Investigating the interactions of the components affecting the social performance of open spaces in affordable housing projects

This research has investigated the interactions of the components affecting the social performance of open spaces at the scale of neighborhood units to determine their key factors. The research method is mixed in terms of the nature of the data and causal-comparative in analyzing the observations. The effective indicators of the social performance of open spaces have been extracted through a systematic literature review using the qualitative content analysis method. The logical reasoning method has been used to categorize these indicators, identify the components that include them, and explain the conceptual model of the interactions of these components. The conceptual model was validated through the survey of three case studies, including affordable housing projects in three different cities of Iran, and the data collection tool was a questionnaire. The results show that the components of equipping and beautifying the environment, climatic comfort, spatial distinction, and mental security are the reasons for attracting residents' presence in open spaces at the scale of neighborhood units. In this regard, the two components of attracting residents' presence and mental security play a vital role. However, the performance of the first component depends on the high-quality indicators of the mental security component.