Analysis of place attachment in the city of Tabriz by using the scale of smart cities during the Covid-19 disease

Document Type : Research article

Author

Department of Architecture and Urban Planning, Tabriz Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tabriz, Ira

Abstract

A B S T R A C T
The use of new technologies in the smart city, especially in urban spaces, is increasing day by day; Although most of these technologies have been accepted and praised as a sign of progress in life and a method for the comfort of living in cities, however, some people think that technologies have created disturbances in the city where they live. Therefore, in the implementation of the smart city, the opinions of the citizens and their concerns should be considered. The current descriptive-analytical research, using survey tools to achieve the goal of developing an attachment to urban places, seeks to answer the question of what is the relationship between emotional attachment to a place that is raised in two dimensions, traditional and active, with the adoption of smart technologies, especially In a case study, does it have an atmosphere? For the statistical population of Tabriz city, which is equal to 1593373 people, the sample size was obtained through Cochran's formula equal to 384 people. The reliability of the questions with Cronbach's alpha was equal to 0.88. Statistical software was used for analysis. The findings showed that the dimensions of daily monitoring technologies, empowering technologies, Covid-19 monitoring technologies, and active attachment with the influence coefficient of 0.412, 0.385, 0.316, and 0.301 had the greatest effects on location attachment with smart city technologies. and the lowest impact is related to attachment to a traditional place with a value of -0.191. As a result, the more the quality of monitoring (health) technologies and empowerment, of the technology of monitoring Covid-19, is improved, the level of attachment in the city of Tabriz will be improved in the same proportion.
Extended Abstract
Introduction
Understanding the attitudes of residents towards technological change can be very important, because technology can not be considered ineffective. Numerous studies have shown that new technologies have a great impact on social life and the quality of personal relationships, the concept of proximity; And change the ideas of authority, privacy, freedom and democracy. With these issues in mind, the fundamental challenge for city managers and businesses is to identify and understand the characteristics of individuals who make technological change less acceptable than others. Our argument is that because new urban technologies will inevitably change both the urban space and the lives of residents, then the connections of residents with place, in other words, spatial attachment should be considered in the policies and plans of the city of Tabriz. The innovation aspect of the research is that no research has been done in this regard in the country, especially in the city of Tabriz, and it is happening for the first time. Also, recognizing the difference between active and traditional types of attachment allows us to respond to ambiguous results regarding the relationship between attachment and attitudes toward change in the city of Tabriz compared to the smart city. In addition, we examined the relationship between spatial attachment and the acceptance of future technologies improved by existing smart city technologies, and the use of current technologies by the acceptance of new technologies in reducing and preventing the spread of Covid 19 in public places. The city of Tabriz.
 
Methodology
 We measured the degree of attachment to the city with a modified version of the Spatial Attachment Scale presented by Lewicka (2011). Two dimensions of active and traditional attachments were used. Active location attachment was measured on a five-item scale (for example, "I like to explore my city and discover new places"). Cronbach's alpha was measured at 0.89. We rated the traditional spatial attachment on a three-item scale (for example, "I never thought of another place to live") at Cronbach's alpha of 0.89. Participants answered a seven-point Likert scale (1 = "strongly disagree" to 7 = "strongly agree"). In the analysis, the average value of
 
 the relevant items is used. Acceptance of future technologies in the smart city was measured by three scales, the first scale related to empowerment technologies (for example, "computer programs designed for conversations (ie call bots) that replace offices in the first contact with residents, etc.), Cronbach's alpha was 0.82, the second scale for day-to-day surveillance technologies (for example, "surveillance cameras with automatic face recognition system to identify people who break the law, etc."), Cronbach's alpha was 0.85, And the third scale refers to anti-Quad technologies 19 designed to counter epidemics (For example, "programs based on automatic location of users that inform them in which places there is a risk of contracting the corona virus and etc") and Cronbach's alpha was 0.87. Analysis was performed using Amos software and path analysis was performed from the path analysis framework with Mplus software version 8. From the maximum likelihood estimation (MLR) to explain the normal violation Multivariate was used.
 
Results and discussion
The findings show that the dimensions of daily surveillance technologies, enabling technologies, monitoring technologies Covid-19, surveillance technologies, active attachment have a positive and direct effect, and traditional attachment has a direct and negative effect, as well as traditional attachment dimensions, daily surveillance technologies and Covid-19 indirectly affect the spatial attachment of smart city technologies. The dimensions of daily surveillance technologies, Covid-19 monitoring technologies indirectly have a positive effect and traditional attachment indirectly has a negative and diminishing effect on smart city technologies of Tabriz city, and also traditional attachment dimension with smart city technologies of Tabriz city has no meaning. According to the obtained findings, dimensions of daily surveillance technologies, enabling technologies, monitoring technologies Covid-19, technologies, active attachment with impact coefficient of 0.412 and 0.385, 0.316 and 0.301 had the most effects on spatial attachment with smart city technologies and the least negative effect was related to traditional spatial attachment with a value of -0.191. The results show that there is a positive relationship between independent variables and dependent variable (spatial attachment) with confidence level of 0.99% correlation.
 
Conclusion
 The use of existing technologies in the city of Tabriz completely moderates the positive relationship between active spatial attachment and the adoption of monitoring and empowerment technologies. Therefore, an active relationship with the city also includes the active use of existing technologies. And further leads to a very positive attitude towards future monitoring and empowerment technologies. In addition, the use of smart city technologies in the city of Tabriz to some extent moderates the negative impact of traditional attachment on the acceptance of empowerment technologies. Therefore, it is possible that the relationship between traditional connection with place and attitude towards empowerment technologies can be explained not only by the current activity related to smart city technologies but also by the type of mental framework and values ​​related to traditional spatial attachment. Future studies could also examine the mechanism behind the relationship between traditional spatial attachment and regulatory technologies. Because people with traditional attachments are usually more concerned about the stability and protection of their place of residence than their counterparts, and examining individual differences that may underlie the relationship between this type of spatial attachment and the adoption of surveillance technologies. Commitment to the city and the adoption of future technologies, especially surveillance technologies, may be influenced by other related factors, such as residents' support for municipal innovations or trust in city council actions, which can be considered as possible mediators in future studies be placed.

Keywords


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