Modeling the Role of Third Places in Social Sustainability in Isfahan

Third places, as places of community, are formed by social interaction and networks and can have a great impact on determining patterns of cohesion and participation in social institutions and processes. The present research is applied-developmental in terms of purpose and descriptive-analytical in terms of methodology. The statistical population of this study includes all residents of areas (3, 4, 6, 8 and 9) of Isfahan municipality who were selected purposefully. To achieve the research objectives, 16 categories (third places, accessibility, invitability, dynamism and vitality, comfort and security, flexibility, performance, form, meaning and content, social sustainability, social security, social interaction, social justice, social participation, social belonging, and social identity) were extracted. To discover the pattern trend for the classification of stability indices and the role of third places on them, one-sample t-test, Pearson correlation, and Friedman test were used, and for path analysis, the structural plural equation model was used in Smart PLS Software. For the placement of the third place indices on social sustainability, the weighted geographical regression tool was used. The results of the coefficient of determination between the mentioned indices showed that third place has a social impact of 0.90%. The results of the weighted geographical regression analysis showed that the most important component affecting the social stability variable was comfort and security with a coefficient of 0.91%, well explaining the effect of the third place on social stability. Also, the results of the weighted geographical regression model showed that Region 4 had the lowest effect (0.03), Regions 3 and 8 had a moderate effect (0.05), and Regions 6 and 9 had a high effect (0.07) on the social stability in Isfahan.