Document Type : Case Study
Authors
1
PhD Candidate in Sociology, Department of Social Sciences, Faculty of Law and Social Sciences, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran
2
Professor in Sociology, Department of Social Sciences, Faculty of Law and Social Sciences, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran
3
Professor in Sociology, Department of Social Sciences, Faculty of Law and Social Sciences, Tabriz University, Tabriz, Iran
4
Assistant Professor in Sociology, Department of Social Sciences, Faculty of Law and Social Sciences, Tabriz University, Tabriz, Iran
Abstract
The concept of the right to the city proposed by French sociologist and philosopher, Henri Lefebvre (1968), addresses the adverse impact of capitalist economies on urban areas. According to this theory, the city has become a commodity exploited solely for capital accumulation. To counter this trend, Lefebvre posits that urban residents need to have access to indicators such as spatial justice, social inclusion, urban participation, and urban belonging, among other things. This study looks into the perception of the right to the city among the residents of Maku. The research method is a survey and the statistical population includes all citizens over 20 years of age living in Maku (n=33,328 people), of which 500 people were selected by the Cochran sample size formula using a multi-stage cluster sampling method, and based on the variance obtained from a pre-test of 50 respondents. In testing the research hypotheses, a significant relationship was observed between the variables of social capital and good urban governance. Path analysis was employed to estimate the direct, indirect, and general effects of independent variables on the perception of the right to the city. The results suggest that good governance influences the perception of the right to the city either directly (56%) or indirectly through social capital (13%). Social capital can also directly affect this perception (25%). The overall findings demonstrate that good governance has a bearing on the perception of the right to the city (69%). The remaining variables in the regression model can explain 53% of the variance in the perception of the right to the city. The final analysis suggests that emphasizing and strengthening good urban governance and social capital variables within the urban social space could contribute to the growth and development of the principles and indicators of the right to the city.
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