Empowering and organizing communities living in informal settlements with an emphasis on social capital (the research case of the informal settlement of Sari city - Azadi, Chamran and Ghafari quays)

Master's thesis in the field of urban planning

Thesis abstract:

Given the unbridled growth of urbanization in developing countries, poverty and deprivation are considered central and fundamental issues that cities are struggling with. The growth of the phenomenon of urban poverty and the deepening of the class gap in big cities has caused the formation of low-income groups in the majority of local communities in specific geographical spaces, which are left out of the general development process and so-called marginalized. In this connection, the World Commission on the Future of Cities in the 21st century has also warned that parallel to the growth of megacities, urban poverty will increase in southern countries, and a major part of the growth of urbanization will be based on the informal economy and along with the expansion of informal settlements, and has called this trend "informalization of urbanization". In our country, informal settlement is facing a faster growth than the growth of urbanization in an official sense, and it is estimated that one fifth of the urban population is settled in such settlements. While the prevailing attitude of urban management in some countries, including in Iran, is to remove the informal part from the public arena of the city and to organize (in the sense of removing) the informal part due to problems such as the road barrier. In fact, the informal sector is a panacea for the employment problem in developing cities and a decisive element in urban development. And there is a consensus that the informal sector has a lot of capability in planning and organizing informal settlements, and organizing it can bring many benefits to the actors of the urban arena, especially the low-income ones, as well as the urban management. The perspective based on empowerment and organization of informal settlements has focused most of its efforts on how the poor and low-income urban people react to solving their housing and shelter problems and the solutions and strategies for their empowerment and the organization of informal settlements. Empowerment is laying the groundwork for improving the conditions of the local community by expanding and using the existing capacity. In fact, the empowerment of the problem-solving program from within is based on the development of local communities. In this model, the local capacity to respond to the needs of the community flourishes, where participation is seen as a key point in the direction of taking advantage of the collective power. Trust and social participation are two main components of social capital. Social capital is a necessary phenomenon for a social life with progress and success. Social capital plays a much more important role in societies than physical and human capital. As in the absence of social capital, the effectiveness of other capitals in the society is reduced and without social capital, the paths of cultural and economic development and evolution are uneven, hence the issue of social capital is considered as a central principle to achieve development. The main goal of this thesis is to find ways to use the existing social capital in informal settlements in order to improve and speed up the process of empowering and organizing these settlements so that it can be used as one of the most important factors in the participation of residents in the process of empowering these settlements, in such a way that this will improve the resources and benefits of people and, as a result, increase the well-being and urban sustainability of citizens and residents.

Key words: settlement Informality, empowerment, solution-seeking approaches, participation, social capital

Chapter One: Generalities of the research

1-1- Problem design

With regard to the unbridled growth of urbanization in developing countries, poverty and deprivation are central and fundamental issues that cities are struggling with. The growth of the phenomenon of urban poverty and the deepening of the class gap in big cities has caused the formation of low-income groups in the majority of local communities in certain geographical spaces, which are left out of the general development process and so-called marginalized. In fact, the cities of many less developed countries are facing the deep problem of non-compliance of behavioral patterns and technology imported from more developed countries. One of the reflections of this non-compliance is the disturbance in the spatial structure and the occurrence of informal settlements in these cities, which, especially considering the features of the spatial structure and urban guidance and control mechanisms, have faced considerable growth and expansion in recent years, therefore serious attention is paid to improving the condition of these settlements due to negative consequences. It is necessary in different dimensions.. Since solutions such as removing and destroying or providing services by the relevant organizations without accepting the right of citizenship and using the power of partnership of these communities have not been a solution, therefore, one should look for a deep-rooted and endogenous solution in the way of dealing with these settlements in order to achieve the integration of these neighborhoods with the official neighborhoods of the city. The perspective based on the empowerment and organizing of informal settlements has focused most of its efforts on how the poor and low-income urban people react to solving their housing and shelter problems and the solutions and strategies for empowering them and organizing informal settlements. This strategy emphasizes on mobilizing all potential facilities and resources and all factors to create housing and improve the living conditions of poor communities and gives people the opportunity to improve their home and living conditions according to their priorities and needs. In the empowerment method, the center of attention is the residents of the city and the people, and the government undertakes to provide them with the necessary facilities. In order to empower informal settlements, paying attention to the social capital of these settlements can play an effective role in improving their environmental quality. The theory of social capital is introduced by four components, which are: trust, cooperation, civic participation and mutual communication. Participation is a process in which local people can work together to make changes in their lives and take an active role in making decisions about issues surrounding their lives. Social capital is the set of norms in social systems that increase the level of cooperation among the members of that society and lower the level of exchange and communication costs. Social capital plays a much more important role in societies than physical and human capital. In the absence of social capital, the effectiveness of other capitals in the society is reduced and without social capital, the paths of cultural and economic development and evolution become uneven, hence the issue of social capital is considered as a central principle to achieve development. This dissertation seeks to use the social capital of informal settlements in the process of empowerment and its application in the study sample. 1-2- Necessity and importance of the subject of study According to the announcement of the United Nations Human Settlements Center [1] in 1996, one fifth of the world's population lacked houses worthy of human life, which included a wide range of shelters and sleeping streets to shacks. (Potter, 1998:137) More worryingly, this ratio and number for "southern" countries [2] has been increasing, so that in a region with economic prosperity in Asia-Pacific, about 60 percent of the urban population in 2000, according to the estimate of SCOPE [3], chose housing in this way (2). In this connection, the World Commission on the Future of Cities in the 21st century has also warned that parallel to the growth of megacities [4], urban poverty will increase in southern countries and a major part of the growth of urbanization will be based on the informal economy and with the expansion of informal settlements, and this trend is called "informalization of urbanization [5]" (Drakakis, 2000:154). In our country, informal settlement is facing a faster growth than the growth of urbanization in an official sense, and it is estimated that one fifth of the urban population is settled in such settlements [6]. Therefore, informal settlement is not a transient issue with limited dimensions, and there is an agreement on its survival, reproduction and expansion, which indicates the inadequacy of common solutions and urban policies and requires new approaches and measures. The lack of attention to the informal sector [7] in the urban planning of developing countries is due to the borrowing of the planning of these countries from the urban planning models common in the West. Because in developed countries, the informal sector has a different nature than what exists in developing countries, and formal planning does not have much place in this sector. The informal sector, mainly from two aspects of improving and organizing the urban environment and improving the lives of the poor, can be considered by managers and urban planners. While the prevailing attitude of urban management in some countries, including in Iran, is to remove the informal part from the public arena of the city and to organize (in the sense of removing) the informal part due to problems such as roadblocks. In fact, the informal sector is the panacea for employment problems in developing cities and a decisive element in urban development.