Slum Development In Ahvaz With Emphasis OnThe All-E-Saffi Sector

Slum development is the result of the increasing growth of urbanization. It gives an ugly shape to the cities. Slum development in Iran traces back to 1961, when the land reform was implemented in this country. Following the accomplishment of the plan, migration from rural to urban areas began. Accordingly, we are faced with increasing rates of urbanization. Big cities receive thousands of migrants from rural areas. Ahvaz, the center of Khouzestan province, is located in southwest of Iran with big numbers of oil fields. Before the outbreak of the Iraqi war against Iran (1980), cities in Khouzestan province such as Ahvaz were considered as the receivers of migrants. It was due to this fact that in such cities there were abundant resources of rich oil and gas fields and heavy industrial establishments. Such factors together with others lead to slum development in this city, the population of which is estimated as more than 1000000. One of the slums in Ahvaz is known as All-E-Saffi sector. Its population is estimated to be well-over 3449, with the family medium per (5.3). Most of the settlers in this sector came from villages. They have kept the social and economic characteristics of rural areas. In other words they are urbanized rather than urbanist. The mentioned district is located on one side of a high class area of the city. It is separated from that place by a highway. In this paper, the existing conditions of this area have been studied geographically, naturally, economically, physically and ecologically. This article is finally brought to an end by suggesting some applicable solutions in order to cope with the problems related to slum development. This paper is the product of a one-year field study made by the author on the All-E-Saffi sector.