The reduction of low-income housing stigma with facade features; low- and medium-sized cities

ABSTRACT

One of the effective factors on low-income housing (LIH) stigma is the facade features. This study examines the effect of facade features (details, material, window size, balcony existence, and greenery) on three attitudinal aspects including affective appraisal, cognitive judgment, and behavioral tendencies and preferences. By reviewing the literature, facade attributes were extracted and the levels of each were categorized based on LIH cases of Iran. Then, 24 profiles were selected for evaluation using orthogonal design. The experimental method was used with the participation of 70 non-residents in LIH. The results of regression analysis showed that the facade protrusion, balcony existence, greenery, and window size have the highest effect on perceived stigma, respectively; the material with the lowest effect is only in the cognitive aspect and sense of safety in the last rank. The effect of familiarity on the attitudes of outsiders was also investigated and it was found that one’s ‘experience’ affects all aspects of attitudes and preferences and one’s ‘knowledge’ only affects the two emotional and behavioral aspects of attitudes and preferences. These findings can be taken into attention in LIH design and decrease its stigma, as well as in the planning and design of mixed-income communities.

KEYWORDS:

• Low-income housing
• stigma
• attitude
• residential façade
• façade features

Acknowledgements

This article is based on the doctoral thesis of the first author, which is being supervised by Dr. Ali Sharghi and consultant Dr. Abdolmajid Nourtaghani and Bahram Saleh Sedghpour in Dept. of Architecture and Urban Planning, Shahid Rajaee Teacher Training University, Iran.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Notes

1 Including public/social/affordable housing, etc.

2 Creating defensible space.

3 Content validity ratio.