Urban resilience, particularly in the context of crisis and natural hazard management, refers to various concepts. Some define it as the capacity of a system, network, or economic enterprise to maintain and restore its functions after a crisis, while others define the resilience of infrastructure as the ability of various systems to reduce the likelihood and impact of shocks and recover quickly after an event.

Introduction

Urban resilience has become a critical concept in crisis management and is gaining increasing importance in urban planning and development. This concept refers to a city's ability to withstand and recover from crises and disruptions, including earthquakes, floods, water scarcity, and fires. Given the current global challenges, it has become a significant topic in urban research worldwide. Today, the urban resilience approach is one of the most important and key approaches that guarantees the survival of human settlements. This approach provides guidance for officials and stakeholders to make flexible decisions and develop new policies for urban management. An examination of urban resilience in Varamin is particularly important for several reasons. As a strategic city in the peri-urban area of Tehran and with a significant economic role at the provincial level, Varamin has been exposed to numerous crises, including water scarcity, subsidence, and a population influx in recent years. Due to its specific geographic location and proximity to the provinces of Semnan and Qom, it has significant strategic importance and is considered an economic and population hub in the region. One of the main challenges facing the city of Varamin is its limited water resources, which has created serious problems, especially in the face of water crises and climate change. On the other hand, the city's strong history of urbanization and rapid development has put additional pressure on its infrastructure and natural resources.

Methodology

This study is an applied, descriptive-analytical research aimed at assessing urban resilience in Varamin. To achieve this, a comprehensive review of the theoretical foundations identified 21 key components of urban resilience in Varamin. These components were incorporated into a COCOSO questionnaire and distributed to 30 urban planning experts. Using the Shannon entropy method, weights were assigned to each component. These weighted values were then input into the COCOSO technique in Excel to rank different regions of Varamin based on their resilience and associated criteria. Finally, ArcGIS Pro was employed to create maps visualizing these results.

Results and discussion

Based on the results obtained from the COCOSO model analysis for evaluating the three zones of Varamin city, Zone 1 ranked first with a score of 169.3 and has the highest level of resilience. This score indicates the higher ability of this zone to face and manage crises compared to other zones. Zone 2, with a score of 642.2, ranked second and has less resilience compared to Zone 1. Zone 3, with a score of 452.1, ranked third and is considered the weakest zone in terms of resilience. This ranking shows that the superiority of the zones in facing crises has been calculated using three different strategies of the COCOSO model. In this model, the final score K is calculated from the geometric mean and arithmetic mean of the three strategies, and the higher this score, the better the resilience of the zone is evaluated.

Conclusion

Urban resilience plays a vital role in reducing urban vulnerability and increasing their capacity to cope with natural and human-made crises, in line with sustainable development. Creating resilient cities, especially in peri-urban areas, not only improves the quality of life for residents and strengthens environmental sustainability but also reduces crisis management costs and increases the efficiency of urban infrastructure. This concept, through the development of flexible social, economic, and physical systems, makes cities more prepared and resilient to future challenges. Based on the findings of this research, the three zones of Varamin were examined in terms of resilience, showing that the performance of each zone differs in this regard. Zone 1, with the highest score (3.169), has been able to take steps towards resilience and sustainable development by benefiting from strong social networks, institutional support, and sustainable infrastructure. This zone has suitable capacities in resilience and can be introduced as a model for other zones. Zone 2, with a score of 2.642, has a moderate status, indicating the need for economic and institutional strengthening. Although this zone performs well in some indicators, a greater focus on targeted planning and strengthening local participation can improve its resilience. In contrast, Zone 3, with the lowest score (1.452), shows the weakest resilience among the zones. This zone is more vulnerable to crises due to a lack of physical infrastructure, weaknesses in management institutions, and low social participation. To improve the situation in this zone, upgrading infrastructure, strengthening institutional coordination, and increasing social participation are among the necessary actions.