%0 Journal Article %T Assessment of social sustainability Indicators in Cities of West Azerbaijan province %J Human Geography Research %I University of Tehran %Z 2008-6296 %A Abdollahzadeh, Mahdi %A Rahnama, Mohammad-Rahim %A Ajza Shokouhi, Mohammad %A Mousavi, Mirnajaf %D 2020 %\ 12/21/2020 %V 52 %N 4 %P 1257-1273 %! Assessment of social sustainability Indicators in Cities of West Azerbaijan province %K Evaluation %K social sustainability %K multiple criteria decision making %K Vikor Model %K West Azerbaijan province %R 10.22059/jhgr.2019.276093.1007878 %X Introduction:The urban life of the West Azerbaijan Province has been faced many changes in recent years, and has seen a lot of demographic and physical changes. In order to achieve a balanced and justice-centered development which improves all residents lives, we need a correct recognition and optimized proper planning in the cities of the province. Because, the increasing split in the cultural, social, economic fields and other fields in different regions, is the evidence of a failure to complete the goals of justice-centered planning and sustainable development. This paper, tries to Identify the status of social sustainability indexes in the cities of West Azerbaijan province by using quantitative Techniques. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to evaluate and measure the feasibility of the social sustainability in different cities of the province.Methodology:The overall approach of this research is a quantitative research type and in terms of the data collection method which it is based on library-documentary and survey data. In the first step of research, in order to identify the social sustainability indexes and related indicators, various sources and databases were used. Accordingly, five main indexes were identified in this context. Totally 35 indicators for 5 indexes were evaluated. The statistical population of this study is the 42 cities of West Azerbaijan province which among them, 13 cities have been studied as samples. In order to analyze the collected data, we have used the multi-index decision-making methods (vikor). Also, the analysis of the impact of economic components on the utility of social sustainability in the studied cities, are specified by Use of the regression method like the Enter method in the path and beta coefficients (β) analysis.Results and discussion: After collecting data and information by using the entropy method, the relative weight of each index is calculated. The public health index with a score of 230.0 points has earned the highest score. Also, the sense of belonging to the location index among the residents of the province cities has the lowest score with a score of 172.0. The ranking of the cities in the province is based on social sustainability indexes, using the cluster analysis and SPSS software in Table 1, shows that Urmia city with Zero advantage function is in the steady state in terms of social sustainability and Urmia metropolis is the best city in terms of social sustainability indexes in the province and Khoy and Noushin cities have a potential stability status with the advantage function of 0.452 and 0.446, respectively. Whereas, 45% of the studied cities have a potential instability status or unstable status. Also, 32% of the studied cities have a moderate status in terms of social sustainability indexes. The average amount of advantage function (Q), the utility of social sustainability indexes in the cities of the province, is equal to 0.622. Therefore, the cities of West Azerbaijan province are below the average in terms of social sustainability indexes and need to be strengthened and invested. Table 1: The utility of social sustainability in cities of West Azerbaijan, based on the values of the advantage function(Q)Row Cities (Q) Rating Sustainability desirability1 Urmia 0 1 Sustainable2 Khoy 0.452 2 Potential Sustainability3 Noushin city 0.462 3 4 Tekab 0.568 4 Medium Sustainability5 Salmas 0.578 5 6 Mahabad 0.578 6 7 Maku 0.630 7 8 Dizajdiz City 0.709 8 Potential insustainability9 Mohamadyar 0.750 9 10 Miandoab 0.770 10 11 Bazargan 0.772 11 12 Naghta 0.840 12 13 Bukan 0.965 13 UnsustainabilityDispersion coefficient Q= 0.40The dispersion coefficient and the inequality rate of the studied cities is about 0.40 in terms of sustainability indexes which shows a relatively moderate imbalance in the index indicators in the cities of the province. The results also show that there is a significant correlation between the advantage function (Q) of the sustainable social development and the population of the cities of the province. In fact, the distribution and method of allocating resources and benefits is the most important factor which defines the relationship between population and development which it has not been balanced in the cities of the province. Evaluation of the economic components effect (including economic support burden, unemployment rate, employment rate, female employment rate, male employment rate) on the utility of social sustainability in the studied cities shows that economic support burden and unemployment rate with negative coefficients of -0.16 and -0.07 respectively, and employment rate with a positive coefficient of 0.29, female employment rate and male employment rate with positive coefficients of 0.21 and 0.47 respectively, are effective in the utility of social sustainability in the studied cities. Indeed, the economic support burden is a potential social problem, which reveals the dependence of the individual or individuals of the society on the people who work and provide their own livelihoods and others and the unemployment rate, which is directly related to the economic growth and job creation, have had a negative and decreasing effect on the social sustainability indexes in the studied cities.Conclusion:The purpose of this study is to evaluate the social sustainability level of the west Azerbaijan province cities, based on a set of some sustainability attitudes. Results of the calculations related to the social sustainability indexes in the province cities, indicate that 45% of the studied cities in the West Azerbaijan province are in the potentially unstable or unstable status in terms of social sustainability indexes. The research results show that among the evaluated indexes in the cities of West Azerbaijan, the public health index has earned the highest score. Urmia city has the best situation in terms of this index among the cities of the province, and on the contrary, Bukan city has the worst status in the public health indexes. The cluster rating results also show that 46% of the studied cities are in unfavorable conditions in terms of utility of the social sustainability indexes. %U https://jhgr.ut.ac.ir/article_72511_02d6333d949c0c2c26b8e0e1f6869b13.pdf