the relationship between spatial configuration and environmental variables in informal settlements, case study: hesar neighborhood in hamedan

the informal settlements are those parts of city which have been formed without plan or minimum facilities and services. therefore, they are considered as priorities in management cities for services and improving quality of life. in this regard, it is important to get solutions to make positive changes with the lowest cost and direct intervention. therefore, this study aims to explore the linkage of spatial configuration with physical characteristics in these sites. the present study was conducted through analytical-interpretive method, document research, and hypothesis testing on a case study. at the beginning, the literature was obtained through library research. in order to analyze spatial configuration of the selected neighborhood, the researcher then made attempts to prepare the blocking map of the city so that the full and empty spaces could be separated. in the next phase, axial map was delineated using depth map software. finally, though axial map of the city, different components of spatial configuration such as integration, depth, and connectivity were extracted. on the other hand, thirty street segment lengths were randomly selected in hesar neighborhood. the physical characteristics such as quality and age of the buildings were removed in such a way that for each street segment length with regard to the physical variable score from 0 to 20 was dedicated. then, configuration parameters (extracted from depth map software) and physical variables (resulted from field study) for thirty selected street segment length were put into spss software. next, through using multivariate linear regression analysis (and the stepwise method) the correlations between the variables were investigated. within running this model, the linkage between one of the physical variables with of spatial configuration (such as integration, depth, etc.) was investigated. according to multivariate linear regression analysis it was found that the buildings’ quality variable is affected by local integration (r2 = 0.578). this correlations can be interpreted when a street segment length has a higher of local integration, the quality of the building around the street segment length would be better. and it was also found that the light quality is affected by the direct length of streets (r2 = 0.699). this correlation can be defined as the higher is the street, the better is the light quality of the street. in addition, it was found that commercial use is impacted by the depth of the street (r2 = 0.514). this correlation can be interpreted that as a street is deeper, the quality and quantity of commercial use the around it decrease. regarding the number of building floors, unused lands and the age of building, it should be said that no correlation was observed between these variables and spatial configuration parameters. given variables, it was shown that at the significance level of 95% there existed no association between the variables and spatial configuration parameters. at the end, it should be noted that spatial configuration, as a factor can affect some environmental variables and presenting a comprehensive analysis requires to include other social and economic characteristics along each other.