Analysis and evaluation of effective indicators on the realization of a healthy city; Case study: Rasht city

The purpose of this research is to evaluate the indicators of a healthy city in Rasht in and finally to examine the relationships between the indicators of a healthy city, including identifying the most important factors affecting the realization of a healthy city. For this purpose, the city of Rasht has been chosen as a case study in this research.

The current research is considered an applied research in terms of purpose and, according to the method of answering research questions, it is considered a descriptive-quantitative research. In this study, the information was collected through surveys and documents. In order to investigate and evaluate the indicators of a healthy city, a questionnaire with a 5-level Likert scale was designed. The information obtained from the questionnaires was analyzed and evaluated by SPSS software. First, in order to confirm the accuracy of the questionnaire, the value of Cronbach’s alpha was checked, and this value with a coefficient of 0.913 indicated the very favorable and reliable internal validity of the questionnaire questions. Then, by using binomial tests, Pearson correlation and linear regression test, the findings have been analyzed step by step. The sample size was calculated using Cochran’s formula of 384, according to the population of Rasht in the latest population and the housing census in 2015, that was reported to be 679,995 people.

According to the average results of the indicators, the “housing quality” index has the highest average value of 3.12. On the other hand, the “organizational-managerial” index has the lowest average among the indices, with an average of 2.52. Also, according to the average results of the research items, the item of “residential unit’s access to facilities such as water, electricity and gas” from the housing quality index has the highest average with a number of 4.15, as well as the item “the existence of special bicycle paths in the place of residence”. The environmental and physical index with an average of 1.93, they have the lowest average among all items. And finally, the average of all items in the current research is equal to 2.86. Then, a step-by-step regression test was used to investigate the relationship between the “health and hygiene” index and other research indicators. At first, by entering the index of “health and sanitation” as a dependent index and 5 other research indices as independent indices, the effective indices identified by this test are entered into the model in order of effect. According to findings, “organization and management” index had the greatest impact on the health and hygiene of the citizens, as it was able to predict 34.4% of the variance share of the “health and hygiene” index alone with a correlation coefficient of 0.586. Also, in the fourth model, where all the effective indicators are included in the model, the model has a correlation coefficient of 0.704, which shows the high correlation between these factors and the health of the citizens; It could form 49.5% of the share of the variance of the “health and sanitation” variable. Finally, only the “economic” index has been removed from the model due to its insignificant effect on the “health and sanitation” index.

Based on the step-by-step regression test, firstly, the “management and organizational” index alone is able to predict 34.4% of the variance share of the “health and hygiene” index. Also, these two indicators have the highest correlation among all the indicators of this research, which indicates the continuity and high influence of these two indicators on each other. Therefore, Rasht’s urban management can place special emphasis on the topic of a healthy city and the health indicators of the citizens in its planning, in order to ultimately improve the health and health status of the city and its citizens. In the next step, the indicators of “housing quality” and then “environmental and physical” have the greatest effect on the health status of citizens, which indicates the importance of physical issues and the quality of life of citizens in addition to environmental issues. But at the last stage, the “social” index has an undeniable effect on the health index. Based on this, it is possible to improve the indicators of a healthy city with proper planning in order to increase interactions between citizens and raise the level of people’s participation in urban affairs and provide a suitable platform for the direct relationship between citizens and city officials to increase two-way interaction between them. The point to be pondered in this research is the exclusion of the economic index from the final model, which shows the insignificant and negligible impact of this index on the health status of the citizens, which indicates that this index has a lower priority than other indices, and can be a suitable subject for future research in this city.