ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY ASSESSMENT An Attempt To Evaluate Government Housing Projects OMAR KHATTAB ABSTRACT Evaluating housing projects is an essential part to the process of design in the built environment. The evaluation could be on a number of diferent bases. The bases chosen for evaluating the goverment housing project in this paper is the quality of its built environment. The aim is to examine Whether the quality of the built environment provided matches, or not, the inhabitants specific IMestyle. Through dwellers own judgement and assessment of the various components of the environmental quality of their new settlements. It is a way of assessing the environmental quality and hence evaluationg the success of a particular housing project. INTODUCTION The aim of any housing programme is to provide people with better environments, Hence, one needs to decide what is better, better than what, and what makes it better. AS Rapoport (1990) explains, there should be a method to measure the term better. He then introduced the ‘concept of Environmental Quality as a measurement tool to evaluate the quay ofthe bult environment ‘This paper represents an attempt to evaivate the built environment, in a Government housing project in one of the Egyptian Oases, through its dwellers’ Judgement. The housing project under ‘evaluation represents the frst attempt in the Egyptian context to enable the rural 00" to build for themselves. Enablement, as a Government housing approach for the rural poor, was introduced in Eaypt during the early eighties. As a result of the implementation of the Tamkeen, or enablement, programme over the last decade, about eleven new setioments have been created in the Siva Oasis, in the Western Desert of Egypt (Fig) One of the objectives of this study is to 96 determine whether the participants of the Tamkeen programme ate saistied or not with thei new uit environments. Anather objective is to find out the reasons for satisfaction or dissatisfaction, based on how much the provided buit environment was supportive 10 the people's needs, wants, activites, in short to their specie ‘teste (Rapopor. 1981). The importance of evaluating such housing programmes, however small they ae, isto examine the alternative strategies of creating habitable environments in th Egyptian vast deserts, as a way out of Egypt's persistent problem of overpopuiation along the narrow strp of the Nile Vai. The assessment of tho dnelers judgement of their new settements is rade through their evaluation of ctferent components, ofthe environmental qual, of ther environments. The method used to illustrate ther response to the diferent attributes ofthis parteuiar environments the Environmental Quality Profiles technique inroduced by Rapoport (1990) The paper is based on the Authors long experiance of research on Siva Oasis, and a recent fld survey carried out by the Author. THE CONCEPT OF ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY Environmental Qualty by definition has two major meanings, (Rapopor 1977); the first deals with the physical enviconment, while the second deals with the perceived environment (Fig. 2) ‘The immediate meaning of environmental quality is the material aspects of the Daysical environment like air, water palution, depletion of resources, damestic and industrial potion, consequences of ‘overpopulation and noise, ete. which have Figure 1. A Household in one ofthe New Sottomants in Siwa Oasis FDPIR Vol2 1993Envitonmental Quality Assessment FILTERS Ovjective Attributes Pgsieal ale Environment Individual or group of people with matches Certain Attributes perceived situation Subjective against norms, 1 Aatribates values, ideal images, | EVALUATION and nations of ' or Peredived Environmental ENVIRONMENTAL ult ualty QUALITY Environment ASSESSMENT Figure 2. Environmental Quali of physical and perceived built environments. {Source ater Rapoport, 1977) ceriain effects on people (Rapoport 1990). ‘hile the second, and more sophisticated meaning is the qualiles, material and immaterial, of natural and man-made built environment which support, oF not, the social and cutural structures and Insitutions of a spect group of people and hence, give them satisaction, oF dissatisfaction, with the physical settings provided (Rapoport and Hardie, 1991}. In this paper, the term environmental quality wil be used fo refer to the later moaning, and this wil be the notion of environmental qualty which we wil try to assess in the context of the Temkeen seflements in iva oasis The concept, as Rapoport (1990) explains, 's important in understanding choices and design of any built envionment, and the cenvironment-Dehaviour relationships EBR. ach individual ‘Acertain designed or group. provided Bulle nas his heir Environment Componentsof with» specific Environmental Environmental Quality Ouality For each individual or group has histheir ‘own components of environmental quality, which represent the push and pull factors, involved in forming the image of a good or beter residential or wotk environment for himfthem. In other words, those ‘environmental components represent the personal preferences of an individual or a grup of people AN EVALUATION SCHEME Since provided or designed built environments have to match certain environmental quality criteria in order to achieve supportive environments and hence people’ satisfaction with their environments, this evaluative scheme was put forward by Rapoport, (1977) (Fig. 3) Figure 3. Evaluation scheme forthe built environments (source: after Rapoport, 1977), FORUM Vol2 1993 It should be mentioned here that this evaluation is affective and not a detaled analysis, and is latent and not a manifest function (Rapoport, 1977), Nevertreless, in my opinion it is a more humane approach to evaluate diferent housing programmes on the basis of satisfying the duellets requirements, meeting their own preferences, and matching their speci: lifestyle. It should be also mentioned that this evaluation scheme is infuenced by a number of factors tke culture, previous ‘experience, education, adaptation levels, level ot poverty and deprivation, familiarity, and aspiration (Rapoport 1977) ENVIRONMENTAL, QUALITY PROFILES ‘This specie tool for illustrating the ~L EVALUATION 7(Omar Khattab * es satis est Figure 4. Environmental Quality Profiles (Source: alter Rapoport, 1990) ‘components of environmental quality wes, again, introduced by Rapoport, (1990), as an effective way of representing ‘graphicaly the responses to the diferent attributes of the concept and easiy communicating them. The profiles, by nature, can vary in the existence or non existence of the components, the ranking of the same components, and whether they are positive or negative. Components are arranged in sequence of pioity from top to bottom and responses ate plated along the seven point semantic differential scale, An example of an EQP from Siva oasis is shown in (Fig. 4) draw in this fashion The fact that the Environmental Quality Proties can be graphically presented allows innovation in drawing them, as long a it serves the main purpose of easing the arrangement and communication of the diferent attibutes of tho buit environment For the purpose of presenting the response of the inteniewees to a structured interview questionnaire about the quality of their ‘new bil environment, the Author ted the Radar chart to craw the EQPs. Fig. 5, shows the same previous example drawn inthe Radar fashion. THE CASE-STUDY AND FIELD WORK In an atlempt to examine this model in ‘order to test the degree of satistacton with a certain Goverment provided buit envionment, in ther words fo assess the ‘environmental quality ofthis envronmont, ABUBAKER'S E.Q. PROFILE LAND NONINSTITUTIONAL ENVIRONMENT. SOCIAL CHARACTERISTICS S. FAMILY DWELLING cute, (CLEANLINESS © MOUSING SYSTEM Location + CONVENIENCE, RELATIVE LOCATION TYPE OF NEIGHBORS SPACIOUSNESS Figure 5. Another way of orawing the Profiles. Source: fieldwork, 1991 38 Figure 6. Deterioiating Housing Conditions in Existing Vilages in Sia Oasis. a field study was carried out among the imhabitan's of the New Tamkeen Settlements in Siva oasis. With the beginning of eightes the Government started to construct a number of rural settlements in Siwa oasis following The Tamkeen programme. The reason for choosing Siva oasis, in the Western Desert of Egypt was a response to the demand on housing units due to congestion in existing villages, colapse of some houses due to heavy rains, the need to reclaim new land for cultivation and develop new adjacent communities Through the Tamkeen programme eleven settlements were constructed along the Slwa depression over the last decade (Khattab, 1991) (ig. 6) ‘Though small in number, the households in these eleven setiements were treatod {8 the population for sampling, For the purpose of this paper the results of the interviews in only one of the eleven new settlement, Mishandid, where all the heads of households existed atthe time of the study were interviewed, wil be presented (Fig. 7). The interviewees were Presented with a list of twenty ‘components of the environmental qual ‘gathered by the author through the review ofthe tterature available on the subject, ‘and which seemed to contain the possible ‘ones which might affect the choice of such a rural environment, The fact that none of the interviewees has chosen more than Figure 7. Part ofthe New Settlement of Misbandi FORUM Nol.2 1993Envitonmental Quality Assessment ABUBAKER twelve out of the twenly components on the list, nor suggested new ones to the lst, shows that the list covered, even more than, all the possible attrbutes for ‘which such ney created rural setlements have been chosen, The components were divided into two main categories; physical and social components. The physical components covered things ke land, housing system, single family dweling, —_densty, spaciousness, cleanness, spatial quality, overall appearance ofthe buldng andthe setlement, andthe lke. While the social componerts included things tke type of neighbours, social slalus, social characterise, convenience, and so forth Under each component there was a ‘umber of sub-components relevant to the FORUM Vol2 1993 ‘wusur want ner snous Trimet Quality Componens [ial Rank Tad owsing Stern Single Family Dveling Dery Spaciouness 4 | Cisne Clesninas Spat Quality Topography Cmate Tecate, ‘Nonsatsatonal Environ (Overall Appearance of Setement ‘Overall Appearance of Bul Low Tale Level : Type of Neighbours fal Sas Social Craters Convenions : Reluve Location View ABDALLAH Figure 8. Some EQPs of dwellers in Mishandl, Sina oasis. Source: fieldwork, 1982 NB. Numbers rptsert aren components of Evereertd Oty, main component, and rlated tothe same theme. For example, under the ‘component of housing system there was. ‘the sub-components ofthe loan, the grant, the house design, the technical assistance, the maintenance and uokeep, and the street maintenance, all referring 10 the Tamkeen programme's. specfoty. Another example is the social characteistes of the new environment, where atibutes tke safety and crime, presence and feeling of community, good place for children, triendinass, homogenety, privacy, stability ofthe area, MEDIAN €.Q. PROFILE soci. sTaTus FT HOUSING SYSTEM RELATIVE LOCATION ‘8 FAMILY WELLING 1) CLEANLINESS TOPOGRAPHY , VIEW SPACIOUSHESS Location J TYPE OF NEIGHEORS SOCIAL CHARACTERISTICS CLIMATE Figure 8, Median EQP for Mishandia ‘Source: fieldwork, 1982‘Omar Khattab LAND PROFILE CLEANLINESS PROFILE Pony yw 4 8 s 1s 6 ae? CLIMATE PROFILE TOPOGRAPHY AND ‘VIEW PROFILE 1 2 Wes © 4 ° : ‘6 6 7 security of hazards, attachment to the ‘area, social links, identity of place, ‘meaning attached to places parlly as Image of Iifestyla, and value of houses to people came as sub-components of it (ver a hundred attributes, variables, were covered in the investigation of why the ‘new living environment was chosen, Tiree questions were asked to each interviewee. The fst question was what were the attributes, components, of the new environment which influenced his choice of, of attracted him to, the new envionment. The second question was what was the rank of these attrbutes, components, according to their importance, priotty, to the inteviewes. The third, and last, question was what was his own assessment of his degre of satisfaction with each component, through giving a. score for each attibut, oF component, on @ seven point semantic delerenial scale, where from 1 to 3 means negative assessment and ftom 510 ‘means pesve one. 40 HOUSING SYSTEM PROFILE PROFILE SOCIAL CHARACTERISTICS PROFILE SOCIAL STATUS PROFILE O: Figure 10. Componenis' Profiles in Mishandia, Source: fieldwork, 1992 NB. Nunbesrpreser respondents gig fm ghost sor to lowes ANALYSIS OF DATA Responses of the inteniewees were then taken and translated onto Environmental Quaity Profiles "EQ", where a positive Profle indicates satistacton with the new environment, and a negative profile indicates dissatisfaction. | should mention here that this is merely a preliminary interpretation of the data, 2 complete SINGLE FAMILY DWELLING PROFILE ‘TYPE OF NEIGHBORS PROFILE RELATIVE LOCATION PROFILE analysis is 10 follow. It should be mentioned, iso, that the differentiation between the protes is not that simple, since the profile could be positive and negate at the same time. Also the dissatisfaction with a low ranked attribute component, should nat be treated as the cissatisfaction wth a high ranked one, The individual EQPS show the spectic attbutes of such a rural residential environment which the inhabitants care about, 2s well as ther importance or magnitude. At the same time, they show the dwolers assessment of these attibutes in their settlement, which embrace their degree of salsaction with the environment (Fig, 8) It was, also possible, by obtaining the median rank and score for each ‘component, to draw @ median profil for the whole settlement, which shows the important attributes for this particular or specific group, their rank of priory to this ‘group, and’ whether they were FORUM Vol.2 1993Envitonmental Quality Assessment satisfctorly provided for or nat (Fig. 9). dweling but also in the decision making patcpation should be achieved process, can be a real stimulus for (Hamd.1901), The New Settlements in movement of population (Khatab, 993). Siva oasis seem to be a step on that direction. A step which requires caret quidance, correction, and protection through documentation, understanding, ‘The median EQP of the group shows a and evaluation in order to achieve the cin ths pare songs a4 erate gc stron win he mts gol Pong Sipaie en - new settlement, as well as the majority of habitable residential environments in the Based on the components profes, a the individual EOFs, This can be Egypban Deserts umber of observations were immediately substantiated by the resut of @ general made. While overall appearance of the question which was also asked to the house was only mentioned by a single respondents to fnd out whether they want. REFERENCES Furthermore, profiles for each attribute, component, were also obtainable, which are the collection of the individual responses on the seven point semantic CONCLUSION deferential scale of all those who have respondent, overall appearance of the to leave the settlement or not, which Hand, N, 199, Housing who Houses. Vn seilement was never mentioned nor indicates whether they are satisfied or not Nestand ino. New Yor ‘chosen. This obviously indicates that with their new rural environment. The nate, 0. 1961, Add Sa Hap House Bua: aesthetic value are of very iow, indeed not response was that about 73 % of them the case ol Swa Oasis, in Sher. etleers. at al, proto this specific group. On the were satisted, while about 27% were not. —lzy atthe Poo: aouunale coisas an other hand, newness ofthe buildings and Of course, this result does not undermine tcteabges ior Inenccmasetemans, the settlement was very highly Valued. the fact that there are a number of Proceedrgs ofthe ot er schoo coneence, Compromises were also obvious, where shortcomings in the Tameen programme armada Teco Pubteaters, non. attrbutes ike safety and low crime level as. implemented in Sina oasis, both xnatae, ©, and wiknon, N, 1998, Bon of were highly valued at the expense of administratively and technical, which ivan silage’, Te synposum cn Hasan convenient feciltes, e.g. poice, fre, need tobe dealt with and corected. ASO Fahy’sPitsuis nm Conangray garbage, elc., which were very lowly further analysis of this data and indepth arentactue, caro, apni 1993, contents valuod, At the same time, atbutes lke inforpretaton in the light of the culture Prasedrgs: Cenke for Pinning and the type of neighbours, including extended core (Rapoport and Hardie, 1991) of the _Archiecal Hertage. family, knship, etc, which one expects to Sivans, and the new set of —Repput, A, 1977, Human Asaf Usa Frm, be of great importance to such a tal charactoristes, or elements, highly valued Ola: Porson. society, came not high in the overall rank through social and cultura transformation, Rapoper, A. 1990, Ehvroametal Quy and of the group, which shows the effect of will help to predict the wants rather than Erneta Oulily Pel, Wikis, change and the degree of social and the needs of this group, which will be of Jed), Gully in the_Sut_Envtormen cutural transformation of the rural and great importance to design and provide _cerference proceeds Jy, 199, Newcastle tribal societies in Egypt. Land, both for them with supportive residential pon. Tyne: Open House Inaratonal building and for reetamation came on the environments sascaten top ranking of all the attrbutes of new environments, which identifies the main motivation behind the success of these Papopot, A. and Hard. 861, "Cunual Change ‘nals, core concepts of housing for tho Tonand’, Tip, 6, 204 Ys, K, (8 In the struggle to design social, culturally ‘and economically supportive residential environments, which can be a guarantee na setlerents. The second tp pir jim es ea oslo a or a ner tens which veters the conn ofa Rausing programme the Tamkeen, or enablement, programme, Providing he ovistonce ofa elit cs eats ‘again, an indication that participation, not oie ace ay ae onl inthe inane and constuction ofthe ve FORAM Volz 1998 4 NAN aaa aaa