Satisfaction of Urban Residents about the Urban Furniture (Case Study: Five Different Regions of Zahedan)

Document Type : Review article

Authors

1 Assistant Professor of Geography and Urban Planning, Zabol University, Zabol, Iran

2 PhD in Geography and Urban Planning, Islamic Azad University of Semnan, Semnan, Iran

3 MA in Geography and Urban Planing University of Sistan & Baluchestan, Zahedan, Iran

Abstract

Introduction
In urban areas, public spaces are considered as the areas widely used citizens. They can also potentially play an important role in promoting the social quality of life by creating a similar sense of place for the urban community. Hence, the urban space is the place where people spend most of their time and establish maximum communication with each other and their surroundings. Therefore, the arrangement of space and the facilities that are nowadays known as urban furniture is very important. Thus, urban furniture is a set of structural elements that depend on the cultural characteristics of cities and play an important role in recognizing the city, especially in promoting social welfare. According to Bairex, urban furniture elements have the characteristics to make communication among people, meaning functional and beauty. Hence, there are many qualities that give identity to the region and complement it. For these reasons, urban furniture elements are of great importance not only for functional purposes, but also because of the effects they have on restoring urban prospects. Since the three main goals of urban planning are health, comfort and beauty, achieving all three items, along with paying attention to the pleasant design of urban space, are thoroughly boring in the design and planning of urban furniture. The beautiful furniture in the sunny atmosphere will not be charming, and the beauty of the area where the furniture will be laid will not appear. For this purpose, the design of the urban space and urban furniture is the basis for reaching the present-day healthy city. On the other hand, paying attention to human proportions in the manufacture of urban furniture, as well as to the conditions of the climatic conditions and indigenous materials is also a necessity in the design of urban furniture.
Methodology
This research has an applied-developmental purpose with descriptive-analytical method. The population of the study is all residents of Zahedan city. According to the census of 2016, population of the city was 587730 people. Using Cochran formula, 323 people were selected as samples. Therefore, a simple random sampling method was used to distribute questionnaires at the level of five areas of Zahedan proportional to the population of each region at the level of districts. Thus,  validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by expert opinions via Cronbach's alpha. This was used to measure the reliability of the questionnaire. The Cronbach's alpha for each group of factors and indicators is as follows: Environmental Quality 0.864, Fit and beauty, 0.775, correct layout of furniture 0.782 and non-coherent urban structure 0.876. In order to analyze the data collected by one-sample T-test, Pearson correlation coefficient was used in SPSS software. For leveling of the five areas of Zahedan city, we used urban models of the model components.
Results and discussion
The present research used to measure urban furniture from a large number of components in the four dimensions of "environmental quality", "beauty and fit", "proper placement" and "urban inhuman structure". In addition, one-sample T-test and Pearson correlation coefficient were used to analyze the components of urban furniture. Results of the components related to the "quality of the environment" indicate that the majority of the components are less than the initial set value of the test, that is, the number 3, as a whole, the overall status of the "environmental quality" indicator with an average of 2.63 is lower than the level of the initial test value. The four factors related to the "beauty and fit of urban furniture" shows that all its components are considered to be low. Also, the mean value obtained for all components related to the factor of "urban inhomogeneity" was lower than the mean value of the test, and the average overall factor of the "urban inhomogeneity structure" was equal to 2.34. Pearson correlation coefficient test results indicate that in all cases, there is a significant relationship between four factors of urban furniture and satisfaction index. Among urban furniture factors, the most correlation is due to the correct placement of urban furniture and urban inhomogeneity with a correlation coefficient of 0.481. Findings of the Vicor model also indicate that the districts one and five in terms of urban furniture elements are in high level of development.
Conclusion
The theme of urban furniture, as one of the most prominent examples of the maintenance, identity, visual beauty of the city, and citizens' satisfaction, has become an important knowledge of the suitability of the city's space and the quality of life of individuals. In this regard, the aim of the present research is to analyze the urban furniture components including environmental quality, proper furniture layout, fitness and beauty, and heterogeneous urban structure and its effects on satisfaction level of citizens in Zahedan. The results of a single-sample T test indicate that the mean value of the four components of the urban furniture is less than the assumed mean value of the test, so that the environmental quality factor with a mean of 2.63 is more than the correct furniture placement factors. The heterogeneous structure of the city and its beauty are consistant with the average values and in a relatively favorable situation. In the next step, the effects of four factors of urban furniture on satisfaction index were investigated using Pearson correlation coefficient test. Calculation of correlation coefficient of the four factors of urban furniture as well as between these factors and satisfaction index indicate that there is a significant positive relationship between the factors and the mentioned index. Thus, among the urban furniture factors, the most correlation value was related to the correct location of urban furniture and urban inhomogeneity with a correlation coefficient of 0.481. Also, the highest correlation coefficient was related to the relationship between the correct layout of urban furniture and satisfaction index. Finally, the VIKOR model was used in order to examine the five areas of Zahedan in terms of the urban furniture components and determine the most desirable region. The results of this model indicate that the districts of 1 and 3 of Zahedan have a coefficient of 0.036, 0 and 1.000 in the best and worst situation in terms of urban furniture indicators.   

Keywords

References

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Geographical Urban Planning Research (GUPR)
Volume 6, Issue 4
January 2019
Pages 735-752

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