A mixed method study on recognizing the areas of influence by urban planners in fostering social interactions in public spaces: evidence from Iran.

Due to the negative consequences of the rapid growth of urbanization in Iran, public spaces have suffered a lot of damage in recent years. Public spaces, which are generally areas for the formation of social interactions, have distanced themselves from their original concept in recent years in Iran. The main objective of this study is to investigate the promotion of social interaction in Iranian public spaces through urban planning interventions. Data used in this study were obtained through semi-structured interviews with practitioners and researchers in urban planning and questionnaire. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the interviews and the findings of the quantitative section were analyzed through the structural equation modeling (SEM) approach in Smart PLS 3. Our findings show that promoting social interactions in public spaces requires intervention in three pillars: the built environment, urban management and citizens’ demanding approach