Explaining the Influence of Social Factors on Urban Livability in Informal Settlements; Case Study: Qaleh Neighborhood, Shahre-e Chahardangeh

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Master of Urban Planning, Faculty of Art and Architecture, University of Kordestan, Sannadaj, Iran.

2 Department of Architecture and Urban Planning, Technical and Vocational University (TVU), Tehran, Iran.

3 PhD Student in Department of Environmental Design Engineering, Faculty of Environment, University of Tehran, Iran

Abstract

Urban livability has emerged as a critical framework for evaluating quality of life, particularly in informal settlements where spatial inequality, inadequate infrastructure, and institutional weakness profoundly shape residents’ everyday experiences. Despite extensive research on physical and environmental dimensions of livability, the social determinants of livability remain understudied in contexts characterized by social fragmentation, ethnic heterogeneity, and fragile governance. This study aims to explain the role of key social factors—security, satisfaction, social relations, housing quality, place attachment, and social capital—in shaping urban livability in Qaleh, an informal settlement in Chahardangeh City, Iran. A quantitative post-positivist design was adopted, and data were collected from 180 residents through a structured questionnaire. The sample size was determined using G-Power, and the Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) approach using AMOS 24 was employed to analyze direct and indirect causal pathways. Reliability, validity, model fit, and bias-corrected bootstrap estimates (5000 iterations) were applied to ensure robustness. Findings reveal an unexpected pattern: security, satisfaction, and social relations—typically identified as positive drivers of livability—exert negative and significant effects in this settlement, indicating low perceived safety, institutional distrust, and weak social cohesion. In contrast, housing quality emerges as the only positive and significant factor. Place attachment and social capital show moderate mediating effects, and the total indirect effect (0.16) exceeds the direct effect (0.18), indicating that social factors influence livability primarily through psychological and relational pathways rather than direct structural effects. These results underline the complex interaction between physical deprivation, ethnic diversity, and weak governance in constraining the effectiveness of social determinants. The study contributes a comprehensive SEM-based explanatory model for understanding social foundations of livability in informal settlements and offers policy insights for improving local housing conditions, strengthening community trust, and enhancing participatory governance.

Highlights

  • Security, satisfaction, and social interactions show negative effects on livability.
  • Housing quality is the only positive and significant social determinant.
  • Place attachment and social capital act as key mediating pathways.
  • Indirect effects exceed direct impacts on neighborhood livability.
  • Ethnic heterogeneity and low trust constrain the effectiveness of social factors.

Keywords

References

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Iranian Urban Design Studies
Volume 2, Issue 2 - Serial Number 4
January 2026
Pages 283-308

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History

  • Receive Date: 09 August 2025
  • Revise Date: 24 September 2025
  • Accept Date: 12 October 2025
  • First Publish Date: 30 December 2025
  • Publish Date: 20 January 2026

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