Relationship between Religious Orientation and Happiness of Present Citizens in Urban Public Spaces, A Case Study: Mashhad City

So many studies have been carried out on urban public spaces. At the heart of all issues, the presence in urban space has been introduced as an important factor in the success of a public urban space. So many environmental and individual components affect people’s presence in urban spaces. Among the factors affecting people’s presence in urban spaces, two components of people’s happiness and religious orientation are affected by the individual’s vision and worldview. The relationship between these two components has been analyzed in this study. This study used a survey methodology and Oxford Happiness Questionnaire (QHI) and Allport’s Religious Orientation Scale (ROS) (as a data collection tool). The statistical population of this research consists of all citizens of Mashhad City using public spaces of this city. Regarding the uncertainty of the number of statistical population and based on Cochran's formula (d= 0.09), 120 subjects were selected from the statistical population as sample group. Meanwhile, the validity and reliability of the research questionnaire was confirmed using Content Validity and Cronbach's Alpha (0.76). Given the normal distribution of data, Pearson correlation test was used to analyze the data and explain the two-way relationship between happiness and religious orientation. The study results showed a positive two-way relationship between happiness and variables of external religious orientation (p<0.01, r=0.332) and internal religious orientation (P<0.01, r=0.467). That is, in urban public spaces and among users of this kind of spaces, the citizen’s happiness increases with an increase of external and internal religious orientation and vice versa. Moreover, according to the results and based on happiness and religious orientation components, urban design strategies affecting the increase of the citizens’ presence in various urban public spaces are presented in this research.