Evaluation of the Residential Satisfaction of Maskan-e-Mehr Projects as a Strategy to Prevent the Loss of National Wealth(Case Study: Mehr-e-Dovlat Complex in Kermanshah)

In recent decades, the urban population has experienced rapid growth due to migration from rural to urban areas, especially in developing countries. Thus, urbanization is considered one of the most significant phenomena of the present era. Iran is no exception, and urbanization has seen considerable changes in this growth, which has created a surplus of demand in the housing sector, the immediate result of which is a sharp increase in the costs of housing. Therefore, planning and constructing mass housing projects, including Mehr housing, as a large-scale national project to provide accommodation for low-income groups, is of paramount importance. Given the phase-by-phase nature of implementation in such projects at different times and regions, it is necessary to measure the level of satisfaction of the people residing in some of these housing complexes. This research examines the qualitative effectiveness in people’s lives and determines the positives and mainly the negatives to improve the prospective phases. As a systematic process, post-occupancy evaluation methods focus on assessing residents’ needs from perspectives of safety and security, functionality and utility, and in general physical comfort and peace of mind. Thus, this process has a strategic role in formulating and correcting the process at hand through receiving feedback from environmental users of the occupied housing complexes. It also contributes significantly to the success of the design and liveliness of the residents, who are among the more vulnerable and sensitive sections of society, and as a result, contributes to social prosperity. Accordingly, the main purpose of the research is to emphasize the role of post-occupancy evaluation in the early stages of large-scale construction projects to employ the findings in ensuing similar projects and, therefore, improve the satisfaction of residents of similar projects. Due to the significant budgets spent on such projects, such evaluations are also necessary to prevent the loss of national wealth.

In this research, the case study strategy and the hybrid (qualitative-quantitative) method were used, i.e. First, the theoretical framework was formulated descriptively-analytically, and then the field data were collected through the distribution of the researcher-made questionnaire among the research population. Finally, descriptive and inferential statistical analyses of the data and generalization of results were presented in the form of research suggestions. This research’s case study was Dolat-e-Mehr residential complex, located in Dolatabad town in Kermanshah city, and the sample size was estimated using Cochran’s formula. The respondents were randomly selected, and the data were subsequently analyzed using SPSS 22.

Contrary to most similar studies, the results of this research indicate that despite the relative satisfaction of residents with the activity-based and social criteria, the lowest level of satisfaction was witnessed in physical criteria, including meeting the needs of environmental comfort, especially in the architectural scale of buildings. Environmental quality and residential satisfaction criteria, including visual suitability, environmental variability, and readability, which are mainly of physical and architectural nature, were evaluated as low. In contrast, flexibility, adaptability, permeability, sustainability, and liveliness, which are mostly activity-based and social factors, were assessed as moderate. Thus, the overall level of satisfaction with the complex can be considered moderate and possibly on the downside, considering the particular demography of respondents. In the end, it is noteworthy that the results of the present study indicate that the lowest level of satisfaction in Dolat-e-Mehr residential complex was attributed to the quantity and quality of green space, as well as access to welfare and recreational facilities. Subsequently, the main architectural items of landscapes, the variety of materials, textures, and colors in environments, the facades of the buildings, the general and environmental arrangement of the complex, and the items mainly on the urban scale, namely access to health, hygiene and other important centers, and, of course, services such as public transportation, as well as population density, have been attributed to little satisfaction. Other subjects including the number, dimensions, and size of blocks, units, and spaces, especially in meeting existing needs, separation of zones, lighting, and ventilation in public and private spaces, and buildings’ stability, which are mainly of the architectural scale, were assessed as moderate. Moreover, the suitability of the area for accommodation, silence and acoustic comfort, access to the complex, infrastructure facilities, safety, and security status, maintenance management, and social interactions, which are usually discussed on an urban scale, were also scored moderate.

By a generalization of the results of this survey and also considering the similar design patterns of mentioned types of these minimal housing plans and the existing executive defects in them, it should be noted that in addition to concentrating the activity, social, and cultural dimensions, the physical aspects of the subject should also be focused in this field. Moreover, it is necessary to pay special attention to the architectural scale as much as the urban scale of these complexes. Accordingly, suggestions can be made for planning, designing, and constructing future buildings. Some of the most important of them are mentioned below: Preparing a checklist of design principles and standards in architectural and urban scales and observing them to improve residential satisfaction according to all environmental quality criteria, especially in terms of visual proportions, physical and activity flexibility, as well as formal and functional readability with emphasis on the low-scored items including landscapes, variety of materials, textures and colors in spaces, attractiveness of buildings exteriors, public and environmental order. Improving the quantity and quality of green spaces in residential complex areas in accordance with the population. Providing recreational facilities in complexes or at least facilitating proper access to them. Planning and preparing appropriate access to complexes and from them to important urban uses. Affecting neighborhood units by allotting housing units to specific social groups with homogeneous communities to promote participation and social interactions.