Investigating women's sense of security in urban public spaces: a case study of districts 5 and 2 of Shiraz

Today, the rapid growth of urbanization causes various problems for the citizens in the urban space, and the issue of security as the background of a healthy society has gained a special importance in urban issues. The feeling of security is considered as one of the basic needs of citizens in urban spaces, which is the basis for the development of human societies. Meanwhile, women, as a part of the vulnerable sections of society, need a sense of security for their presence in urban spaces. The presence of women in safe spaces promotes the model of effective and better participatory social activities in the community scene. The present research is of an applied type, which was carried out in the statistical population of the 2nd and 5th regions of Shiraz city with a descriptive and analytical method. The purpose of the research is to evaluate the sense of security of women living in the statistical community. The process of collecting information is in the form of library and documentary studies, and the data is obtained from field surveys and questionnaires. In order to analyze the data and create sufficient scientific evidence needed to achieve the goal of the research, Pearson's correlation coefficient and regression statistical analyzes were used in SPSS software.The findings indicate that region 5 has better social, physical and psychological conditions than region 2 and women feel more secure. Also, the results indicate that the social, physical and psychological dimensions have a direct relationship with each other, in other words, these dimensions have a direct relationship with women's sense of security in urban public spaces, that is, the higher the indicators of these dimensions are, the more secure women feel.

      Man and the environment in which he lives are inseparable from each other. The rapid growth of Man and the environment in which he lives are inseparable from each other. The rapid growth of urbanization and the ever-increasing population of urban dwellers, which brings with it the mixing and mixing of people in the urban space, has caused the discussion of security to gain special importance in urban issues, urban security. It means peace of mind and lack of fear of citizens from any threat and danger against the city, citizens, urban spaces, buildings and organizations, facilities and urban infrastructures and other important elements in urban life that cause concern and feeling of insecurity in citizens. brought The feeling of security is considered as one of the important indicators of the quality of urban life, and it is considered as one of the basic needs of citizens in urban structures, and it is of special importance due to the inclusion of a sense of peace and comfort in the environment for citizens. . Various factors affect citizens' sense of security; the security of women in the urban society will result in many social and economic benefits. The feeling of security in women can be effective in improving the pattern of social activities and bring about a better participation in the community scene

      This research is of a practical and practical type, which was collected using the questionnaire tool, the required data in different periods of time in the fall of 2022. In this research, the statistical population of women over 15 years of age is 102,212 people. Cochran's formula was used to determine the sample size, which was 382 people by Cochran's method and taking into account the sample error rate of 0.5% compared to sampling from the target statistical population by stratified and random method. In the current research, the descriptive and analytical method was used and the process of collecting research information was collected in the form of library and document studies, and the findings were obtained from field surveys and questionnaires. Statistical analysis and questionnaire data are collected in such a way that for each index, a question is asked, and according to the five-scale Likert scale, answers including very weak, weak, average, good and very good are considered, which citizens according to They have answered the questions of the questionnaire and in the analysis of the data T and Pearson correlation tests have been used in the SPSS software format.

       The calculation of the difference test in the indicators related to the social dimension of the sense of security in the two studied regions shows that the overall average of the index in the fifth region is 3.36 and the second region is 2.35, which indicates the difference in the level of security in the studied regions. Based on the obtained information, the indicators of neighborhood relations and the dynamics and activity of the population are more than the significance level (0.05) and the rest of the indicators are less than the significance level. It can be argued that there is an average difference between the two communities in question regarding the social dimension. The calculation of the mean difference test in the indicators related to the physical dimension shows the sense of security. Based on the analysis, region 5 shows a better physical quality than region 2. As we can see in this table, the level of significance of these two areas in terms of the indicators of lighting condition and face detection at night and the condition of urban furniture is calculated to be less than the level of significance (0.05). From the calculated value (0.05), which shows that there is no equality between the variances. The sig value of the T-test item 4 is more than the significant limit, which means that the average difference of the two communities in question is not significant in terms of this variable from the citizens' point of view. It can be argued that there is an average difference between the two communities in question regarding the physical dimension. The calculation of the test shows the average difference in the indices related to the security index, as it can be seen that the sig value of the T test in terms of the gender justice index is greater than the calculated significance level (0.05), which can be argued that the average difference of the two communities in question in terms of this index is meaningful from the point of view of the citizens. is not And the sig value of the T-test of other dimensions is less than the calculated significance limit value, which can be argued that the average difference between the population is significant.

      According to the results obtained, region 5 has better conditions than region 2 in terms of social, physical and psychological dimensions, and women feel more secure, and from the conducted tests, it can be concluded that social, physical and psychological dimensions are related to each other. They have a direct relationship and also these dimensions have a direct relationship with women's sense of security in urban public spaces, that is, as the indicators of these dimensions increase, women feel more secure. In this regard, some of the proposals presented in the research are such that it is possible to create people's organizations and form social and cultural institutions, especially institutions centered on women, in order to include as many women as possible and increase the interaction and social support of citizens from each other; Using waste and unused spaces in order to create interactive spaces and the participation of all classes for the dynamism and activity of the population and the increase and improvement of neighborhood relations; Private sector investment in temporary commercial activities on different days, including bazaars and bazaars with a focus on supporting women, such as bazaars for the supply of home business goods, such as handicrafts, etc.; Preventing the game exchange and land speculation, building the aggregation of small parts and increasing mixed and mixed uses for diversity of use and easier access for women in the area; Increasing awareness and civic participation by holding public meetings and consultations through the convergence and integration of residents and the use of cultural commonalities to control social harms at the neighborhood level in order to give citizens a sense of belonging to their place of residence.