Extended abstract
1- Introduction
Informal settlement is among the most important and serious challenges of city development in developing countries. It seems that there are different and to some extent anomalous ideas about it. Some consider the informal settlement as a temporary event and believe that life quality in such places would improve time passes.
On the other hand, cities, being one of the place in which human beings live, need to have some standards, which are called quality standards of civic living. The main aim of this study is to identify the effective factors on quality improvement of citizens and its hypothetical improvement through time, in the rural area of Panjtan Ale Aba neighborhood in Mashhad.
2- Theoretical Framework
The relationship between marginalization and quality of life indicates that these neighborhoods are very deprived in terms of having basic facilities for the overall life satisfaction and the important issue is that Panjtan Ale Aba neighborhood has a very bad condition and the quality of life indicators are very poor in this neighborhood. Therefore, , in addition to investigating and measuring all quality of life indicators, we intend to suggest and introduce the best indicator for improvement of quality of life in this neighborhood in this paper
According to theoretical perspectives of liberalism, informal settlement is a contemporary urban reality and quality of life in these neighborhoods will be promoted with the passage of time.
3- Methodology
The used method is descriptive-analytical and the data are gathered through documentary and field studies. To study the hypothesis, factor analysis, variance analysis, Spearman rank correlation coefficient test and Mann _Whitney test are used. The statistical population for this research is 17857 families that live in Panjtan Ale Aba neighborhood. About 375 families were chosen as the sample group and were studied. The perpetuity scale of the main questionnaire was approved through 88% Cronbach’s- Alpha, and narrative mode of questionnaire was supported by related professors and experts.
4- Discussion
In examining the relationship between history of residence and quality of life in Panjtan Ale Aba neighborhood, the results indicated that there was no significant relationship between them. Therefore, the view of those who believe in the improvement of marginalized lives with an increase in the history of residence is not confirmed. On the other hand, in examining the level of life satisfaction, the results showed that there was a significant difference between the old generation (the early immigrants) and the new generation (children of the early immigrants) considering life satisfaction in that the average satisfaction of early immigrants was more than the average satisfaction of their children. This indicates that despite the improvement of living conditions of marginalized over time, life satisfaction of new generation is very low. This is because with time passing, the absolute poverty has decreased due to the improvements in overall living; however, relative poverty has increased due to a comparison of each person with other citizens. This kind of poverty is alarming and can provide the social context of delinquency so that among the common problems of this neighborhood, addiction and street fighting are often observed. Paying attention to this case which can improve social indicators of urban quality of life is very effective.
Based on theoretical foundations, scholars like Rosen, “Nordhaus and Tobin” and Delfim respectively believe that being paid (economic aspects of quality of life), the differences in rent payment and economic status area one of the most important aspects of urban quality of life and includes the level of income and consumption, housing market, labor market and economic dynamics. In other words, they consider economic indicators as an effective factor on the promotion of urban quality of life.
5- Conclusion and Suggestions
Investigation of economic, social and physical indicators of urban quality of life in Panjtan Ale Aba neighborhood showed that in order to improve the situation of this neighborhood in terms of promotion of urban quality of life more attention should be paid to the physical indicators. Due to the high load of physical indicator, it can be concluded that there is more correlation between physical indicators and urban quality of life. On the other hand, measures of physical indicators examine more housing quality which suggests that promotion of urban quality of life in this marginalized neighborhood needs the improvement of housing quality. Alternatively, given that the relationship between social indicators and urban quality of life as well as economic indicators and urban quality of life are positive and significant and very close to each other, it cannot be said that which indicator has a more important role in urban quality of life in the study of social and economic indicators, thus, both variables have almost identical role in the improvement of urban quality of life.
All the aforementioned cases and many other similar cases suggest the need for greater attention to the marginalized urban neighborhoods because the improvement of their conditions and using the element of people participation to empower the residents are very important for increasing urban quality of life in these urban neighborhoods.