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 Table of Contents  
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Year : 2015  |  Volume : 1  |  Issue : 2  |  Page : 43-46

Evaluation of Sustainable Development Indicators (Social and Environmental): A Case Study - Parand Industrial Town


1 Department of Environmental Engineering, Islamic Azad University, Parand Branch, Parand, Iran
2 Department of Health Services Management, College of Management and Social Science, Tehran North Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran

Date of Web Publication27-Nov-2015

Correspondence Address:
Fatemeh Razavian
Department of Environmental Engineering, Islamic Azad University, Parand Branch
Iran
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Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None


DOI: 10.4103/2423-7752.170552

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  Abstract 

Introduction: Currently, cities are responsible to provide rapidly growing population with housing, job, and services. In practice, sustainable development approach can be considered in the utilization of natural resources (renewable and nonrenewable), efficient and optimal utilization of resources, less environmental pollution, and sustainable society. Objective: The purpose of this study is to determine the factors effective on indicators of sustainable development and evaluate sustainable development in Parand Industrial Town. Materials and Methods: This study used an applied descriptive survey. Participants of this study included residents of Parand Town. Sample size (384) was calculated by Krejcie and Morgan Table using simple random sampling method. The collected data were analyzed by descriptive and analytic statistics including mean, median, and t-test. Results: Findings showed that sustainable development indicators (social and environmental) were evaluated average and above in Parand Industrial Town. Conclusions: Urban management is recommended to consider the above indicators to promote the development in Parand Town.

Keywords: City, Parand, sustainable development


How to cite this article:
Razavian F, Jafari M. Evaluation of Sustainable Development Indicators (Social and Environmental): A Case Study - Parand Industrial Town. J Earth Environ Health Sci 2015;1:43-6

How to cite this URL:
Razavian F, Jafari M. Evaluation of Sustainable Development Indicators (Social and Environmental): A Case Study - Parand Industrial Town. J Earth Environ Health Sci [serial online] 2015 [cited 2024 Mar 19];1:43-6. Available from: https://www.ijeehs.org/text.asp?2015/1/2/43/170552


  Introduction Top


Sustainable development is a modern concept which simultaneously focuses on politics, culture, economy, business and industry and protects the environment, nature, and equal human rights. In general, sustainable development deals with domestic and international problems of countries. [1]

Following the agricultural revolution, urbanization is the second revolution in the history of human being. Cities continued to develop over time until mid-nineties when urbanization experienced the new phenomenon. In this period, city and urbanization encountered many problems and difficulties. To eliminate these problems, many experts proposed theories such as garden city which were successful at the time. These problems gradually became more apparent in cities. Currently, urban problems are considered as the most important problems effective on qualitative and quantitative dimensions of human life. [2]

Urban experts of the United Nations believe that urban planning and management of developing countries suffer from ambitious and unrealistic thoughts, in consideration of real executive facilities, lack of legal system and integrated consistent organizational structure, shortage of financial resources and technical skills and knowledge, lack of citizen participation, challenges of urban land uses, inability of governments in monitoring lands, lack of suitable standards for residential land uses, inflexibility, and inconsistency of current urban plans such as detailed plan. [3]

Accelerated development of urbanization and growing development of cities along with urban problems have caused serious difficulties for metropolitan management in developing countries. Urban development and sustainable development requires attention to sustainability. Urban problems suggest the fact that sustainability has not been realized in cities. [4]

A high rate of urbanization and increasing the growth of developmental plans whether consciously or unconsciously led to the environmental and socioeconomic warnings in 1970s. In response to the resulting problems and crises, new approaches including sustainable development, environmental justice, new urbanization, and smart development were considered for future developments. [3]

In this regard, similar studies were conducted in various regions of Iran; these studies emphasized the factors evaluated in this study or other factors effective on sustainable development. For example, Vaghefi and Haghighian [5] measured the social and environmental behaviors effective on sustainable development in four areas including facilities and conditions, knowledge, attitude, and environmental behaviors.

Navabakhsh and Bazrafshan [6] measured the urban sustainable development in Shiraz in recent 10 years. They evaluated the effect of some factors including mass media, knowledge, social skills, good governance, environmental behavior, tendency to participate, citizenship rights, leisure times, and social participation on sustainable development.

Saffarizadeh and Khazaei [7] used SWOT model to evaluate the feasibility of tourism sustainable development in Yasuj. They found that available tourist attractions and existing potentials in Yasuj were important factors of sustainable development in this city.

Raveshti et al. [8] examined the role of social capital in local sustainable development in Narmak, Tehran. They found social capital as a very effective factor on local sustainable development.

Ebrahimzadeh and Zare [9] measured social capital, participation, and urban sustainable development in district three of Zahedan. They found social capital as an effective factor on urban sustainable development. They also found that citizen participation, which is a constituent of social capital, is an effective factor in urban sustainable development.

Accordingly, the purpose of this study is to determine the factors effective on sustainable development in Parand Industrial City and evaluate sustainable development in this city.


  Materials and Methods Top


This study used an applied descriptive survey. Participants of this study included 20200 residents of Parand Industrial City. The sample size (384) was obtained by Krejcie and Morgan Table using simple random sampling method.

To collect date, this study reviewed the literature and used questionnaire. First, the effective factors and indicators on sustainable development were identified by reviewing the literature. These factors included water quality, weather quality, noise pollution, vegetation, waste disposal system, urban traffic management, urban and rural transportation system, beggary, illegality, common knowledge on environmental crises, internet coverage, false jobs, urban furniture, cultural activities and communities, sports and entertaining facilities, mosques, parks, kindergartens, schools, and academic institutions. Then, a researcher made questionnaire was developed including 13 closed and 6 open questions. The content validity of the questionnaire was first determined by the judgment of 10 experts in the fields of environmental health, environment, safety, writing skills, and statistics. Then, 40 questionnaires were distributed among respondents to determine the formal validity of the questionnaire. Reliability (0.85) of questionnaire was obtained by Cronbach's Alpha Coefficient.

The collected data was analyzed by SPSS19 tests including Chi-square test, t-test, and Kolmogorov-Smirnov test.


  Results Top


The data derived from closed response part of the questionnaire was first analyzed by Kolmogorov-Smirnov test. The data related to environmental, economic, and social indicators of sustainable development was analyzed separately using Kolmogorov-Smirnov test. The results of the test showed that the data related to environmental and social indicators is normal, and the data related to an economic variable is abnormal [Table 1].
Table 1: Results of Kolmogorov-Smirnov test

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A one-sample t-test was used to evaluate the environmental and social indicators of sustainable development. As the table shows, these indicators are evaluated average and above [Table 2] and [Table 3].
Table 2: Results of one-sample t-test for social and environmental indicators

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Table 3: Significant level of result

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  Discussion and Conclusion Top


By reviewing theories and indicators of urban sustainable development, it can be concluded that a sustainable city should internalize value and ethical framework for itself. These sustainable cities result from activities and policies taken in various areas of life, in particular, social, cultural, and ethical aspects.

One of the factors effective on sustainable development is environmental factors. As the results show, this factor is evaluated average and above. This is consistent with Pramod and Bo, [10] and Maoh and Kanaroglou. [11]

In other words, residents of Parand town evaluated the water quality, weather quality, noise pollution, vegetation, and waste disposal system as average and above.

This is inconsistent with a similar study conducted by Sassanpour et al. [2] in Tehran. They evaluated social, environmental, and economic dimensions of life in Tehran as average and below. This difference can be attributed to the studied location, that is, Tehran, which requires higher standards for sustainable development.

According to results, social factor is another factor effective on sustainable development. This is consistent with Safaeipour and Rouzbeh, [12] who evaluated sustainable development in Shiraz. They found a social factor and social dimensions effective on sustainable development.

Other factors effective on sustainable development include internet coverage, urban traffic, public transportation system, rural transportation system, beggary, illegality, citizen participation in cultural and religious activities, false jobs, supervision on prices of goods, and services.

As noted earlier, the social and environmental indicators of sustainable development are evaluated average and above in Parand town. Therefore, it seems difficult to take actions regarding development in this city. However, urban management needs to consider following:

  • To establish land uses needed for public welfare such as sports and entertaining facilities in suitable locations such as barren lands or lands whose owners are ready to sell.
  • To promote culture in the field of citizenship culture, public sanitary, public health, citizenship rights, and urban landscape using advertising and publicity boards, training, and higher education.
  • To plan for waste disposal system in cooperation with city council, municipality, and people.
  • To develop relative rules and regulations for construction and renovation of buildings considering potential risk of natural disasters.
  • To improve residential buildings by the support of public sector through banking facilities.
  • To plan for surface water networks and direct it sanitarily by installing wastewater system and digging wells for drainage of surface waters.
  • To prioritize and organize old residential buildings constructed by less durable materials.
  • To establish training centers in urban areas to promote urbanization.
  • To establish academic facilities and universities in the area to provide students with formal education focusing on concepts of sustainable developments well as short- and long-term informal education including voluntarily training courses for those who are interested in development of urban culture.
  • To increase the number of public stores.
  • To organize local markets.
  • To use new energies.
  • To promote culture in the field of consumerism.
  • To invest in public and private sectors to provide more job opportunities.
  • To change the type of fuel used for vehicles.


Acknowledgment

This article is extracted from a research project supported by the Islamic Azad University of Parand. We hereby express our gratitude to the Director and Deputy Director of this university.

Financial support and sponsorship

Nil.

Conflicts of interest

There are no conflicts of interest.

 
  References Top

1.
Sardari FS, Biranvandzadeh M, Alizadeh SD. Role of social capital in local sustainable development, case study: Urban and rural inhabitants of Assaluyeh region. hoviateshahr 2012;19:80.  Back to cited text no. 1
    
2.
Sassanpour F, Tavalaei S, Assadabadi HJ. Capability of living in cities in line with sustainable development (Case study: Metropolis Tehran). geography (Sci Res Int Q Iran Geogr Assoc) 2014;12:140.  Back to cited text no. 2
    
3.
Taqvaei M, Safarabadi A. Urban sustainable development and some factors affecting it (Case Study: Kermanshah). Urban Sociol Stud 2013;3:5.  Back to cited text no. 3
    
4.
Kazemi SM, Rahnamaei MT, Firouznia G, Golpayegani M. Performance of higher education centers in sustainable development of urban culture. geography (Sci ResInt Q Iran Geogr Assoc) New Ed, 12:32.  Back to cited text no. 4
    
5.
Vaghefi E, Haghighian M. Effect of cultural capital on social - Environmental behaviors with urban sustainable development approach (Case Study: Shiraz). Urban Manage Econ Q 2014;8:48.  Back to cited text no. 5
    
6.
Navabakhsh M, Bazrafshan M. Studying degree of measurement of urban sustainable development in Shiraz in recent 10 years. Iran Soc Dev Stud 2014;6:56.  Back to cited text no. 6
    
7.
Saffarizadeh M, Khazaei M. Feasibility study of tourism sustainable development in Yasuj using SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunity and Threat) model. Tourism Q 2014;3:80.  Back to cited text no. 7
    
8.
Raveshti MA, Yari-Gholi V, Ojaghloo R. Role of social capital in local sustainable development (Case Study: Narmak, Tehran). Urban Sociol Stud 2014;4:29.  Back to cited text no. 8
    
9.
Ebrahimzadeh I, Zare M. Measurement of degree of social capital, participation and urban sustainable development, cast study: District 3 of municipality of Zahedan. Geogr Urban Reg Prep 2014; 11:25.  Back to cited text no. 9
    
10.
Pramod J, Bo A. Policy enablers for new wind energy markets. Asian Development Bank; 2015.  Back to cited text no. 10
    
11.
Maoh H, Kanaroglou P. A tool for evaluating urban sustainability via integrated transportation and land use simulation models. Environ Urban 2009;3:a28-a29.  Back to cited text no. 11
    
12.
Safaeipour M, Rouzbeh H. Identity and local sustainable development in Shiraz, (Case Study: Fakhrabad). Geogr Dev 2013;31:115.  Back to cited text no. 12
    



 
 
    Tables

  [Table 1], [Table 2], [Table 3]



 

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