Residentsʹ satisfaction of housing environments: the case of Istanbul, Turkey

Measuring the perceived quality of residential environments is one of the areas of inquiry for housing environment researches. Most of the data on the perceived quality of residential environments are restricted to western experiences. Little attention has been paid to third world countries. Istanbul, with its 7 million people (1990), is an example of a third world city. The city has experienced rapid population growth due to the rural-urban migration and, thus, is faced with housing shortages. The most common response to housing shortage has been squatter housing. In this study, both planned and squatter environments in Istanbul were evaluated from the residents perception point of view. A household survey was carried out to collect the data. To represent and analyze the data, Factor Analysis was used. Six factors were studied: (i) size and physical conditions of the dwelling, (ii) accessibility to the city center, work place, hospital, shopping and municipal services, (iii) availability and maintenance of social, recreational and educational services, (iv) social and physical environmental problems, (v) climatic control of the dwelling, and (vi) satisfaction with neighbors. Second, the total population was segmented into four categories according to the neighborhood where they lived and the mean values of factors were compared using analysis of variance. Third, a Multiple Linear Regression Analysis was applied to the surveyed population to identify the subset of independent variables that would be most useful for predicting the dependent variable ‘resident satisfaction’. The results of the analysis show that there is a significant difference between different neighborhoods in terms of residentsʹ satisfaction. Residents of legal dwellings are mainly more satisfied than those of squatters. The results of Multiple Regression Analysis determined that residentsʹ satisfaction was largely predicted by subjective evaluation of dwelling and neighborhood characteristics. The results have lead to a series of policy recommendations.