Structural equation modeling (SEM) the relationship between environmental quality and social cohesion components by explaining the mediating role of social resilience in urban cultural spaces

The quantity and quality of urban cultural spaces are one of the most critical factors in the cultural development of any society. Social cohesion is a set of relationships, a coherent and organized link between group members, which originates from shared value systems and norms, collective belonging, and interaction between them. In this respect, the current research was carried out to illuminate the impact of environmental quality components on social cohesion by explaining the mediating role of social resilience in urban cultural spaces. The present study is applied in terms of purpose and descriptive survey in data collection. The research population comprised all the users of urban cultural spaces in Tabriz, from which a sample of 193 users of Al-Ghadir and 29 Bahman cultural centers was selected by simple random sampling. The data collection instruments were researcher-made questionnaires on the components of environmental quality, social cohesion, and social resilience. The validity of the questionnaires was established through face validity and content validity. Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was used to determine reliability. In order to test the hypotheses, the structural equation method was used using SmartPLS software. The results of data analysis show that physical and structural components have a significant positive effect on social cohesion (P 0.01) and social resilience (P 0.001). The activity component significantly positively affects social cohesion (P 0.05). However, its effect on social resilience was not confirmed. Furthermore, the ecosystem component has a significant positive effect on social resilience (P 0.001), but its effect on social cohesion was not confirmed. Finally, according to the results of social resilience, it mediates the relationship between the physical and structural component and the ecosystem component with social cohesion; the mediation effect was more significant in the relationship between the physical and structural component with social cohesion.