A Comparative Comparison of Perceptions of Women's Security in Traditional and New Neighborhoods the Case Studies Old Texture and Niayesh Neighborhood in Bushehr

A B S T R A C T
In the current research, a comparative comparison of women's perception of security in traditional and new neighbourhoods has been made, because it seems that traditional neighbourhoods have not been able to provide women with a sense of security due to excessive wear and tear and new neighbourhoods due to the neglect of designers towards social issues. The research method was descriptive, analytical and based on documentary studies and field surveys. Therefore, at first, environmental security variables were extracted from reliable domestic and foreign sources, and then they were distributed in the form of a questionnaire in the Niaish settlement and the old context of Bushehr city. The number of questionnaires based on Cochran's formula was 196, which was considered to be approximately 200. Next, the data were entered into SPSS software and analyzed with the help of a factor analysis model and linear multivariate regression. The findings of the research show that the seven factors of "no visual disturbance", "observability", "environmental comfort", "lively use", "visibility", "environmental quality" and "environmental release" respectively have the greatest impact on the perception of women's security in They have urban areas. Also, the comparison of the two areas under study shows that although the physical, economic and social characteristics of Niayesh town and the old context of Bushehr city are completely different, in general, both areas are of average quality in terms of women's sense of security. More detailed investigations also show that the weakness of the Niayesh settlement is in the factors of environmental comfort and lively use, and the weakness of the old fabric is in the factors of environmental quality and visual disturbance.
 
Extended Abstract
Introduction
Security is considered one of the essential and stable needs for human excellence. As half of the population of the society, women have the right to have security. Women’s security is often ignored or neglected due to cultural reasons. Women need a space that, in addition to having a feeling of peace, comfort and convenience, also has sufficient security for day and night activities. Inappropriate urban spaces destroy security and create the basis for all kinds of harm and social problems. Designing and planning safe public spaces for girls and women is important because it becomes a tool for improving the quality of urban life, creating fair and stable societies, and reducing women's fear and victimization. Safe planning and design is important for women and girls, because it creates spaces where all users of the space have an equal opportunity to access a healthy, safe and happy environment. Therefore, addressing women's issues as social and human capital is one of the most essential needs. In the current research, with the aim of comparing women's security in traditional and new neighborhoods, it has been attempted to evaluate women's perception of environmental variables in Niayesh neighborhood and the old texture of Bushehr city. The most important questions that the current research seeks to answer are:
- Which environmental variables potentially affect the perception of women's security?
- How is the performance and success rate of traditional and new neighborhoods in providing security for women?
- What strategies and recommendations should be prioritized to improve women's security in the studied areas?
 
Research Method
The current research is descriptive-analytical and based on documentary studies and field survey. The theoretical foundations of the research were obtained through library studies and the indicators for measuring the perception of environmental security were extracted in a table. According to the initial assumptions of the research that there is a significant difference between the perception of women's security in traditional and new neighborhoods, Bushehr niayesh neighborhood was chosen as a neighborhood with a new structure and Bushehr's historical texture was chosen as a neighborhood with a traditional structure. In order to convert the table of indicators into a questionnaire, each indicator is defined as a question with five Likert scale answers. The reliability of the questionnaire was confirmed according to the value of Cronbach's alpha test (0.894) and the validity of the questions was also controlled through interviews with experts. In the following, through a questionnaire survey, the opinions of women living in the studied cases were obtained. The sample size (number of questionnaires) based on Cochran's formula and taking into account p=q=0.5 and 0.07 error, was equal to 196, which was finally distributed 100 questionnaires in Niayesh neighborhood and 100 questionnaires in the historical texture of Bushehr. The data obtained from the questionnaires were entered into SPSS software and analyzed with the help of exploratory factor analysis and multivariate linear regression models. The output of the factor analysis model categorizes and summarizes the indicators into a number of homogenous factors. Then the weight and importance of the exploratory factors (independent variables) in the overall sense of security of women (dependent variable) specifies with the linear multivariate regression. Finally, appropriate strategies have been proposed for both neighborhoods.
 
Research findings
The research findings show that the seven factors of "Lack of visual disturbance", " Monitorability", "Environmental comfort", "Vital land use", "Visibility", "Environmental quality" and "Lost environment" are the most important factors. They have an impact on the perception of women's security in urban areas. The cumulative variance of these 7 factors is equal to 60.33, which means that they explain more than 60% of the perception of women's security in Bushehr city. According to the relationship of regression analysis, the factors of lack of visual disturbance and Monitorability have the greatest impact on women's sense of security in the environment. In the following, by applying the coefficients of the regression model in the factor score of two neighborhoods, the final score of them is obtained, in which the score of old texture is -0.58 and the score of Niayesh neighborhood is +0.58.
 
Conclusion
Although many researches have addressed the issue of women's sense of security affected by the environment, the present research has tried to investigate and interpret this issue in two types of traditional and new urban neighborhoods. In fact, on the one hand, we are faced with traditional neighborhoods that although they had good security in the past, but in the current situation, due to abandonment, they are not associated with suitable conditions. On the other hand, we are faced with new and planned neighborhoods that in most cases their designers have paid attention to traffic and economic issues instead of social issues. The comparison of the two studied cases shows that although the physical, economic and social characteristics of Niayesh neighborhood and the old texture of Bushehr city are completely different, in general, both neighborhoods have an average status in terms of women's sense of security (Niayesh neighborhood has a slight advantage). Nevertheless, the examination of the factors that had the most negative impact on women's sense of security in each cases shows that the weakness of Niayesh neighborhood is in the factors of environmental comfort and vital land use, and the weakness of the old texture is in the factors of environmental quality and lack of visual disturbance. These findings can be interpreted that the security problem in new neighborhoods is related to the lack of vitality and variety of activities, and in traditional neighborhoods, it is related to physical exhaustion and social isolation.
The most important suggested strategies for Niayesh neighborhood are:
- Creating climate-friendly furniture in abandoned spaces
- Planting trees suitable for the climate and beautifying the public space
- Establishing small commercial units in different parts of the neighborhood with the aim of promoting vitality and informal supervision
The most important suggested strategies for the old texture of Bushehr are:
- Increasing the lighting of passages and alleys
- Installation of signs to introduce cafes and important buildings
- Removing the effects of vandalism with the active participation of residents.
 
Funding
There is no funding support.
 
Authors’ Contribution
All of the authors approved thecontent of the manuscript and agreed on all aspects of the work.
 
Conflict of Interest
Authors declared no conflict of interest.
 
Acknowledgments
We are grateful to all the scientific consultants of this paper.