Prioritization of Ardabil City Areas in Order to Apply Strategies to Improve Urban Security

Security is one of the most basic human needs that has a special position in peace and increasing the quality of life of citizens. For this reason, paying attention to the security of citizens is always one of the basic priorities of urban management. The purpose of this study is to prioritize the areas of Ardabil in terms of factors and variables of urban security and propose strategies to improve security in these areas.

The reasoning strategy of this research is deductive and its approach is quantitative. Documentary data of this research have been obtained from valid scientific-research sources and field data through questionnaire tools and application of experts' opinions. DEMATEL models, Network Analysis process and TOPSIS have also been used to analyze the research data.

Based on the theoretical framework of this study, ten criteria were extracted from valid domestic and foreign research sources to assess urban security in Ardabil, which are: resident participation, development of cultural and social spaces, definition of economic stimulus projects, increasing the clarity and readability of urban spaces, mixing of uses, standard population and settlement densities, providing optimal lighting of urban spaces at night, preventing the release of barren and ruined lands, coordinated and integrated management and setting environmental design criteria. Findings show that districts 3 and 4 in Ardabil have a higher priority in order to apply the criteria for improving urban security than other areas of the city.

A summary of the opinions and views of local experts shows the need to apply the three criteria of development of cultural and social spaces, providing optimal lighting of urban spaces and coordinated and integrated management of urban security in Ardabil more than other criteria. In this regard, two practical proposals are proposed to reduce the level of insecurity in these areas: development of cultural, social and educational institutions in insecure neighborhoods; establishment of an institution in charge of urban security and operational planning and environmental design in order to prevent crime.