Informal Settlements and Community-Based Planning with an Emphasis on the Metropolis of Tehran

According to UN studies, "Unofficial Settlement" will be the main challenge of the third millennium and it has been predicted that by 2020, the total number of inhabitants of the world's unofficial settlements will increase to almost 1.4 billion. The rapid expansion of cities around the world has been accompanied by the rapid growth of unofficial settlements. The haphazard growth of these settlements, while disturbing urban furniture and degrading the environment, has caused many social and cultural problems, especially in the context of social anomalies. The solutions presented in this regard have been diverse, from elimination and destruction to the improvement and empowerment of these settlements. Some consider them as a social problem and believe in their destruction or abandonment. Some other experts believe that, despite the fact that these settlements have many problems and issues, today they are recognized as a to house a group of poor people, and their destruction in the world and Iran are neither practical nor human, and with accurate and coherent planning it is possible to use the capacity and potentials of these settlements in order to empower them. Recent experiences in this area suggest that the concept of empowerment and attention to community-based programs in the face of unofficial settlement problems are now prevalent. In this view, the basis is the participation of residents, especially local leaders and influential people, in the planning and implementation of programs. This facilitates collaborations and division of efforts, and provides the ground for an initiative to overcome the problems of the local community. This increases the quality of life and reduces the social problems of unofficial settlements. In this article, we tried to study the empowerment program in unofficial settlements of Metropolitan Tehran, based on community-based approaches.