Structural Analysis of the Factors and Drivers Affecting the Livability of the Border City of Saravan Using Cross Impacts Analysis Method

Border cities are important and strategic points for every country and governments have always been trying to improve living conditions and maintain stable security in them. Livability is one of the most important and vital aspects of urbanization that plays a significant role in improve the quality of life, urban development and maintaining security. Therefore, identifying the factors and drivers affecting the livability of such cities in the present and especially in the future has always been one of the important issues of urban planners. The purpose of this research is to identify and structurally analyze factors and drivers affecting the livability of the border city of Saravan, which has been extracted using theoretical literature and a survey method based on the Delphi technique. The statistical population of this research was 25 urban and academic experts and specialists who were selected by purposeful sampling. In total, 30 factors and driving forces in five dimensions of livability were classified and scored, and then the results were processed in MICMAC software. Among the factors and drivers affecting livability, 11 key factors and drivers that have the greatest impact on the livability of Saravan city have been identified, which include, the effect of government political decisions, private sector investments, government credits, employment, education, social relations and Equality, urban infrastructure, communication with border neighbors, deprivation, resilience against man-made disasters and financial affordability. These factors and drivers have a role of high effectiveness and low effectiveness. Therefore, the control and planning of the livability of Saravan depends on the changes of these factors and drivers.