Monitoring the theory of the right to the city in reproducing Age – friendly space of the city (Case study: Zanjan central district worn- out texture)

The City is a social right and the role of urban space in producing daily life rhythm, and reproducing social relations, creates an approach in citizenship rights that the city residents must be the main players and beneficiaries in the production of urban space. Meanwhile, increasing the lives of humans and adding elderly populations are considerable results of the 21th century. Elderly as a biological process rather than a disease is a vital phenomenon that gradually covers everyone. The phenomenon of aging creates significant changes in all aspects of the life of human societies, including a wide range of age structures, values and criteria, and the creation of social organizations. It is very important to confronting the challenges posed by this phenomenon and adopting appropriate policies for improving the physical, social and mental status of the elderly. In this regard, with propounding of the city age-friendly space, seems Lefebvre ideas can be appropriate criterion for spatial intervention in the cities for the benefit of the vulnerable group. The idea of the right to the city of Lefebvre is a powerful response to all cities, especially cities those citizens, in different forms (Deprivation and depriving groups of people from the right to peace, security and solidarity) suffer from extreme conflict. Since the right to the city belongs to all the inhabitants of a city, the study of the right to the city of elderly in cities as vulnerable group that needs support, adds to its importance.

The research is descriptive-analytical and in the terms of time domain it considered as present sectional. Following the study of Lefebvre ideas to extract the spatial manifestations of the idea of the right to the city as a conceptual model of research, the condition of the elderly resident in the worn-out texture of Zanjan city was investigated. Due to the lack of clarity of the number of elderly resident in the worn-out texture, sampling method of missing statistical population is used to determine the sample size and the sample size is 170 people. The locative sampling method of the study is clustering and the clusters have been systematically selected. The studying condition of the elderly resident in the texture was done by the SF-36 standard questionnaire with Likert spectral ranking and face-to-face interview method by researchers. Research indicators have been compiled in two parts: independent and dependent variables and contextual variables. The dependent variable includes "the right to the city" and independent variables include the "the right to appropriate of use urban space" with 3 indicators and the "the right to participate" with 3 indicators. The contextual variables also include the individual characteristics of the statistical population. To analyze the data, descriptive tables and charts, Kruskal-Wallis test (to investigate the differences between the statistical groups on the subject of the research) and the path analysis test (to study the effect of the indicators of the right to use urban space and the right to participate on the urban right component) with the help of SPSS software have been used.

Findings show that the right to the city in the worn-out texture of Zanjan city has not materialized and the average satisfaction of the statistical population from the right to the city index is 2.94, which is below average. Meanwhile, the right to appropriate use of urban space has a rating of 3.01 and participation right has a rating of 2.87. Study of the statistical population with Kruskal-Wallis test showed that the elderly with different physical characteristics do not have a single understanding of the status of the right to the city index in the worn-out texture of the city of Zanjan. But there is no disagreement between other different groups of gender, socioeconomic status, and length of stay in the city, which adds to the importance of the right to the city concept. The study of the right to the city indicators and the effect of each on urban space with the path analysis test showed that the total effect of the right to appropriate use of urban space component on the right to the city component is 0.827 and the total effect of the component of the right to participate is 0.823. This trend shows that in terms of statistical population, the components of the appropriate right to use and the right to participate have a favorable effect on the right to the city component and by strengthening these two components, one can create the favorable urban environment in the central worn-out texture of Zanjan and adapt it to the needs of different groups, especially the elderly.

From Lefebvre's view, the right to the city manifests itself as a privileged form of rights, and it is without a doubt that the concept of the right to the city today is used as an umbrella term for sustainability, and its meaning has become much wider compared to Lefebvre first apply. According to the research findings, the component of the right to participate with a score lower than the right to appropriate use of urban space should be considered and planned based on the needs for upgrading the urban space production /citizenship right, urban decision making and then urban organization in order. In this way, the group of elderly people who enjoy more leisure time than other members of society can be active and productive members in creating vibrant urban spaces and experience dynamic aging.The right to appropriate use of urban space should also be considered based on the needs for upgrading the control and ownership of space, physical share, and ultimately urban vitality, in line with the right to participate in order. Because the elderly as a group with mobility limitations need to adapt to the environment in order to be present in the community and urban spaces.