Livable housing: representation of life in urban neighborhoods housing, Karaj Metropolis, Iran

In residential areas, livability entails high-quality life standards for citizens in all environment-related activities. As the smallest unit in an urban system, housing is a key variable of livability and a basic effective element in citizens' environment. Indeed, viewed as a basis for urban sustainability, livable housing relates to social, economic, physical and environmental aspects of life in an urban area. This study aims to evaluate housing livability at the level of neighborhoods and analyze the factors involved in it. The research population consists of 138 neighborhoods in the city of Karaj, Iran. The data analysis has been performed with a multi-criteria evaluation model and the geographic information system software along with weights and indices extracted from the classified maps of livable housing in the neighborhoods of the city. As the results of the study show, the neighborhoods in the city have different rates of livability and are thus heterogeneously aligned in this regard. Of all the neighborhoods, 51% are in good and very good conditions, 26% in average conditions and 22% in poor and very poor conditions, which shows the imbalanced distribution of livability factors through those neighborhoods. One of the applications of this study is to pay attention to the regeneration of neighborhoods with low levels of housing livability and to improve the physical and economic livability of housing in them, empowering neighborhoods with the aim of improving infrastructure facilities and services, benefiting from high per capita services and improving accesses to the center of neighborhoods.