Explaining the social dimensions of livability in informal settlements (Case study: Koshtargah neighborhood)

The main purpose of this research is to investigate the social dimension of livability in the informal settlement of Koshtargah located in Urmia city. The current research is applied in terms of purpose and descriptive-analytical in terms of nature. The collection of information in this research has been done in two ways: library and field. The data collection tool is in the form of a questionnaire and a questionnaire of experts. The statistical population of this research is the residents of the Koshtargah neighborhood, which according to Cochran's formula is 374 people who are randomly distributed in the study area. Data analysis was done quantitatively through SPSS and Excel software. The data collected through the questionnaires were analyzed by one-sample t-tests and Spearman's correlation, and DEMATEL's multi-criteria decision-making method was used to analyze the data of the experts' questionnaire. The validity of the questionnaires has been confirmed by experts. The reliability of the questionnaires has been confirmed through Cronbach's alpha test with an alpha coefficient of 0.711. The findings of this research show that according to the results of the one-sample t-test, the indicators of recreation and leisure and general education are at a lower level than the average level, and the indicators of personal and social security, participation, identity, and sense of place are at an average level. According to the results of the Spearman correlation test, there is a significant relationship between the indicators and the social dimension of livability. according to the results of the DEMATEL model, the personal and social security index with the value (D) of 4.859 is the most effective, and the participation index with the value of (R) 4.798 is the most influential and the index of personal and social security with the value (D+R) of 9.279 has the highest correlation with other Indexes. The results of this research indicate that the level of the social dimension of livability in the Koshtargah neighborhood is lower than average.