Evaluating the factors affecting the dependence of citizens on private cars : the case study of Rasht city

Document Type : Research article

Authors

Department of Urban Planning, Faculty of Architecture and Art, University of Guilan, Rasht, Iran

10.22059/jurbangeo.2023.360138.1828

Abstract

ABSTRACT
In recent years, due to the increasing growth of the population of cities and the increase in the rate of car ownership, the dependence of citizens on private cars has intensified, which causes congestion and overwhelming traffic in urban centers, and most importantly, it causes an increase in environmental pollutants. environment in cities and as a result has become a threat to the health of citizens. The current research is practical in terms of purpose. In order to investigate and evaluate the impact of various factors on the dependence of citizens on cars, a questionnaire was designed and the information obtained from the questionnaires was analyzed and evaluated by SPSS software. Then, by using binomial tests, Pearson correlation and linear regression test, the findings have been analyzed step by step. The statistical population of this research includes the residents of Rasht, where each family owns at least one car. In this research, a total of 405 questionnaires were completed online by residents of Rasht. According to the obtained results, the "corona pandemic" index with an average of 3.94 has the highest average among the indexes, and after that, the "communication and correctness" index is in the second place with an average of 3.64. However, the index of "public transportation" with an average of 2.49 has the lowest average among all indicators. Finally, the results of this research showed that the three indicators of corona pandemic, environmental attitude and health of citizens, and lifestyle and tendencies have the greatest effect on citizens' dependence on cars.
Extended Abstract
Introduction
In recent years, due to the increasing growth of the population of cities and the increase in the rate of car ownership, the dependence of citizens on private cars has intensified, which causes congestion and overwhelming traffic in urban centers, and most importantly, it causes an increase in environmental pollutants. environment in cities and as a result has become a threat to the health of citizens. On the other hand, the COVID-19 pandemic and social distancing in order to prevent this disease have had many social and economic consequences that have brought about a change in lifestyle and even urban structures, including in the field of urban transportation. He pointed out that the increasing dependence on the car in contrast to the less use of the public transportation system has caused urban planners and management to face a serious challenge in recent years. Environmental, social and economic trends also follow, which have faced urban policy makers with a serious challenge in solving this problem.
 
Methodology
The current research is applied in terms of purpose and according to the method of answering research questions and the method of answering is descriptive-quantitative. In order to investigate and evaluate the impact of various factors on citizens' dependence on cars, a questionnaire with a 5-level Likert scale was designed and data was collected using this method. The information obtained from the questionnaires was analysed and evaluated by SPSS software. Then, by using binomial tests, Pearson correlation and linear regression test, the findings have been analysed step by step. The statistical population of this research includes the residents of Rasht, where each family owns at least one car. In this research, in order to increase the confidence factor, a total of 405 questionnaires were completed online by the residents of Rasht, and then the questionnaire link was deactivated.
 
 
Results and discussion
According to the obtained results, the "corona pandemic" index with an average of 3.94 has the highest average among the indexes, and after that, the "communication and correctness" index is in the second place with an average of 3.64. And at the end, the index of "public transportation" has the lowest average among all indices, with an average of 2.49. On the other hand, the items "increasing the use of private cars during the Corona era" with an average of 4.29 and "decreasing the desire to use public transportation during the Corona pandemic" with an average of 4.10, respectively, have the highest average in among other subjects. Finally, according to the test of the regression results, the "corona pandemic" index has had the greatest impact on the dependence of citizens on personal cars in such a way that with a correlation coefficient of 0.387, it alone accounted for 14.8% of the variance share of the "dependence on cars" index. predict Also, in the seventh model, where all the effective indicators are included in the model, the model has a correlation coefficient of 0.629, which shows the high correlation of these factors and dependence on automobile citizens; It was able to form 38.5% of the share of variance of the variable "Dependence on the car".
 
Conclusion
According to the results obtained from the average indicators, "Corona Pandemic" has the highest average, which shows the importance of the issue of Corona disease and its impact on all aspects of people's lives. Also, on the other hand, the two indices "suitable environment for walking and cycling" and "public transportation" respectively have the lowest average among the indices, which shows the lack of attention of the city officials of Rasht to the issue of the city. It is without a car, which has led to the dissatisfaction of citizens due to the lack of a suitable platform for walking and cycling in the city, as well as the inefficiency of the public transportation system of this city. In this regard, according to the correlation between indicators, the indicators of "suitable environment for walking and cycling" and "public transportation" have the highest correlation among all research indicators, which shows the importance of paying more attention. According to these two indicators in the city of Rasht. In the continuation of the results of this research, based on the step-by-step regression test, the "corona pandemic" index is able to predict 14.8% of the variance share of the "car dependence" index. Therefore, with the emergence of this emerging phenomenon and its spread throughout the world, cities have faced new challenges that have never existed before, and one of these challenges is less use of public transportation during the outbreak of this disease and relying on Most of the citizens have a personal car for their health and their families. In the next step, the "environmental attitude and health of citizens" index has had the greatest effect on citizens' reliance on private cars. Based on this, it is possible to take an important step towards this goal by building culture in the society and increasing the environmental sensitivities of citizens and increasing people's awareness of environmental trends and the negative impact of using private cars on the health of citizens. In the next stage, the index of "Citizens' Lifestyle and Desires" has had the greatest impact on the citizens' use of private cars. In line with this, it is possible to change the citizens' lifestyles by taking advantage of collective communication spaces and appropriate culture in order to correct incorrect social patterns and an attitude in citizens can lead the society to less use of private cars. In the fourth stage of this modeling, we see the impact of "laws restricting car traffic" on the use of personal cars, which can be used to prevent more cars from moving around the city and downtown by applying physical restrictions. In the following, among the demographic and descriptive indicators of citizens, the indicators of "number of cars in each household" and "marital status" have an effect on the use of private cars by more and more citizens. In the last stage, the index of "public transportation" has an undeniable effect on the state of citizens' dependence on private cars, and finally, all the mentioned indicators together have been able to explain 38.5% of the variance of the dependence on cars among citizens. slow, which is a very significant amount, and paying attention to these indicators and improving the quality level of each of them can play a significant role in changing the pattern of citizens' use of private cars.
 
Funding
There is no funding support.
 
Authors’ Contribution
Authors contributed equally to the conceptualization and writing of the article. All of the authors approved the content 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 persons for scientific consulting in this paper.

Keywords

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Geographical Urban Planning Research (GUPR)
Volume 11, Issue 3
October 2023
Pages 63-78

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