Testing the Structural Model of Neighborhood Attachment and its Interrelation with Neighborhood Satisfaction and Social Participation: Three Case Studies on Mixed-use (Commercial and Residential), Traditional and Modern Urban Fabrics in Tabriz

Neighborhood attachment is closely related to concrete and abstract conceptions that set the scene for a variety of interactions among the residents. It is on the basis of social-physical location which happens over time. Neighborhood attachment also enhances the possibility of residents’ social participation in urban neighborhoods and has a bilateral relationship with residents’ satisfaction. The current study aims to test a model that presents an interaction among constructs of neighborhood attachment, residents’ satisfaction, and also residents’ social participation in urban neighborhoods. In this study, the latent variables were determined and described using recent researchers’ theories and also running confirmatory factor analysis. Confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling were used to test a model using a sample of 300 residents (2015) of AmirKhiz, Maghsoodieh, and Ferdous in Tabriz, Iran. The main theoretical contribution of this research study is the presentation of a multilevel model incorporating three constructs of neighborhood attachment, satisfaction, and residents’ social participation in neighborhoods. The findings finally revealed that the two constructs of neighborhood satisfaction and attachment positively and significantly influenced the social participation. However, in the model in which the two constructs of neighborhood attachment and satisfaction were included simultaneously, the effect of neighborhood attachment decreased which, in turn, signifies the mediated influence of neighborhood attachment on social participation through neighborhood satisfaction. Finally, the result of the depicted path diagram by structural equations modeling indicated that the model fits with observed data.