Urban livability with a right to the city approach: concepts, dimensions and indicators

Nowadays, in most developed countries, sustainability has been developed as a guiding principle in the framework of sustainability discourse in urban planning and policies. Urban livability and the right to the city are concepts related to sustainable development and social justice in cities and are effective in creating healthy, dynamic and just cities. While introducing livability and the right to the city as a dominant approach in urban planning in the contemporary world, this article has examined its theoretical origins, influential views and theoretical-experimental literature, its dimensions and indicators. In terms of the fundamental-theoretical goal and its data, this research has been provided by the library-document method. Considering the wide range of topics and explanatory approaches available in this field, in this research, only those researches that have more relevance to the current research topic have been examined. Then, the theories of Henri Lefebvre and the theory of Kevin Lange, Marcuse, Tovey Fenster, Harvey, etc., as well as supporting concepts close to livability such as sustainable development, healthy city, neo-urbanism, smart growth and compact city have been examined. The findings of the article show that according to today's conditions, in most cities of the world there is a general agreement about the importance and necessity of recognizing, analyzing and explaining urban livability and the right to the city in various dimensions, but there is a consensus of opinion about the definition, standards and indicators. It does not exist. The most important reason for this can be seen in the direct dependence of this concept on the spatial and temporal conditions, and most importantly, the socio-economic and management background of the target community.