The Use of Social Network Analysis (SNA) in Community Studies in Urban Planning

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 PhD. Faculty of Architecture & Urban Studies, University of Art, Tehran, Iran

2 Professor, Department of Urban Planning, Faculty of Architecture & Urban Studies, University of Art, Tehran, Iran

3 Professor, Faculty of Social and Economic Sciences, Alzahra University, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

The community has a crucial role in the new urban planning paradigm. The notion of this community is different from the one before the emergence of diverse transportation systems and communication technologies. Nowadays, the community is not necessarily attached to a place nor limited to the boundaries of a neighborhood. Instead, it is considered as a network of people who are tied through common identity and a set of norms that do not necessarily emanate from a place. In this network approach toward the community, social network analysis (SNA) is deployed in community studies.
Although SNA is a well-known method in social sciences in Iran, it is rarely used by urban planners specifically to study the community. While the importance of place has decreased in community notion and role, using the place-based methods to study the community will end up with a great lack of information about what community is indeed and how it properly works in the development process. Thus, this research is conducted to answer the following questions: (1) What is the social network analysis (SNA)? And (2) what are the usage of SNA in community studies in urban planning? Based on the study of documents, SNA makes it possible to recognize diverse types of communities from virtual to place-based with a specific focus on ties and relationships. The research shows that SNA in community studies in urban planning can be used in two different fields: (1) to investigate both the spatial and social aspects of the community and (2) to find out community participation in the planning and development process. The former focuses on how place-based a community is, what the social processes form a community, and the impact of context on the construct, evolution, and death of a community. The latter explores how community participation in the planning process can be increased through studying the structure, the function, and the communication patterns of a community.

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