Evaluation the level of sustainability in informal neighborhoods by using ecological footprint model (The case of Abas-abad neighborhood, Sanandaj)

One area of unsustainable urban development, especially in developing countries living with acute problems, is the so-called informal settlements which requires adopting special measures to regulate their current situation and prevent their spread in the future. With the introduction of sustainable urban development in the 1980s and attention to all aspects of the city (including environmental, economic and social aspects) as a basis for sustainable urban development, the problem of informal settlements entered a new phase of studies that is most relevant to the assessment of the level of stability in such settlements. The emergence of new practical methods and practices of sustainable development thinking in terms of environmental impact assessment occurred in the 1990s. The ecological footprint analysis is one of the indices that has attracted the attention of academics, politicians and educationalists. Ecological footprint is an indicator that assesses the energy and materials used in a city, region or country, and evaluates the burden on ecosystems induced by the population and industrial processes. In recent decades, Sanandaj, as the main city of Kurdistan province, has witnessed a massive wave of migration from the countryside into the city, leading to the formation of many informal settlements such as Abbas Abad, Naysr, etc. This research tries to evaluate the level of sustainability in Abbas Abad neighborhood using ecological footprint. The present study is an applied research with a descriptive-analytical method. The statistical population includes all the households living in Abbas Abad neighborhood. Given the fact that 4741 households live in Abbas Abad neighborhood, the sample size was estimated using the Cochran formula to be about 355 households. On this basis, 355 questionnaires were randomly distributed among households living in the Abbas Abad neighborhood. The questionnaires collected the information on the annual consumption of food and waste generation as expressed by the respondents. In order to assess the level of stability in Abbas Abad, the ecological footprint of the neighborhood was measured as one of the unofficial neighborhoods of Sanandaj. Eventually, one year’s water, electricity and gas consumption was calculated. It is worth noting that information on food intake, transport and waste production was been obtained through the distributed questionnaires.  The results show that the total ecological footprint of Abbas Abad neighborhood is 74560.551 hectares. The calculations show that the ecological footprint of the Abbas Abad neighborhood in 2011 was 74560.551 hectares worldwide, which represents an area of 3.808 hectares per capita for each neighborhood resident. This means that although the area of Abbas Abad neighborhood is 46 hectare, the land consumption of 19578 people living in the neighborhood is 1,621 times more than the area of the neighborhood, and given the 4065 hectares area of Sanandaj in 2011, it is about 18 times more than the area Sanandaj. The highest ecological footprint in the Abbas Abad neighborhood relates to the construction sector (38162 hectares). After construction, food (25819.06 hectares) and gas (5498 hectares) have the highest share in the Abbas Abad neighborhood.