Post occupancy evaluation of private open spaces in dwelling units in single family investment housing projects in Erbil city

Abstract

Due to urbanization, it has been found that in many cases public open spaces in the city are not maintained, as new investments are trying to make use of the land to construct more buildings The shortage of public open spaces can be treated by providing a sufficient amount of private open spaces in housing estates. Furthermore, the designers need to consider the dwelling layout to provide the best environment for the residents; this will maintain a high level of household satisfaction. One main element of household satisfaction is open spaces. In this research paper, private open space assessments in 4 investment projects with 98 samples in Erbil were considered. To investigate and examine how the exterior environment of the dwellings affects the residents’ satisfaction, based on plot size and number of bedrooms, surveys were performed on selected projects through documentation surveys and questionnaires. Then the evaluation was performed through two stages, firstly the technical assessment stage according to Iraqi standards, and secondly the residents’ response stage regarding satisfaction levels. The research objectives were obtained using SPSS software, through the use of descriptive statistics, correlation, and regression analysis. The results of the research discovered that all the projects except Minara B were slightly above the minimum level, thus in the range of Iraqi standards. Moreover, the level of overall satisfaction with these projects ranged from neutral to slightly satisfied, with the residents’ responses stating that they needed more private open spaces.