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Introduction: Despite conducting some research on the quality of urban life for more than two decades, this concept is still explained with the concepts of urban livability and urban vitality having the same meaning and their different aspects being ignored. The quality of urban life has become one of the interesting topics for researchers in urban planning, and they have focused on the quality of urban life in the planned settlements, while, today, especially in the cities of developing countries, at least one-third of the metropolitan population consists of the residents of informal settlements. Now, the question is: what are the methodological qualities and results of the articles published in geographical journals, master theses, and doctoral theses in Iran in the field of quality of urban life in informal settlements? This research aims to investigate and extract the analysis indicators from the scientific texts in the field of informal settlements and to present an analytical model including the dimensions and components of life quality in informal settlements. Methodology: This is basic research, and by using the meta-synthesis method, the samples (The title of a valid scientific research article and 8 titles of doctoral dissertations and master's theses) conducted in the last decade concerning the quality of urban life in Informal settlements were studied. The present research is classified as applied-developmental research based on its aim to determine the desirable patterns in the field of quality of urban life in informal settlements. through the survey and field methods. About 17% of the researchers have used the questionnaire, and finally, 83% of the researchers have used both survey-field methods and questionnaires. Concerning the dimensions and indicators of the quality of urban life in informal settlements, it can be said that the economic dimension, in comparison with other dimensions (social, physical, health, environmental, infrastructural, and recreational aspects), is known to be more important. In other words, according to the residents of informal settlements, economic factors have the highest impact on their quality of life. Also, among the economic components, the salary, living expenses, employment, satisfaction with job opportunities, distance from the workplace to home, job security, the number of employed people, and finally, the working hours per week are ranked, respectively. DISCUSSION: The research conducted on the quality of urban life in informal urban settlements has often led to the same results and there is no great difference in the research results since the concepts of urban life quality, urban livability, and urban life satisfaction are often analyzed from the same semantic view (either from the mental dimension or from the physical-objective dimension), while every livable collection is not necessarily considered a qualified collection. The theories referring to the quality of urban life are classified into three main approaches: the human approach, the spatial approach, and the sustainability approach. The main effective indicators for improving the quality of urban life in informal settlements are the economic index (9 variables), the physical index (9 variables), the social index (7 variables), and the health index (6 variables). Based on the results of field studies and the output of qualitative analysis, the economic index is the basis of the quality of life in informal settlements. It directly depends on the level of country development as well as the level of employment, income, and purchasing power of the citizens of informal settlements. This is beyond the scope of urban planning specialists, and it is necessary to examine the basic challenges and problems of the life quality of informal settlements at the macroeconomic level. Improving the welfare and standard of living of the residents of these areas must be a planning and decision-making priority for the authorities. There is a mutual and direct relationship between the quality of urban life in informal settlements and the residents' satisfaction. That is, improving the indicators of urban life quality will partially increase the residents' satisfaction with living in informal areas of the city. Conclusion: The theories referring to the quality of urban life are classified into three main approaches: the human approach, the spatial approach, and the sustainability approach. The main effective indicators for improving the quality of urban life in informal settlements are the economic index (9 variables), the physical index (9 variables), the social index (7 variables), and the health index (6 variables). Based on the results of field studies and the output of qualitative analysis, the economic index is the basis of life quality in informal settlements. It directly depends on the level of country development as well as the level of employment, income, and purchasing power of the citizens in the informal settlements. This issue is beyond the scope of urban planning specialists, and it is required to examine the basic challenges and problems of the life quality of informal settlements at the macroeconomic level so that improving the welfare and life standard of the residents of these areas must be a planning and decision-making priority for the authorities. There is a mutual and direct relationship between the quality of urban life in informal settlements and the residents' satisfaction. That is, upgrading and improving the indicators of urban life quality will increase the residents' satisfaction with living in informal areas of the city to some extent. All the studied scientific texts analyzed the theories, but they did not lead to theorizing. Although desirable solutions are presented in some research, due to the nature of the research, it cannot be classified as basic research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
