Assessment of the Affecting Elements on the Quality of Life and Human Well-Being in Congested Urban Centers; Case Study: Sulaymaniah City

Abstract

This Study is an empiric- analytical research in city planning discipline was conducted in Sulaymaniyah city from Dec. 2015 until July 2017. Geographically Sulaymaniah situates north-east of Republic of Iraq. Like many other urban centers, Sulaymaniyah city as one of the congested urban areas in Kurdistan Region, is almost over populated and congested, resulting in accumulated problems in health-, economical-, services, technical-, social- and planning affairs, which leads to permanent degrading of the natural, and social environment and thus impact on the quality of life, Thus the main concern of this study is firstly finding out the reasons facts indeed responsible for the above described unsatisfied situations and then try to answer the questions whether planning methods (if any) manage to prepare answers to these urgent problems overwhelming the city? The study believes that the cardinal reasons for this situation are the effects of combinations of triple facts, namely: the exponential growth of human population in general- and accompanied problems-, the destroyed balance between rural and urban areas and the political vision of administrative machinery that focus on urban centers by neglecting countryside. The cumulative effect of these facts could be observed in form of many distinctive and at the same time interlocking elements leads to the problems that mentioned above. Among many elements involving, the study handles, analyzes and discusses only the elements indeed responsible for destroying the visual, physical and health conditions of the city inhabitants in Sulaymaniyah. Used criterion in determining these elements are the terms: active element, Passive Element, Critical element, and buffer element, which give the adequate answer to the arise questions .