Investigation about the Factors of Life Quality Affecting Resident's Satisfaction in Informal Settlements (Case Study: Farahzad-Tehran, North Farahzad)

Introduction
Due to the uncontrollable process of urbanisation, within the next 30 years, up to nearly two-thirds of theworld’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 the cities.Informal settlements are the phenomena that exist in many urban 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 satisfaction of residents, which is one of the main goals of sustainable development. Some of the most common attributes of informal settlements are: 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 of the 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 thesesettlements 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 made up less than 20% of the settlements of residential buildings; and iii) slums: the worst form of informal settlements, characterized by total lack of basic services.
 
Methodology
The used methods are interviews with key persons, literature studies, analysis of aerial photos, systematic observations, taking photographs and case study. During the fieldwork a participatory method is used to involve the residents in the process. The aim of 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 of Project Steering Committee, to understand the complexity of the project and to receive information of the problems within the area.
 
Results and discussion
Even though informal settlements consist of bad living conditions, they still can be seen as places of hope, of creativity and of resourcefulness. As they are usually resourceful because they are fast, ingenious, full of inventive surprises, and highly productive. According to the results, the social factor has the most influence on the residens satisfaction in informal settlements of Farahzad and it could be considered as a main factor in redevelopment programs.
 
Conclusion
It can be concluded that the social factor has the most importance in residents satisfaction as a main factor in redevelopment programs. It seems that, improvement in the life quality could be a way to achieve the sustainable development goals. Indeed, an increase in life quality policy affects resident satisfaction. This 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.