Identifying Urban Stressors: A Case Study in Zone 8, Municipal District 1, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

Stress is considered one of the foremost essential components in expanding city mental disarranges. In comparison, creating cities that are more compatible with stress has been the focus of many governments, organizations, and researchers. Nevertheless, there are fewer empirical studies in this field. Hence, the present study aims to identify stressors in Zone 8, Municipal District 1 of Tehran, Iran. This study is focused on the descriptive-explanatory research. The data are collected using quantitative–qualitative methods and analyzed by factor analysis and multivariate regression. The findings indicate that the factors identified by factor analysis explain 66.8% of the changes in urban stress reported by citizens. Moreover, in the studied area, 19 factors are identified as the causes of urban stress, as follows (in order of importance): social differentiation and social isolation, lack of security, neighborhood quality, access to mental health-improving places, being able to satisfy and deal with emotions, control and prediction of the environment, the presence of open and green spaces, high-rise construction, social deprivation, stressful urban design, residents’ social status, resilience, access to centers and services, substance exposure and abuse, spatial diversity, deprivation, socioeconomic station, urban health, and being an ethnic minority. As a result, trying to control them makes it possible to reduce urban stress significantly.