Exploring the factors of life quality affecting resident's satisfaction In Informal settlements, case of study: Farahzad-Tehran, North Farahzad

Due to self-perpetuating growth of cities, urban population is increasing by 50 million per year in the developing world alone.Inability of authorities to respond adequately and greater autonomy or dweller control in the production of housing, in almost all developing countries, has resulted in informal settlements with poor physical infrastructure, which is an integral part of any sustainable human settlement. Informal settlement forms a significant percentage of the population of developing cities. These urban areas with different form of the settlement relations, Attendance of Various forces, Disruption of the social- Economic- physical and environmental dimensions, are one of the most serious threats to sustainable development and affect the resident’s life quality. These diverse settlements share some attributes for instance, environments are conceived andconstructed by the occupants themselves independently, without any professional advice; second occupation and construction frequently take place simultaneously; and these informal settlements are usually taking place in suburban and urban surroundings. It seems that, improving the life quality could be a way to achieve the sustainable development goals. Indeed an increasing life quality policy, affects residents satisfaction, which is one of the main goals of sustainable development. This reshapes the informal settlements urban system, in a way that may generate a higher level of quality. This article investigates the relationship between the sustainable development and life quality indicators including social, physical, environmental and aesthetic factors and shows how it has been influenced by these factors. A case study of informal settlement in a poor neighborhood of Farahzad, Tehran is used to illustrate the arguments. For this purpose, we develop a Questionnaire to investigate which factor has the most impact on life quality? We then, carry out a survey of households living nearby and explore how they are affected by quality of life factors. According to the results, respectively the social, environmental, aesthetic and physical factors have the higher qualities in informal settlements of Farahzad. Also, the results indicate that the physical factor has the most relation with resident’s satisfaction and it could be consider as a main factor in redevelopment programs.

Due to the uncontrollable process of urbanisation, within the next 30 years, up to nearly two-thirds of the world’s population will be living in urban areas. Most of this overwhelming urbanization is expected to occur in unplanned and underserved cities in the developing world. Along with the creation of a great upset for ecosystems, infrastructure, and the capacity of local governments, the most striking aspect of this tremendous rate of urbanisation in the developing world is the extent of informal settlements which provide shelter to as much as 32-85% of the population [9] and may cover up to one third to one half of the urbanized areas of cities.Informal settlements is a phenomena that exist in many parts of the world and it involves problems such as bad living conditions, poor service standards and absence of secure tenure.Since the 1960s informal settlement interventions have been a hot topic in developing countries Especially Iran, and several models have been applied to solve the situation. These areas are one of the most serious threats to sustainable development and affect the resident’s life quality. It seems that, improving the life quality could be a way to achieve the sustainable development goals. Indeed an increasing life quality policy, affects residents satisfaction, which is one of the main goals of sustainable development.Some of the most common attributes of informal settlements include: they are built without proper professional assistance; built for the larger part by low-income urban dwellers for whom existing formal avenues are hardly realistic options; constructed with local building materials, skills, designs and technology and do not adhere to formal/legal building codes and standards. Based on population density, proportion of apartments, the number of persons per dwelling unit and housing conditions informal settlements can be divided into four main categories: i) The affluent settlements have the highest housing standards: substandard housing constitutes less than 15% of the dwelling stock, crowding rate is less than three persons per dwelling unit and about 40% of the fabric of these settlements is made of multi-storey apartment buildings; ii) The moderate settlements: have less housing quality, density and use of the housing space is similar to the above and apartment buildings make up less than 20% of the settlements residential buildings and iii) slums: the worst form of informal settlements, characterized by total lack of basic services.

The methods used are interviews with key persons, literature studies, analysis of photos, systematic observation, taking photographs and a case study. During the fieldwork a participatory method is used to involve the residents in the process. The aim with this is to understand the needs, opinions and demands of residents in these areas. This method includes interviews with residents. Furthermore, the walk through method is used; observation and documentation of the existing situation while walking within the area. We also use a previous analysis of the implementation of basic services in informal settlements. We attend meetings with the area Project Steering Committee, to understand the complexity of the project and to receive information of the problems within the area.

Even though informal settlements consist of bad living conditions, they still can be seen as places of hope, of creativity and of resourcefulness. As the international housing expert Nabeel Hamdi (1995) describes them: they are resourceful because they are fast, ingenious, full of inventive surprises, and highly productive. According to the results, respectively the social, environmental, aesthetic and physical factors have the higher qualities in informal settlements of Farahzad. results indicate that the physical factor has the most relation with resident’s satisfaction and it could be consider as a main factor in redevelopment programs.

The results indicate that the physical factor has the most relation with resident’s satisfaction and it could be consider as a main factor in redevelopment programs.