Journal of Geographical Studies of Mountainous Areas

Journal of Geographical Studies of Mountainous Areas

Evaluating the importance and performance of economic resilience indicators in historical contexts (Case study: historical context of Urmia)

Document Type : Original Article

Authors
Mir Najaf Mousavi
Nima Bayramzadeh
, Department of Geography, Urmia University, Urmia, Iran.
10.22034/gsma.2025.2045583.1041
Abstract
1. Introduction
Today, the realization of sustainable growth in an extremely turbulent and changing world requires understanding the current situation and using new tools. Recognizing hazards and risks in the economic, social, geographical, political, technological and environmental fields for any country as a prerequisite for achieving sustainable growth has been suggested by research centers and experts, and one of these categories is the classical and neglected category of resilience (Mansouri, Farazmand, & Afghah, 2021: 8). Economic Resilience is the reaction and innate adaptation of people to risks, so that it enables them to reduce potential losses and damages caused by risks; Therefore, due to the importance of resilience, in order to promote economic resilience in dealing with economic shocks, reduce economic vulnerability and identify the factors affecting it (Ghaffary Fard, AbuNoori, & Nazari, 2022: 87), it shows the need to pay attention to the economic resilience status of urban spaces.
Economic Resilience is the reaction and innate adaptation of people to risks, so that it enables them to reduce potential losses and damages caused by risks; Therefore, due to the importance of resilience, in order to promote economic resilience in dealing with economic shocks, reduce economic vulnerability and identify the factors affecting it, it shows the need to pay attention to the economic resilience status of urban spaces.
The city of Urmia, as one of the historical cities of Iran, has a specific physical and spatial structure centered on the market as the backbone of the city and the main functional elements such as the square, the Grand Mosque in the area of the market and is formed with a unified and organic texture (Hosseinzadeh Dalir, Moosavi, Bayramzadeh & Pashachini, 2022: 1401). This city has a long history and this issue has caused the formation of historical context in this city. The historical context of Urmia city is located in the 4th region of this city, which forms the core of the city. Due to the age of the building, insufficient access, erosion of the context, this historical context has become a vulnerable area against natural and human disasters (Fari, Babakhani & Hashempour, 2023: 59), which need to pay more attention to the resilience situation in this area. The main goal of this research is to evaluate the importance and performance of economic resilience indicators in the historical context of Urmia City.
 
2. Methodology
The present research is applied in terms of its type and its investigation method is descriptive-analytical. Data collection in this research has been done in two ways, library and field. The case study of this research is the historical context of Urmia City which is located in region 4.
The statistical population of the research is the residents of the historic town of Urmia, which according to Cochran's formula, the sample size is 383, which was distributed by simple random sampling. The validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by 15 experts and the reliability of the questionnaire was confirmed by Cronbach's alpha test with a value of 0.719.
Data analysis has been done using IPA technique to evaluate the importance and performance of indicators and DEMATEL multi-criteria decision-making model to prioritize important indicators, to check the internal relationship of these indicators.
 
 
3. Results
The findings of the research show that according to the IPA technique, indicators of job security, the health of financial and monetary policies, the existence of suitable infrastructure, the existence of alternative ways of income and stability and economic stability within the historical context of Urmia city are of great importance in promoting economic resilience, but due to poor performance, they have not been placed in a good position. According to the results of DEMATEL, the index of stability and economic stability has been the most effective and the most impressive index among other indices, which has the most relationship with other indices.
 
4. Discussion
In a general summary, it can be mentioned that due to the physical and functional of the historical context of Urmia, the attractiveness of this environment for investment has decreased and this has directly affected the economic status of the residents of this area. Therefore, it requires the special attention of city managers in order to improve the performance level of economic resilience indicators.
According to the results of this research, in the first stage, it is possible to take macro policies to create stability and economic stability in this area, so that the index of stability and economic stability is related to all indicators and has an effect on all these indicators. Therefore, adopting development strategies based on creating stability and economic stability within the historical context of Urmia city can improve the resilience of the residents of this neighborhood over time, and with any natural and human hazards, this human settlement can quickly return to its previous position.
 
5. Conclusion
Today, economic resilience is seen as an important issue in the historical contexts of the city. These areas have unique historical and cultural values that need protection and maintenance.
These urban contexts are usually the destination of domestic and foreign tourists due to their special historical and cultural features, which have a great impact on the local economy, But sometimes these urban contexts may face economic challenges, in which case economic resilience can be proposed as a solution to maintain and strengthen their economy; By evaluating it in these urban contexts, optimal strategies can be developed by knowing the current situation and based on environmental potentials; Therefore, the assessment of economic resilience is an important tool that can help preserve and develop these areas and provide the basis for economic growth and progress.
 
Acknowledgments
The authors contributed equally to the conceptualization and writing of the article. All of the authors approved the content of the manuscript and agreed on all aspects of the work.
We are grateful to all the scientific consultants of this paper.
Keywords
Importance and Performance
Sustainable Development
Economic Resilience
Urmia
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Journal of Geographical Studies of Mountainous Areas
Volume 6, Issue 3 - Serial Number 23
Autumn
Summer 2025
Pages 23-42