Assessment of urban resilience against natural hazards (Case study: Astara border city)

Today, cities are facing an increase in population. In the meantime, taking advantage of the urban resilience approach in the face of natural hazards allows city managers and planners to minimize the possibility of human and financial losses by being sufficiently prepared. The purpose of this study is to assess the resilience of the border city of Astara against natural hazards. The research method is descriptive and applied. The statistical population of the research includes urban specialists and experts. In order to determine the sample size, Sample Power software was used that 148 people were selected as the sample size. Data collection method was a questionnaire tool and in order to study descriptive statistics and the current situation, SPSS software was exerted. Also, to analyze the collected data and discover the impact of each of the resilience components, Smart-PLS software was exploited. The results showed that the resilience situation of the border city of Astara is not in a desirable situation in terms of institutional-managerial, physical-environmental, economic and social components. And all four components of urban resilience were below average, among which the physical-environmental component with an average of 1.55 has the lowest level of desirability. On the other hand, the findings of structural equation modeling analysis in determining the share and prioritization of urban resilience components showed that the institutional-managerial component with a standard coefficient of 0.838, physical-environmental component with a standard coefficient of 0.837, social component with a standard coefficient 0.808 and finally, the economic component with a standard coefficient of 0.786, respectively, have the greatest share and importance in improving and enhancing the resilience of the border city of Astara.