Analysis the Quality of Residence in Urban Residential Complexes through Contextual Components (Case study: Ardabil City)

Introduction
Principles and criteria related to the quality of the environment and the relation between this quality and its cultural, historical and social contexts in the design of residential complexes are ignored, which also reduces the satisfaction of residents from the complexes.
The purpose of this research is to improve the quality of residence in the residential complexes through contextual components. Accordingly, in the first part of the article, by reviewing the literature in this field, different dimensions of context and quality of residence in residential complexes are explained. Then, in the research methodology, the tool and the method of testing the theoretical model in some selected residential complexes in Ardabil city and the method of data analysis are described. Further, the findings are analyzed and the results of the study are presented.
According to the main hypothesis of the research, it is likely that the application of contextual components will improve the quality of residence in the design of residential complexes in Ardabil, as well as the sub-assumptions of the research including: (1). The components of the terrain and external conditions of the complexes have the most impact on the quality of residential complexes and the quality of residential units. (2).The natural component has the greatest impact on the quality of residence in the residential complexes of Ardabil. The present research seeks to answer the following main question: Does the application of contextual components improve the quality of residence in Ardabil’s residential complexes? Also, the following sub-questions: (1).Which components have the most impact on the quality of residential complexes and complexes in Ardabil? (2).Which subjects have the most impact on the quality of residence in the residential complexes in Ardabil?
The context or contextual discussion is one of the topics that are of great interest today in the world. The lack of relation between implemented projects and environmental issues, especially in Iran, has led to issues such as inconsistency, identity crisis, and lack of utility and dissatisfaction with residence in residential complexes. So one of the solutions is to adopt a context-based design approach. There was no research on the study of the field of contextual factors affecting the quality of residential housing development in the residential complexes; therefore, not repeating the issue and the need for a new look at the residence issue would justify the necessity of this review. The present research can help policy and planning to design the deep and efficient architecture of residential complexes in accordance with the needs of residents.
Materials & Methods
The present research is descriptive-analytic in nature and time-consuming as a future-oriented cross-sectional research and is considered as a quantitative method in terms of the purpose of the applied research part. The primary information gathering tool in this study was a questionnaire based on various dimensions of the research variables (field components and quality of residential complex) to assess the residents' views of residential complexes in the new and central context of Ardabil city. Initially, the original study and pilot scale was in the form of a scale of five Likert options (1- very low, 2-low, 3- medium, 4- high and 5- very high).
The target population of this study is residents of Ardabil’s residential complexes, which are selected by Cochran sampling method with a confidence level of about 6%, 240 residents of the complex. In order to determine the statistical sample, eight cluster models with observation and review of the writers, eight residential complexes named Negin Sarsotoun complex (with physical field), Abrovan complex (with physical, natural and historical context), Mansoorieh complex (historical and natural), Mahtab complex (Natural), Sabalan complex (physical, historical and cultural), Nastaran complex (physical and environmental), Vesal complex (physical and natural) and Aseman complex (physical) with different contexts were selected.
In this study, four main components of contextualism, namely physical context, socio-cultural context, historical context and natural context are chosen as independent variables and quality of residential complex as dependent variable, and individual factors of gender, ownership, age groups, marital status and the length of stay as controlling factor. Cronbach's alpha coefficient was used for reliability of the questionnaire. The Cronbach's alpha coefficient was 0.889 for 23 questions about contextual components and quality of the residential complexes, which is a sign of the reliability of the questionnaire. To analyze the data of the questionnaire, Means-test and T-test and multiple regression analysis are used in the SPSS software. Finally, the path analysis model is mapped to three levels based on regression coefficients.
Discussion of Results & Conclusions
The results of individual factors affecting the quality of residence through contextualism showed that, as time passes and age increases, the mean of contextual components increases. There is also a linear relationship between the level of components and the level of education, and with the increase in the length of residence in the complex, the quality of residence and contextual increases. Also, with an increase in residence duration in the city, the average historical context increases.
The results of the findings showed that the quality of residential complexes in Ardabil is moderate to high, where social quality has the highest score in terms of residence and the lowest score is related to physical quality. As expected, residential complex residence, in terms of participation, community and security, is an effective factor in increasing social quality of complexes. Also, the highest average quality of residential units is related to exterior conditions, to the internal conditions of the units such as light, brightness, visibility and landscape. On the other hand, in terms of impact, the quality of contextual component has the greatest impact on the quality of residential complexes and the external component of the units has the most impact on the quality of residential units in Ardabil. Therefore, the first sub-hypothesis of the research is also proved.
Among the contextualism, the natural context (especially respect for nature and environment) has the most impact on the quality of residence, that is, the quality of residential complexes and also the quality of residential units in Ardabil. Therefore, the second hypothesis of the research is proved. The highest mean of contextualism is related to the physical context, and the lowest average is related to the historical context. In the historical context, which has the lowest score in terms of residence in the studied complexes, the least attention is given to the connection with the monuments that today are not getting much attention in the design of residential complexes, monuments and historical monuments, and this is the reason that the symbol dimension of the cultural context is also the lowest in terms of inhabitants.
On the other hand, Pearson correlation test showed that in each of the eight complexes, the highest correlation coefficient was related to the quality of residence and natural context. Among the selected complexes, the highest correlation coefficient between the quality of residence and the physical context was found in in the Nestaran complex, and the highest coefficient of correlation between the quality of residence and the historical context was found in the Mansouriyeh Complex, which is located in the central-historical context of the city. Therefore, in order to improve the quality of residence in residential complexes, planners and architects and urban planners need to pay attention to the quality of the complex context (including environmental health, maintenance costs and lifestyle), as well as the external conditions of residential units (such as lighting and Green space), especially in the natural context, including respect for nature and environmental protection.