Developing a Mathematical Model to Measure Quality of Life in Social Housing Through Spatial and Urban Design in Iraq

The quality of life (QoL) in social housing can be affected by many spatial and urban design features. Nevertheless, these are included in assessment models without a common quantitative model for their implementation. Therefore, a mathematical model for assessment of the contribution of spatial and urban design to QoL in Iraqi social housing was proposed. The developed model included five main indicators concerning accessibility, social sustainability and density, road network efficiency, safety and security, and urban identity and social interaction. Indicator weights were estimated based on assessments by experts and residents, with indicator values normalized to a 0–1 scale. The proposed model was implemented for evaluation of three residential complexes in Mosul, Iraq. The weighting procedure involved 220 households and a multidisciplinary panel of 20 experts. The indicator with the highest integrated weight was social sustainability and urban density. Accessibility of basic facilities followed with the next highest weight. QoL estimated by the model was equal to 0.32 for Al-Khadraa, 0.42 for Al-Hadbaa and 0.50 for Al-Shurooq. The developed model produced the same case ordering as the separately elicited Overall Perceived Quality of Life (OPQoL) measure from the same respondent sample, providing a case-level consistency check rather than independent statistical validation. The sensitivity analysis showed that ranking did not change under 50:50, 60:40 and 40:60 expert–resident weighting scenarios.