytical study, the questionnaire dimensions and items were first developed from the literature and from interviews with experts in disaster management and urban sociology; data were then collected with the resulting questionnaire from ۳۸۴ residents of selected neighborhoods. The questionnaire measured five dimensions: knowledge, social participation, coping skills, sense of belonging and social security. Data were analyzed using confirmatory factor analysis, partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) and one-way analysis of variance. The overall mean social resilience score was ۳.۶۱ on a five-point scale, significantly above the midpoint. In the second-order model, coping skills (β = ۰.۳۴۱), knowledge (β = ۰.۳۱۲), social participation (β = ۰.۲۸۵) and sense of belonging (β = ۰.۱۹۸) contributed significantly to social resilience, whereas social security did not (β = ۰.۰۶۱). Social resilience also differed significantly across neighborhoods, from ۳.۸۸ in Elahiyeh to ۳.۳۱ in Javadieh. The findings indicate that social resilience in Tehran rests mainly on residents' action-oriented capacities (knowledge, skills and participation) and is unevenly distributed across urban space. Public education, emergency-response skills training and stronger neighborhood-based participatory institutions, particularly in disadvantaged neighborhoods, may therefore enhance the city's social resilience.

کلیدواژه ها:

Social Resilience ، Disaster Management ، Natural hazards ، Social participation ، coping skills ، Tehran