An Analysis of the Role of Urban Governance Indicators on Urban Waste Management (Case Study: Ahvaz City)

Mahdavi Nasr, Ebrahim; Amiri, Azadeh

An Analysis of the Role of Urban Governance Indicators on Urban Waste Management (Case Study: Ahvaz City)

Document Type : Extract article from research project

Authors

Ebrahim Mahdavi Nasr ¹

Azadeh Amiri ²

¹ MSc degree student, Department of Geography and Planning, Islamic Azad University, Ahvaz Branch, Ahvaz, Iran

² Assistant Professor, Department of Geography, Ahvaz Branch, Islamic Azad University, Ahvaz, Iran.

Abstract

Background and Objective: Effective urban waste management is a critical challenge in Ahvaz, Iran. The city faces growing environmental, health, and social issues due to increasing population, escalating waste generation, and insufficient infrastructure and planning. In this context, urban governance, defined as the set of mechanisms, institutions, and decision-making and implementation processes, plays a particularly crucial role.
Methodology: This applied research aims to investigate the relationship between various urban governance indicators and urban waste management in Ahvaz. Its nature and method are analytical-exploratory. From a statistical population of 1,302,591 Ahvaz citizens, a sample of 386 individuals was selected using Cochran's formula. Data collection was carried out using a researcher-developed questionnaire, which demonstrated confirmed content (face) and construct validity, along with acceptable composite reliability. The data was analyzed using correlation analysis and structural equation modeling (SEM), employing SPSS and Smart PLS software.
Results and Findings: The results from the structural equation modeling reveal a strong and significant relationship (p<0.05) between urban governance indicators and urban waste management. This clearly demonstrates that improving urban governance in Ahvaz will directly lead to a more robust and efficient urban waste management system. Furthermore, the model fit indices indicate a strong alignment between the data and the conceptual model, reinforcing the validity and reliability of the modeling results. This confirms that the proposed model effectively explains the relationship between the variables under study.
A comparison of correlation coefficients shows that waste generation has a particularly strong and close link with waste segregation and recycling. In contrast, waste collection exhibits a weaker correlation compared to other dimensions of urban waste management. Additionally, the PLS test results ranked the urban waste management indicators as follows: waste segregation and recycling (201.658 points), waste generation (148.120 points), waste treatment and disposal (66.819 points), and waste collection (21.398 points). These findings underscore the pivotal role of urban governance, especially in strengthening the infrastructure and processes for waste segregation and recycling. This highlights the necessity of investing and giving special attention to improving urban governance indicators as a fundamental prerequisite for achieving an efficient and sustainable urban waste management system.

Keywords

Waste management

urban management

urban governance

governance indicators

Ahvaz city

Subjects

Urban Planning

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