Economic Geography Research

Economic Geography Research

An analysis of citizens' awareness of their civil rights and its relation to citizens' participation in city governance (Case study: citizens of the city of Maragheh)

Document Type : Research Article

Authors
Department of Geography and Urban Planning, Faculty of Humanities, University of Maragheh
Abstract
The awareness of acquired rights leads to the promotion of the role and participation of citizens in improving their quality of life. This study has investigated the state of citizens' awareness of civic duties and its relation to citizens' participation in city governance in city of Maragheh. It is a descriptive-analytical research method in which information is collected through a library and documentation study and a field study (questionnaire). The statistical population of the study is the citizens city of Maragheh from which 385 people were selected as a statistical sample by random sampling. Considering the scope of the functions of municipalities in Iran, the organizational dimensions of the municipality, urban services, urban planning, urban traffic and transportation, and civic and socio-cultural aspects were examined. The results of comparing the average components of civic awareness show that the highest and lowest average scores are associated with the dimensions of community organization (3.43) and urban planning (3.08), respectively. Moreover, there is a linear relationship between citizens' awareness of their civic rights and citizens' participation in urban governance in Maragheh city, most of which is related to the civic aspect. The standardized coefficients (β) of the above dimensions are 0.369, 0.351, 0.378, 0.320, and 0.342, respectively, and the error level is less than 0.01, which suggests that these dimensions have a significant impact on citizens' participation in urban governance. Therefore, the importance of this issue is emphasized and it is suggested to plan studies to define the mutual duties of citizens and municipalities.
Keywords

  • Receive Date 25 October 2024
  • Revise Date 11 January 2025
  • Accept Date 27 January 2025