Investigation of the Relationship between Social Capital and Sustainable Urban Development (case study: Khuzestan province)

Rapid urban development in the last few decades has affected various dimensions of human life and caused the instability of humans and the environment. In this article, we are trying to investigate the relationship between social capital and sustainable urban development among the urban population over 25 years old in Khuzestan province. Pantam, Fukuyama, Coleman and Bourdieu's theories have been used to investigate the relationship between these two variables. The required data was collected using the survey method and the questionnaire tool from among the statistical sample of 384 people who were selected by the quota sampling method and analyzed using the software (SPSS). The descriptive findings of the research showed that the status of the social capital index and all its variables (awareness, generalized norms, social trust, social participation and social cohesion) and the sustainable urban development index and all its dimensions (economic sustainability, social sustainability, environmental sustainability, physical sustainability and institutional sustainability) were at a lower than average level. The explanatory findings of the research showed that social capital and all its variables had a strong and significant direct relationship and impact on sustainable urban development. In the Pearson correlation coefficient, the relationship between social capital and all its variables were significant with sustainable urban development. The results of the findings of this research have confirmed the empirical background and the theoretical framework of the research, which clearly shows that as the amount of social capital and all its variables increase, it leads to the improvement and promotion of the dimensions and components of sustainable urban development.