The Study of Informal Employment Impacts on Social Sustainability;the Case Study of Baneh

Iranian border cities in last decades had gone through many changes due to informal trade and the increase of tourists’ numbers .This has a significant effect on the sustainability of these cities. In Baneh, most of informal employment occurs only in a small area of the city. The centralization of activities which mostly offer goods in high quality and low price has caused millions of people to visit this city every year. In this research, the impacts of informal employment on social sustainability of Baneh and the area of centralization of these activities are studied. The research method is based on descriptive-analytical method and data are gathered by library studies, field observations, interviewing and using questionnaire. In statistical analysis, Mann Whitney and T-Test are used. The results indicate that social sustainability has a meaningful difference in the central area and marginal area (Sig=0.043), considering that the average for marginal area and central area is 3.226 and 2.691, respectively. The findings show that due to the centralization of informal employment, social unsustainability is more intense in the central area in comparison to the marginal area. Considering the results of the study, some solutions are offered to reduce the negative effects of informal trade in Baneh, and the area in which the activities are centralized. As the most important solutions, prevention of smuggling goods and investment in other city potentials, creating jobs, codification of laws to prevent building commercial complexes, and avoiding centralization of activities in Baneh downtown can be mentioned.