Identification of Environmental, Social, Economic and Physical Components of Sustainability in Small Cities, Case Study: Likak City

The purpose of the current research was to identify the components of urban sustainability in the city of Likk, of the provinces of Kohgiloyeh and Boyer Ahmad, using a descriptive-analytical method. First, 36 indicators in 4 environmental, economic, social and physical dimensions of urban sustainability were determined by using documents and opinions of 23 experts in the relevant field. In order to rank the factors, AHP and Expert Choice software were used. In the present study, the inconsistency rate of all pairwise comparisons was less than 0.1. Therefore, the consistency of the comparison matrix is ​​acceptable. The innovation of the current research was to identify the indicators of sustainability in a small city with a geographical location and specific customs and culture, and to apply quantitative and qualitative criteria simultaneously and score and prioritize them. The findings showed that economic factors, environmental, physical, and social factors were important. Among the components or sub-criteria, income status and employment percentage were considered as the most important factors affecting urban sustainability. Therefore, the indicators of sustainability and their degree of importance in small cities are affected by the economic, social, environmental and physical conditions of those societies. Unbalanced growth of urbanization with inadequate urban infrastructure and lack of sufficient job opportunities cause urban instability. The process of sustainability is a multi-dimensional flow that should be avoided while paying attention to the improvement of the economic situation and the creation of public welfare, the destruction of resources, the destruction of the environment and social anomalies.