Semnan

INTRODUCTION: Resilience is considered a way of strengthening societies using their capacities which can be defined as the ability of systems to adapt to changes without collapsing at the incidence of disasters. To understand resilience and the way it is analyzed at the community level, it is necessary to study the society's current condition and policies, as well as the measures adopted to reduce risk and how the risks in society are dealt with. This study aimed to assess the resilience of urban communities in the face of an earthquake. METHODS: This descriptive-analytical study was conducted using a questionnaire to collect the required data in Semnan, Iran, in 2019. The statistical population of this study (n=384) consisted of the citizens of Semnan selected using the Cochran formula and random sampling method. The collected data were analyzed in SPSS software (version 23) using mean and percentage for descriptive analysis and Pearson correlation coefficient and one-sample t-test for inferential statistical tests. FINDINGS: Based on the results, the sociocultural, infrastructural-physical, economic, and institutional-organizational dimensions showed the current condition of resilience in Semnan with the mean scores obtained as 2.59, 3.05, 2.17, and 2.56, respectively. It was also revealed that resilience had a significant relationship with age, education, income, accommodation ownership, employment, calculated by the Pearson correlation coefficient (P-value=0.99). CONCLUSION: The mean scores and significance level of the economic resilience in Semnan revealed that this city lacked economic resilience. In this regard, it can be noted that residents' lack of skills in other fields and jobs, lack of possessions outside the city, the vulnerability of residents' properties and assets, level of economic poverty in the city, citizens' limited financial ability to participate economically, and low level of household savings to compensate for earthquake damage have made returning to pre-crisis conditions highly difficult for citizens, and consequently, they cannot be economically resilient.

The insights of Austrian philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein can be useful in understanding the intricate dynamics of contemporary architecture and urban life and juxtaposing various facets of modernity and historical context. In his text, 20th-century modernism, which focuses on logic, modernity, technology, and spiritual matters, is intelligible. Wittgenstein was an analytic philosopher who believed in the correspondence between the real world, thought, and language. This study aims to analyze Wittgenstein's opinions and uses them to define a conceptual model that includes four components: Logic, avoidance of psychologism, viewing from the perspective of eternity, and modernity. The components are divided into ten subcomponents in architecture: Logic, usefulness, function, style, decorations, transcendence, positive feelings, tolerance, modernity, and technology. There was a focus on six cases, three historical buildings, and three contemporary ones in Semnan. Two questionnaires for citizens and experts have been prepared, and a field study has been implemented after the validity assessment. Then, the results of the questionnaires were entered into the data bank in IBM SPSS and were analyzed and compared. The findings show that three of the ten model variables, attention to excellence, creating a positive feeling, and a positive approach to technology, are ranked higher than the other variables, with an importance of nearly 80%. The acceptability of all three historical buildings is higher than the three contemporary buildings in both groups of citizens and experts, but the difference is much greater among experts.