Quality of Housing: Viewpoints of Citizens of Isfahan

The quality of urban life is known as the improvement made to the living environment as a result of enhancing the quality of social, economic, political, physical, and geographical aspects of life, which can affect the development process of individual and social life in cities. Measuring the quality of life entails considering all the given aspects. Of these aspects, the quality of housing is recognized as one of the fundamental needs whose assessment can greatly help the measurement of urban life quality. Accordingly, in this study, using a researcher-made questionnaire and designing open-ended questions regarding the quality of life and urban housing in particular, the authors identified and described the citizens’ concerns over the quality of housing. The sample selected for the study included 1806 citizens aged 15 to 65. By the use of cluster sampling technique, data were then collected. After analyzing data by means of descriptive statistics and content analysis (the answers given to the open-ended questions), it was clarified that among the 17 aspects of the quality of life proposed to the citizens of Isfahan, the quality of housing, as one of the most important concerns of the citizens, was selected as the second priority next to “job and income”. In addition, citizens believed that high-quality housing was constructed upon four themes, including housing management (policies, laws and budget, and credits), economy of housing (costs and housing market), residential building (newly-built, spacious houses with proper installation), and residential neighborhood (modern and spacious, quiet and safe, good-looking and clean with satisfying neighborhood and access to public services).