Analyzing the Dimensions of the Biophilic Citizen and Evaluating it in the Urban Society; An Introduction to Nature-Based Urban Planning (Case Study: Khaf city)

Introduction

The city and urbanization are growing dramatically. The rapid process and most of the time without urbanization plan has plagued the cities with many problems. Problems such as the loss of plant and animal species, the neglect and destruction of the urban environment, the per capita lack of green spaces, the loss of agricultural lands and other green lands such as forests, etc., have caused cities to be in a state of disorder. Biophilic urban planning is a useful measure in order to establish a connection between the environment and the daily life of citizens. Naturalism, biologicalism, environmental protection, etc. are basic concepts in biophilia. A biophilic city is a city that considers nature first in its design, planning and management, and recognizes the basic need of human daily communication with nature. The biophilic citizen is considered a basic component in the biophilic city; In fact, without the biophilic citizen, the biophilic city has no meaning. It can be acknowledged that the behavior and attitude of the citizen is the main pillar of the planning and development of the biophilic city, because the city is the place where the citizen lives and he affects the urban space with his behavior and activities. and behaviors that are derived from their level of awareness and type of attitude, and this issue itself indicates that the citizen as a whole and his attitude, behavior, activity and awareness as a complement are important and undeniable components of biophilic planning. Future. Empowering citizens is the main requirement for successful urban planning. In fact, in order for a program to be successfully implemented in the city, the mental components of the citizens must be examined.

The biophilic citizen is the main requirement of the biophilic city. A city whose basic principles are love for nature and conservation. It needs citizenship in order to be the subject and implementer of those principles. The role of the citizen does not end here, biophilic citizens have a fundamental role in the development of the biophilic city. Batley states that: "Citizens' participation in environmental programs creates awareness about urban ecology". One of the most extensive topics in the debates and researches related to the biophilic city is the training and development of the biophilic citizen who can contribute to the improvement and development of the biophilic city.

The general purpose of this research is to investigate the role of five factors including demographic characteristics, biophilic activities, biophilic attitude, urban infrastructure and organizations on explaining the model of biophilic citizen and seeks to answer the question to what extent citizens are familiar with the concept of a biophilic citizen and what are the effective components for identifying the model of a biophilic citizen?

Methodology

The upcoming research is descriptive-analytical and in terms of its purpose, it is among applied research. The required information was collected through interviews and questionnaires and analyzed using Amos Graphic software and structural equation method. Using the structural equation modeling method, the relationships between hidden variables can be investigated, as well as the measurement items of each hidden variable with the relevant variable. The area studied in this research is Khaf city in Razavi Khorasan province and the statistical population is 180 citizens of Khaf city. In the first step, the drawing of the causal relationships and path between the components was done; then the main research model was implemented in AMOS Graphic software.

Results and discussion

A review of the questionnaires showed the result that the citizens had a favorable feedback regarding the criteria of the biophilic citizen. On the other hand, the desire of citizens to participate in the preservation and reconstruction of green space is high and it shows their interest in gardening and agriculture activities in the city. Lack of awareness is another problem in realizing the concept of biophilic citizen in the city. There are various reasons for this problem, such as non-cooperation of the media, lack of responsibility of organizations and institutions, insufficient advertising. On the other hand, it was found that the component of demographic characteristics has an effect on biophilic activities and biophilic attitude and awareness; the demographic characteristics component consists of 5 sub-components of gender, age, education, marital status and socio-economic status. The effect of population characteristics (gender, age, marital status, education and socio-economic status) on biophilic activities is positive and has a high and significant correlation (r=0.095). The effect of population characteristics (gender, age, marital status, education and socio-economic status) on biophilic attitude and awareness has a high correlation and significance (r=0.002). Examining the relationship between the impacts of biophilic infrastructure on biophilic activities indicates the positive impact of urban infrastructure in increasing biophilic activities.

Conclusion

The obtained results indicate that biophilic infrastructures and conditions with an impact factor of 0.281 and a significance of 0.009 have a favorable effect on the nature-oriented activities of citizens and it seems that by improving the state of urban infrastructures and also the use of elements, symbols related to nature in urban furniture, citizens and their biophilic activities increase. Examining the relationship between biophilic institutions and organizations and its impact on biophilic activities, a relationship with correlation (0.238) and significance (0.039) is acceptable. From the above relationship, it is deduced that biophilic institutions and organizations are an important factor in biophilic activities and by allocating credit to these centers and planning to implement nature-oriented projects and programs for citizens, it can encouraged citizens to perform related actions in the field of biophilic activities. The components of "biophilic infrastructures" and "biophilic institutions and organizations", like the component of "population characteristics", have an effect on the two components of "biophilic activities" and "biophilic awareness and attitude", and this is the fact that none of the components affect them. "Biophilic attitude and awareness" also affects "biophilic activities".