Identifying and prioritizing housing indicators of low-income groups based on a perceptual-mental approach A Case Study the Bojnurd city

A B S T R A C T
The category of housing is a multifaceted and at the same time escalating issue. In this regard, the provision of housing for the low-income classes has a double complexity due to the greater vulnerability and lower ability of their users. Adopting a suitable policy requires a realistic understanding of the needs of users and their definition of desirable housing. Since the ideal housing is a relative concept that is defined abstractly, therefore, effective role-playing in this area requires knowing the mental frameworks of the users. Extracting housing indicators with a perceptual-mental approach in order to identify the needs, expectations and priorities of low-income groups is the important goal of this research. For this purpose, grounded theory research method has been chosen. As a case study, the city of Bojnord, which is the center of one of the deprived provinces of the country and has faced the migration of various groups from low-income strata, has been selected. Summarizing the results showed that the users' concern was more about the residential environment, so that 75% of the codes in the form of 12 indicators were dedicated to this issue. Other codes are related to the residential unit and mostly 8 indicators have been extracted. Allocation of these indicators to the four categories extracted from the theoretical foundations shows the priority of social aspects (41%) and physical aspects (35%) in evaluating the quality of residence. This research can be a basis for targeted housing planning for low-income groups based on the perceptual-mental approach in order to prioritize the real needs of users.
Extended abstract
Introduction
The housing category is a multifaceted and at the same time intensifying issue. In this regard, the provision of housing for low-income groups has a double complexity due to the greater vulnerability and lower ability of their users. Adopting a suitable policy requires a realistic understanding of the needs of users and their definition of desirable housing. Since the ideal housing is a relative concept that is defined abstractly and cultural desires, needs and economic conditions can have different definitions, therefore, effective role-playing in this field requires knowing the mental frameworks of the users.
 Methodology
In order to extract indicators, a qualitative method of the grounded theory type has been chosen. This method was introduced in the criticism of methods arising from positivist thinking. In terms of theoretical principles, contextual theory is based on the social interpretivist paradigm. Since in this research specifically the viewpoints of the beneficiaries are desired, the extraction of indicators relying on the opinions of the beneficiaries (low-income groups as target groups in policy making) has been considered. Considering the dual approaches of extracting residential satisfaction indicators, in this research, the indicators have been extracted from both the perspective of the expert-oriented approach and the psychological-perceptual approach. In the expert-oriented approach, based on the review of domestic and foreign researches, a set of indicators has been extracted, which can also provide the theoretical sensitivity required in the cognitive psychology approach.
Based on this, a series of in-depth interviews have been conducted with residents and the analysis of these interviews has provided a basis for extracting indicators. In the following, the interviews were analyzed with a systematic coding method and central categories were determined. These core categories are finally refined and most of the indicators extracted from users' perspectives are presented. As a case study, the city of Bojnord, which is the center of one of the deprived provinces of the country and has faced the migration of various groups from low-income groups, especially after the establishment of North Khorasan Province in 2013, has been selected.
Results and discussion
The results of the interviews conducted with the residents showed that they emphasize different aspects to describe the current conditions of their housing. In order to better analyze these features, they are classified into two categories: housing indicators and residential environment indicators. Most of the indicators extracted from the interviews were in the residential environment group, and it was significantly more common than the other group. A total of 12 subcategory indicators of residential environment quality have been identified. In general, 75% of the codes were related to this group of these indicators. Among them, the most important issue has been related to access to public services. Considering that the investigated samples include the target neighborhoods of the housing provision programs for low-income groups in the city of Bojnord, and these neighborhoods often have significant deficiencies in terms of access to services. Neighborhood safety and access to public transportation are closely followed. Peace of the neighborhood and access to urban centers are two other indicators that are very frequent. Therefore, it can be stated that these items are among the most important indicators with higher priority.
In the field of housing and the quality of residential units, a total of 8 indicators have been identified, which account for 25% of the frequency of codes. According to the frequency of the codes of the sub-set of indicators, it can be stated that the cultural compatibility of the residents is in the first rank and the ability to pay housing costs is in the second rank. Responding to the residential needs of the residents and the strength of the buildings are also among the other indicators with higher relative frequency.
Summarizing the results showed that the users' concern was mostly about the residential environment, so that 75% of the codes in the form of 12 indicators were dedicated to this issue. Other codes are related to the residential unit and mostly 8 indicators have been extracted. Allocation of these indicators to the four categories derived from theoretical foundations shows the priority of social aspects (41%) and physical aspects (35%) in evaluating the quality of residence.
 
Conclusion
Reviewing the theoretical literature shows the consensus on the necessity of abandoning one-dimensional and quantitative perspectives in the evaluation of housing quality, which can be seen in the consideration of qualitative aspects and subjective indicators in this field. Nevertheless, the expert-oriented approach is still considered the dominant approach in assessing housing quality. Researches based on subjective approaches have shown that relying on the views of residents and their lived experience can lead to different indicators. This distance between the expert-oriented views and the indicators derived from the living experience of the residents has also become a controversial topic in the world literature, and researchers have pointed out the gap between these views. While researches based on expert-oriented approaches lead to a wide range of indicators in different aspects, researches based on the perceptual-mental approach lead to a brief and selected set of indicators that from the perspective of the residents in Assessing the desirability and quality of housing has been the most important.
Therefore, it is better to pay attention to the perceptual-mental approach in housing programs in addition to the usual procedures to understand the expected needs and priorities of the beneficiary groups. Identifying these things helps to direct investments towards the most important priorities and in this way, in addition to providing a higher level of satisfaction, targeted use of limited resources is also carried out.