Assessing the quality of the residential environment of the merged villages in Sanandaj city, a case study of Hassan Abad and Naysar villages

Dissertation

To receive a Master's Degree (M.A)

Abstract

Due to the great attention paid to the dimensions of environmental sustainability and quality of life and healthy communities in recent years, the debate and examination of the qualitative dimensions of urban residential environments has become extremely hot and the quality of the urban environment has become one of the new concerns of urban management and planning institutions. Residential of integrated villages in the city of Sanandaj aims to assess the quality of the residential environment by measuring the level of satisfaction of the residents and, if necessary, design appropriate solutions to improve the quality of this category of residential environments. To achieve this goal, the residential satisfaction measurement approach was chosen as the theoretical approach of the thesis. Then, the work continued by explaining the methodology of evaluating the quality of the residential environment and explaining the reasons for using different statistical methods in the research process. It is worth mentioning that a questionnaire was used to collect data. In order to organize the indicators and sub-indices extracted from the research literature, a theoretical model for measuring the quality of the environment called the value tree was formed on three levels (including two main indicators and six sub-indices). The descriptive findings show that the quality of the residential environment in the villages of Hassan Abad and Nayser was evaluated with an average of 2.47 and 2.46 respectively (compared to the theoretical average of 3) lower than the theoretical average or relatively unsatisfied. The results of the t-test also show that the satisfaction with the quality of the residential environment of the integrated villages is not significant, and the results are the same for the two main constructive indicators, i.e. satisfaction with the objective indicators of the residential environment and the subjective indicators of the residential environment. According to the results of the multivariate regression analysis, at the second level of the model, the subjective indicators of the residential environment have a greater effect on the level of satisfaction with the quality of the residential environment than the objective indicators. In the third level of the model, the sub-index of the external facilities of the residential unit, satisfaction with the access and spatial organization, and access to facilities and services have a greater effect on their higher index. Also, the results of the one-way variance analysis test to identify the impact of the socio-economic characteristics of the audience on the perception of the quality of the residential environment showed that in both villages, the difference in the perception of the quality of the residential environment among all groups (and based on the socio-economic characteristics of individuals) is significant. And finally, the results of the factor analysis test confirmed the presented theoretical model.

Key words: quality of the environment, quality of the residential environment, integrated villages in the city, Sanandaj city, Hassan Abad, Naysir.

Statement of the problem

The uncontrolled and rapid development in the second half of the 20th century, especially in the developing countries, has been one of the main factors in targeting the quantitative dimensions of the residents' needs, so that this is a factor in intensifying the neglect. Planners and policy makers have been to the category and quality dimensions of urban environments. On the other hand, due to the great attention paid to the dimensions of environmental sustainability and quality of life and healthy communities in recent years, the debate and examination of the qualitative dimensions of urban residential environments has become extremely hot (Rafiian and Asgari, 2016: 1) and the quality of the urban environment has become one of the new concerns of urban management and planning institutions in recent years. In such a context and fields, the approach of "measuring the quality of the residential environment" as an approach to achieve the goal of "ideal urban life" has been emphasized by a large number of thinkers in various scientific fields such as urban planning, sociology and political science (Amin Salehi, 1387: 1). Nowadays, the quality of life is discussed as a key element in the policymaking and review of the policies of the public domain, and the relationships between objective and subjective factors, performance levels, social needs and the extent of its achievements for people in the fields of health, education, economic well-being, happiness, the ability to do things and have control over life situations and opportunities have been researched by researchers with different methods (Massam, 2002: 141. The importance of urban residential environments as the main residence of people is increasing day by day. In the first place, these environments provide an important means for the development of various life indicators (health, family, or leisure). Second, a large population lives in heavily populated areas or will live in the near future. Finally, there are areas where people face various environmental hazards, such as noise, odor, external safety hazards, congestion, or lack.Finally, urban environments are areas where people face various environmental hazards, such as noise, odor, air pollution, external safety hazards, crowding, garbage, or lack of facilities and services. Harmful health effects of these conditions on humans are usually called annoyance. Harassment is always a matter of concern because it affects a large population. For this reason, quality management of urban residential environments is of vital importance. The first step towards this is measuring and evaluating the quality of the urban environment (Rafiian and Molodi, 1390: 15). A quality residential environment induces a sense of well-being and satisfaction to residents through physical, social or symbolic characteristics. Such an environment guarantees quality life and is the main supporter of economic, social and cultural activities. So that nowadays improving the quality of the residential environment has become one of the basic goals of urban planning and policymaking (Amin Salehi, 2017: 15). Satisfaction with the residential environment in terms of satisfaction in two criteria of residential units and neighborhood units directly and personal, cultural, social characteristics. The audience depends indirectly. In experimental research models related to the measurement of residential quality and satisfaction, the level of satisfaction with residential units has been proposed as one of the main criteria, which has been divided into factors such as facilities, physical characteristics, the possibility of stopping the vehicle, internal conditions, external facilities, units, costs (Ha & Weber, 1994: 55).

In general, since the quality of the residential environment as one of the main components of the quality of life and public health still has It is considered of secondary importance (especially in modern Western societies), its investigation and study becomes necessary.

Reviews of the past few decades show that the increase in population, and as a result, the physical and spatial development of cities are important features of large and small cities. The main consequences of rapid urbanization are the spatial expansion of cities and the erosion of villages and their surrounding lands, which has had a wide impact in regional capitals (Zia Tawana and Qadirmozzi, 2018: 119). Villages that continued to exist in the vicinity of cities for many years by maintaining mutual relations and connections, have turned into neighborhoods of the city today. However, due to the lack of socio-cultural (that is, enjoying rural culture) and economic-physical solidarity with the city, these settlements offer a different environment for the residents and have a different quality of urban environment. On the other hand, existing cities always impose major transformations and changes on their surrounding areas in order to enjoy the increasing population as well as spatial interaction and functional relationships. This is an issue that developing countries, including Iran, are experiencing. For example, during the last 40 years, the city of Tehran has formed more than 24 geographical units of rural origin within its conservation area and imposed major transformations on them (Ebrahimzadeh et al., 1389: 47). The number of people in 1355 has increased to 316,832 people (3.3 times) in 1385. Also, during the mentioned period, the area - or in fact the legal area - of the city expanded from 397 hectares to 3815 hectares, but the population density of the city decreased from 241.5 people in 1355 to 83 people in 1385, this shows the characteristics of urban creep. In fact, in the thirty-year period of 1355-85, the area of ??Sanandaj city has increased nearly 10 times. In fact, the continuous physical expansion of the city of Sanandaj during the mentioned period has severely transformed the surrounding living spaces (villages, agricultural lands, gardens, and pastures), so that during this period, eight villages with all their agricultural lands, gardens, and pastures have been integrated into the fabric of the city due to "urban creep" and now they do not have the slightest signs of their rural structures (Zia Tovana and Qadirmozzi, 1388: 125). Unfortunately, the background of the studies conducted in this category shows that the researches that have been conducted have only focused on the physical changes in such villages or the physical development of the cities and have less addressed the issue of the quality of the urban residential environment or even the quality of life in them. The importance and role of the quality of the environment in other aspects of life, the special nature of the residential environment, the increasing role of the urban residential environment as the most important human settlement and the existence of a large number of people who are strongly influenced by the prevailing conditions of their residential environment (Van poll, 1997: 1).