Stigmatizing Housing Facade Based on the Socio-Economic Status of Residents; Experts` View; Case Study: Municipality District 4 of Tehran

Housing facade is represented by some social, economic, and cultural characteristics of its residents through a complex system of "signs", constituting a stereotypical image in the minds of the users. On the other hand, people with relatively lower socio-economic status are constantly stigmatized and distinguished, thus aggravating inequality in the community. Because the outside evaluation of a house is linked with its objective characteristics, the research goal is to find the inter-relatedness of factors affecting residential facade design which change users' understanding of an area or building. In this regard, the present study aimed to investigate the residential views of Tehran's Municipality District 4 using a mixed research method1. The study population included architectural experts who were selected via snowball sampling. First, the documentary method was used to investigate the concepts related with understanding the environment, semiotics and the phenomenon of stigma followed by developing a conceptual framework of the research. Then, an inventory containing objective factors of residential view was provided to 22 experts to rate their effect on residents' understanding. In the next step, 40 residential housing facades were assessed by experts through descriptive method. Exploratory factor analysis of the data revealed four factors affecting the housing facade, which included facade materials and design, facade entrances and annexations (attachments), balcony and facade proportions, greenery and facade dimensions. The images were also explored using scores given by the experts. Finally, by analyzing both visual and inventory tests, solutions were provided to remove stigmatization of the weaker group’s housing facade.