A Comparative Study of the Role of Perception of Fluid and Traditional Building Density on Residential Density Satisfaction with Density Allocation of Ramsar and Babolsar Cities

Building density and methods of its application (traditional and fluid) is currently an essential tool in urban planning to orient the city and the level of satisfaction of people and residents. It can significantly influence the form and shape of the city and, on the other hand, the residents’ satisfaction. The main purpose of this study is to investigate the objective trends and implementation of policies related to determining the fluid density and traditional construction in cities while considering economic prosperity, social justice, cultural needs, and environmental criteria which affect residents’ satisfaction with urban plans. Getting residents’ views on how to implement these criteria and their level of satisfaction can help to understand the challenges and the problems of defining the fluid and traditional building density and the challenges of not paying attention to citizens and their satisfaction with urban plans.

The orientation of this applied and developmental research is the comparative research approach. The research method is mixed-method (qualitative and quantitative) with the survey approach. The study of indicators of fluid and traditional building density and residential compaction satisfaction through documentary studies and the study of residents’ satisfaction with perceptual density have also been done through interview methods and questionnaires. SPSS and Smart PLS software have also been used for confirmatory factor analysis, multiple regression, and Pearson correlation coefficient analyses.

The results showed that in Babolsar city, the building density of the fluid has not been appropriately applied, which has caused the residential density dissatisfaction among the residents. On the other hand, in the city of Ramsar, residential density is high. For Babolsar city, to increase residential satisfaction, general solutions have been presented for the correct implementation of fluid building density (fundamental and technical criteria), and according to the analysis of residential compression satisfaction indicators, strategies, and policies to increase residential compression satisfaction in Babolsar city have been presented. Finally, to apply building densities in each city, according to the method of each density, a spatial volume is drawn, and before its implementation, according to the residential density satisfaction indicators, the city residents are asked. Both basic and technical buildings will be formed. 

Each city has its conditions, and to determine how density better applies to that city and will cause residents’ satisfaction, it should be defined according to the indicators of residential density satisfaction that increase the satisfaction of city residents with building density. In this way, if the method of applying building density, fluid, traditional, or combined density, is chosen for a city, through the technical and basic criteria, the method of building density will be drawn for the city according to the density satisfaction indicators of the residents of that city. This spatial envelope should be asked to consider the method of applying the opinions and the level of residents ‘satisfaction in the final summary of its technical criteria, so that a suitable construction method can be used with the residents’ satisfaction.