بررسي ميزان تمايل ساكنان سكونت گاه هاي غير رسمي كلان شهر اهواز به مشاركت در طرح هاي توانمندسازي

Public participation in enablement programs of informal settlements in Ahvaz

Metropolitan stage is one of the stages of urban growth. Metropolitan areas are mostly faced with urban problems caused by overpopulation and physical expansion. One of the most important problems in metropolitan regions in Iran is the existence of informal settlements which have created physical, environmental, economic, social and even political problems for such places. Informal settlements are referred to those settlements which are built on occupied and agricultural lands without the required permits. Therefore, they are built outside the formal urban planning framework in different parts of the city. Such settlements are the result of poverty and migration, and expand as the rate of poverty and migration grows. Enablement is defined as making appropriate policies and plans to upgrade such settlements physically, economically and socially. Public participation can help achieve these goals. This research aims at evaluating the tendency or the lack of tendency of the settlersʹ participation in enablement plans in informal settlements in Ahvaz. It is based on field studies and seeks to find the answers to the following questions: Are the informal settlers hopeful about the future of their neighborhoods and willing to help improve them? Is there any meaningful relationship between the length of informal settlement and the settlersʹ hopefulness about the future of their present residence and/or cooperation with municipalities and other urban organizations to improve their residing places? The obtained results indicate that 41.4% of the informal settlers are hopeful regarding the future of their settlements and are willing to remain there. Moreover, 85.5% of the settlers tend to help improve their neighborhood and houses. The results also show that there is a meaningful relationship between the length of settlement and participation in enablement plans.