Reviving Potential Social Capital of Informal Settlements Using Incremental Housing (Case Study: Zurabad, Karaj, Iran)

Considering the increase in informal settlement, providing development-based infrastructures for urban settlements is rendered exigent for creation of social sustainability. The aim of the present study was to examine the social values derived from Zurabad neighborhood, Karaj, Iran as an informal settlement, and to provide solutions for identity improvement of the residents of this settlement. The social capital is assumed to be the most significant reason for formation of settlements of this nature. The hypothesis would be proposed whether promotion of the social capital is contingent on the interconnection with the habitat. According to the results based on the grounded theory, this type of slum settlement in Zurabad, Karaj, faces with infrastructural, spatial, and social poverty caused by urban development. Providing such infrastructures calls for a model that is capable of incremental development in the given habitat. Incremental housing is rendered as an appropriate model for the residents of Zurabad since it can affordably provide half of the requirements for a complete house, an infrastructure for the basic services, and even the mainframe of the structures they cannot build on their own. This is achieved through connecting the residing families with the existing social network in the context of Zurabad.