A survey of factors affecting the citizen’s behaviors in Mashhad, Iran

Abstract

This paper attempts to understand affecting attributes associated with behavioral patterns in Mashhad city of Iran. In this regard, video camera tracking, in situ observation, and interactional checklist survey were employed to record citizen’s activities and behaviors. Therefore, the research attempts to recognize the effects of dynamic elements of street furniture, the main land-uses, and the mean concentration of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) on the behavioral issues. Then, a research procedure was made to expose the relationships between citizen’s behavioral issues and their affecting factors using a correlation test. Results revealed that most citizen’s activities in all street locations belong to meeting and talking (33%), walking to enjoy (29%), and seeing and visiting (18%), respectively. Thus, social and optional behaviors were observed as dominant citizen’s manners in the study area with mean values of 43% and 35%, respectively. Statistically, the correlations revealed the significant positive correlations between social behaviors and crowded type of visit (R = 0.58) around the holy shrine of Imam Reza. The social behaviors, affecting by religious motivation, disclose the environmental adaptation and physiological coping against overcrowding, air noises, and pollutant stresses. Hence, the religious motivation in the city center regularly drives the citizen’s social behaviors more than physical elements of space or natural environment. An important recommendation to modify this spatial and social interaction is using a land-use planning approach by separating the inherent missions of the urban system from the pilgrimage function. In this regard, the central district of Mashhad should be considered as pilgrimage activities and their following social behaviors, while all main land-uses should be dispersed through the other districts to regulate the optional and essential behaviors of citizens.