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At the heart of the concept crisis is the notion of endangered condition of an is­sue, number of issues, processes and affairs in the life of an individual, an group, a community, a locality or society as a whole. The sense of being in danger or threatened should be widespread and gradually a consensus concerning the criti­cal nature of the issue on hand should emerge. This paper based upon the present author’s Geo-strategic and geopolitical theory of the Iranian society has claimed that Iran for various reasons has been a crises prone society. Then by using an analytical model consisting of three levels of analysis, it is attempted to present a long list of crises which have shown sustainability in long history of Iran. Among the critical issues mentioned, authoritarian political sub-structure is singled out; Finally by reviewing major changes which have occurred in the past two decades the paper has tried to mention the most critical issues of today among which youth problems, addiction, legitimacy crisis, and housing problems are more empha­sized. As a conclusion the paper points to people’s possible reactions t crises em­phasizing urban riots and unrest

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Objectives: One of the new world phenomena is Urbanization in under development or developing counties where the rate of urbanization changes has happened more rapidly than in developed areas. So the increase of urbanization in Iran has been high and one of the outcomes of this process is the emergence slums and extension of informal settlement. In urban studies, focus on marginal area is very important. It is clear that if any country ignores informal settlements, urban sustainable development will not be achieved. Method: Our main methods in this investigation were field study, data collected through questionnaire prepared by researchers and validated on pilot study, we also used observation techniques and interviews with related mayors. Sample size was 500 inhabitants on Hamedan informal settlements. Conclusion: Hamedan as the capital of province encounters informal settlements like most Iranian big cities. Environmental and physical upgrading is the first priority of Hamedan informal settlements. Potenital of Social problems and crises are high, participation and social trusts don't show significant indicators. Finally informal settlements in the future will be the main challenges and obstacles against sustainable urban development

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Objectives: This article evluated urban upgrading achievements and challenges of the Urban Upgrading and Housing Reform Project conducted in Iran during the period 2004-2009. Method: The assessment is provided both at the project level and in the target informal settlements of Bandar Abbas as a case study. Data and information were collected through a desk review, a beneficiary assessment conducted in Bandar Abbas, and a set of interviews held with project stakeholders at the national level and in Bandar Abbas. Findings & Conclusions: One of the most important achievements of the project it is making positive attitude to the informal settlements in public level. Alsoseries of interventions including streets improvements, water piping schools construction, chanel reform, and construction of hygiene an medical centers have resulted various benefits for local inhibitant. Yet the project faced with the challenges and difficulties and have disappointed some of it’s appliances.

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Introduction: Lefebvre's right to the city is a radical reconceptualization of goals, definition and content of political communities and the concept of participation plays a great role in it. This project has used Arnestein ladder of participation as a conceptual construct to evaluate different levels of citizen participation, as well as the relation between participation and Lefebvre's idea of the right to the city.

Method: This study has been conducted by survey method using multistage cluster sampling on 879 citizens of 22 municipalities of the city of Tehran.

Findings: Citizen Participation in urban design is very low and at the tokenism level while there are no gender differences in the levels of participation.

Debate: Implementing Lefebvre’s concept of right to city in this study indicates that in designing urban spaces, capital and class are considered prominent factors by urban authorities while public participation and gender are neglected. The hegemonic discourse of capital is prevalent in the urban space planning. This situation is rooted in the institutional mechanisms and structures thus any change to the current trends, requires alterations in structures of citizen participation.

 

 

 

 

Introduction: Informal settlements are emanation of poverty which originated from housing policy incompetence along with inattention to requirements of large part of urban low income people. Relying on some factors like geographical location, utility of place, social attributes of occupant groups, services and facilities level, future programs, and level of hope for the future, these settlements has different residential value and subsequently different development direction ,in some cases, these settlements significantly has been improved.

method: This research, through cross-sectional method and by utilizing of field information, in two times with 8-year interval, analogically has studied vicissitude of housing and condition of life of one of the largest informal settlements of Kermanshah city. Dowlatabad settlement in which situated in the west of the city, and has 95 thousands inhabitant, is the statistical population of the research.

Findings: finds of this research indicates that various effective index on the poor subsistence, such as demographic index, occupation and insurance, accessibility, housing, facilities, access to formal funds for housing and vocation securance , has been improved.in most of cases, this trend has been tangible and significant. However, due to merger of settlement in city and expansion of urban culture in there, some of the indicators that deal with social interactions, social relationships, and social capital, have decreased.

Discussion: the trend of evolution and improvement of Dowlatabad- as one of the most principal informal settlements- in housing, services and facilities is significant. The trend of condition improvement of Dowlatabad is due to economic and social changes that somewhat has been able to accelerate the trend of improvement of formal Upgrading programs, especially relating to physical upgrading. Stability of unemployment rate indicates durability of neighborhood unemployment problem and decrease of amount of social interaction and relationships shows that neighborhood has entered to phase of keeping out from prior rural traditional structure. This survey demonstrates that problems of Dowlatabad have transformed from physical issue to social issue and its current concerns and needs have local community development.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Assessment of Upgrade Quality of Life in Informal Settlements in the Past Decade

 

(Case study: Dowlatabad, Kermanshah)

 

 

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Introduction: One of the factors  of unsustainable urban development, especially in developing countries, is informal settlements which are developing in the cities alongside the increase in population and due to growing urbanization. Informal settlements create many problems and disparities with regard to physical, economic and social aspects in metropolises. Therefore, this requires the adoption of special measures and strategies in urban planning. Proposed approaches to seek a remedy differ from omission and demolition to improvement and empowerment of these settlements. Therefore, over time and with the failure of past approaches to solve the problems of informal settlements, new empowerment approaches emphasize on strengthening the social capital and using this capital to mobilize four other types of capitals (human capital, natural capital, financial capital and physical capital). Thus, the strategy of empowering has a special place in the informal settlements literature in the world.
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Method: This study is descriptive-analytical and applicable. Through random sampling and Cochran’s formula, 384 people 18 years old and above living in Shir-Abad quarter in Zahedan were chosen.

Findings: The indexes of participation (in environmental dimension), cooperation (in the physical, economic, social and environmental dimensions) and formal and informal networks (in the physical, social and environmental dimensions) were above average. The indexes of participation (in the physical and social dimensions), confidence (in the physical, economic, social and environmental dimensions) and formal and informal networks (in the economic dimension)  were average and the index of participation (in economic dimension) was lower than average. Moreover, there was a significant correlation between all indicators and empowerment dimensions.

Discussion: The findings suggested that there is a two-way relationship between empowerment and social capital. Anything that causes social capital, also increases empowerment and vice versa. Therefore, the conditions of Shir-Abad, as an example of urban margine neighborhoods,  provide an opportunity to use strategy of empowerment through social capital.
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Introduction: capacity poverty and mental health are among the issues that seem to be important issues in cities, especially informal settlements. Therefore, the aim of the present study is to assess the status of capacity poverty and mental health and the relationship between them in informal settlements of Ardabil city and compare the status of this settlement with other settlements or urban contexts in Ardabil.
Method: The present study is applied in terms of purpose and descriptive-analytical in nature. The statistical population of this study is the citizens of Ardabil. With the help of Cochran’s mathematical formula, 384 people were determined as a statistical sample and randomly sampled from citizens living in different urban contexts of Ardabil. Data were collected from them using a research tool (Likert scale questionnaire). 
Findings: The results of the research showed that the informal settlements in Ardabil are in poor condition in terms of capacity poverty and mental health. There is also a There is also a significant and inverse relationship between capacity poverty and mental health. Informal settlements in Ardabil are in the last rank and in a very inappropriate level compared to other urban contexts in terms of capacity poverty and mental health.
Discussion: The results indicate that the social and economic status of urban contexts play an important role in their capacity poverty and mental health and special attention should be paid to the issue of capacity poverty in informal settlements and lower urban contexts. In this regard, the deprivation of basic individual and social capabilities must be eliminated in order to improve the mental health of citizens.