Investigating the methods of measuring the preferences of contemporary urban housing residents; Analysis and using the Meaning-Structure

Realizing residents’ needs and desires is one of the main concerns of the planning and housing design studies specifically in big cities. Because it’s impossible to realize all of the needs and desires of housing residents due to the diversity of the residents and them being unknown, it is important to understand the housing preferences and priorities of residents and how they choose housing. In the recent years, many methods have been used to analyze residents’ choices and preferences. So familiarizing with these methods and choosing the proper method based on the merits of each research’s field of operation can guarantee achieving the goal of the research and validity of its results to some level.
The goal of this research is to understand and analyze the urban residents’ priorities measurement methods, focusing on architectural attributes. To achieve that, first the structure of seven different methods used in housing priority studies are introduced. The methods are as follows: Traditional Housing Demand Research, The Decision Plan Nets Method (DPN), The Meaning Structure Method, The Multi-attribute Utility Method (MAUM), Conjoint Analysis, The Residential Images Method, Lifestyle Method. After realizing the goal and output of each method, they are put under comparative analysis considering two measures: the way the attributes are chosen and the way they are assessed (attribute-oriented or choice-oriented)
In the next step, considering the approach and context of the research, the Meaning structure method was used, explained and analyzed as a case study in order to understand the preferences of a group of residents in one of Tehran’s housing complexes. To do that, first the housing architecture attributes were educed on a housing unit scale and a building scale. Then semi-structure interviews were conducted using the laddering technique and the coding method of the context of the gathered information was explained. The coding and categorizing of the values are done using the “Schwartz theory of basic values”. Data were analyzed using the Means-end chain model and explained in the attribute, consequence, value clause format.
The results show that in the field of design and architecture, considering the essence of the research, using the Meaning structure method can make the designing of proper housing in line with the residents’ priorities possible by linking housing specifications with resident’s values. In the end, the limitations of this method are discussed and suggestions are provided to improve the output of this method in the context of this research.