Assessing the Social Sustainability of Mehr Housing Projects in Karaj Metropolis (Case Study: Mehr Housing Projects of Hashtgerd, Abrisham and Mahdasht)

Among the dimensions of sustainable development, the social dimension is recognized as one of the main dimensions that is mostly associated with quality of life. Mehr buildings are built either within new cities as urban neighborhoods or separately from small towns and metropolitan satellite towns. In the metropolis of Karaj, a number of Mehr houses have been formed in the new city of Hashtgerd and the towns of Abrisham and Mahdasht separately on the outskirts of the satellite cities of Kianshahr and Mahdasht. The main question of the present study is whether Mehr housing estates in metropolitan areas have the necessary qualities to provide sustainable housing and the formation of livable settlements? Or, what is the situation of social stability in these settlements in terms of sustainable development? The research method is descriptive-analytical. Field data are collected and analyzed based on the theoretical model of social sustainability. The sample size for completing the questionnaire included 720 households in the three settlements that were selected using the Cochran's formula. The results indicate that the situation of sustainability in the three studied towns is not the same. In terms of basic needs, only the realization of housing and shelter in Hashtgerd town with a score of 3.37 and in Abrisham and Mahdasht with an average of 3.17 has been successful and other sustainability indicators in all three areas are below average and in an unfavorable situation. Also, employment and economic situation with an average of 1.46 in all three towns is unfavorable. In terms of intermediate needs, the quality of the neighborhood is better with an average of 2.16 and 2.23, and in terms of final needs, the status of capital indicators and social mixing in Hashtgerd with an average of 2.16 and in Abrisham and Mahdasht with an average of 2.23 is somehow more suitable. In all the studied samples, other six necessary dimensions for the creation of livable settlements, especially in the field of migration and population movements and the provision of social infrastructure, have been unsuccessful or very unsuccessful.