Analysis of Participatory Management of Neighborhoods with Emphasis on the Role of Social Capital (Case Study: Region 15 of Tehran Municipality)

Introduction In this research, we can say that local communities and participatory planning at the community level in urban management has a special place in Iran in the recent years. Citizen participation in municipal affairs has become one of the basic concerns of municipal managers and always  was highlighted at scientific, political and administrative meetings. Thus, assessment of the participation of citizens in urban areas and evaluation of the influencing factors can be the first step towards real participation. Various factors are effective on citizen participation but it seems that social capital is one of the most important of them. The present study is analysis of participatory management of neighborhoods with emphasis on the role of social capital in region 15 of Tehran Municipality. Methodology The present study has a descriptive –analytic method based on library and field studies. Hence, the first neighborhoods of Shush, North Kianshahr and South Afsarieh are selected as the sample and then estimated volume of samples were 384 people using Cochran sampling formula and the samples were randomly selected proportional to the population of each district. In the field studies, a questionnaire was used to collect data. In this regard, the questionnaire was designed in two parts in the form of Likert  The first part was to evaluate the citizen participation in community management and the second part to evaluate the factors affecting the participation of citizens in the management of their neighborhoods. Cronbach's alpha coefficient was used to measure reliability. The coefficient obtained for the first part of the questionnaire was 0.844 and for the second part it is 0.735 that represent the good reliability of the questionnaire. The validity of both the appearance and content of the questionnaire was approved by a group of professionals and experts. Then, they were analyzed by KMO coefficient to assess the validity of both the questionnaires. The coefficient obtained was 0.765 for the first part of the questionnaire and 0.71 for the second part. The research data were analyzed using the SPSS software. Results and Discussion The findings indicate that the citizens have a positive attitude towards collaborative management. This trend is not uniform among the sites studied and in neighborhood of Shush it is more than other ones. Hence, analysis of variance and Tukey's test results show a statistically significant difference. In addition, these assessments indicate that the level of social capital in the community is satisfactory. Thus, there is a significant difference statistically between the sites. However, the Shush neighborhood has higher levels of social capital. The combined results of multiple regression analysis show significant positive correlation between social capital and the willingness of the citizens to manage collaborative and the components of social capital influence the willingness of citizens in participatory management. Accordingly, present study suggests that the further the social capital in urban neighborhoods the more is the tendency of citizens in participatory management. The effectiveness of constructive elements of social capital on tendency of citizens in participatory management and influencing factors of membership in social networks is greater than the other components. The results of this analysis also indicate that whether the people in the organization of formal and informal social networks and the nature and collective consciousness find better capability to participate in community management. Social networks can also define the goals and social needs to makes it possible for consultation, cooperation and contribution of the citizens to the intellectual, financial, and physical situations of the neighborhoods. This is to identify problems and offer logical and rational and sustainable solutions. The trust is a requirement for the formation of social ties and interactions. Social trust help create cooperation and collaboration among the individuals, groups and social networks. However, there are differences and even aspirations to solve problems and manage their social obligations. It is noteworthy that the more emphasis on the importance social networking and social trust does not mean that other components are not important. In fact, these components are interdependent and complementary and social capital finds real terms and can be considered as the source to manage community. Conclusion This study demonstrates that one of the factors that could contribute to citizens' participation in the management of urban neighborhoods is social capital to which less attention has been paid. The importance of social capital as a factor for local development is to the extent that scholars believe that community development without social capital is impossible. The study offers the following suggestions for the promotion of social capital as well as increased tendency of citizens to the participatory management: -       Education and promotion of citizen participation in the process of community management of the lowest levels of learning, such as family, kindergarten and elementary school; -       Transparency of municipal management measures and informing the citizens to participate in community management; -       Support and strengthening of the formal and informal social networks as the formation of social capital accumulation; -       Efforts to improve institutional confidence between the people and the municipal authorities With actions such as tracking and responding to the demands of the people, respect for citizens, providing citizens with the honest report on a regular basis; -       Involving people in defining and analyzing problems and decision making to solve them using participatory approaches for evaluation; -       Development of public spaces in the neighborhood as a platform for social interaction and the formation of social capital and civic participation.