Assess the quality of housing and identify strategic issues based on the views of the residents case study:Bojnourd

Despite a considerable history in the field of urban planning, concern for providing suitable housing is still seen as one of the crucial issues for which there is neither agreed model nor comprehensive consensus on it. Nevertheless, increasing attention to the practice of strategic planning approach has also made an impact on areas like housing planning. Recently, increasing attention to the strategic planning approach result in more attention to alter the conventional approaches in housing planning and overcome their deficiencies and shortcomings. Strategic planning approach, unlike the top-down planning models that offer similar patterns for various conditions, pays special attention to spatial and local requirements. Furthermore, owing to housing planning’s vastness and also limited resources for responding to all problems, the current study’s targeted selectivity is found beneficial. According to the importance of redefining Housing planning based on Strategic approaches, this study aimed at identifying strategic housing issues in Bojnord city based on the perceptions of the beneficiaries. To do so, by means of evaluation method and based on 33 indicators including qualitative and quantitative indicators, housing quality are assessed. AHP method is used to weight the criteria and combine quantitative and qualitative criteria. To determine the weight of criteria and indicators in AHP method, a third level hierarchy is designed. At the first level, indictors of residential units and residential environment are divided as two main categories. At the second level, five main criteria including Population density, Sustainability and strength, building design, settlement welfare, place attachment is defined in housing units’ category. Four main criteria including accessibility, environmental health, social capital, traffic quality, neighborhood quality is considered in in residential environments’ category. At the third level 15 indicators for evaluating quality of residential units and indicators for residential environments are assessed. These indicators asked through a researcher-made questionnaire.
For assessing resident’s perception, a questionnaire prepared and distributed evenly throughout the city and the following results spatial recoded. Evaluating housing quality led to a set of homogeneous zones which were different with any existing zoning and formal division systems in the city. The outcomes of the research reveal that the level of housing quality varies in different parts of the city and consequently, different problems can be identified in each zone. Recognizing these differences is an issue that overlooked in conventional housing planning approaches which prescribe solutions for the city or parts of it. Residents’ perception of housing quality seems to be a reliable approach to investigate realistic problems in this field and also it can be used in identifying main problems. Based on the perception of the residents, different parts of the city have various potentials like housing quality and also dealing with different problems. Consequently, each zone is in need of certain approaches and strategies which are neglected in the usual simplistic approaches of housing planning. This contextual approach can provide a basis for adopting effective approaches which are customized with respect to the needs of the community and therefore it is possible to avoid loss of resources.