Formulating an Optimal Model for Designing and Assessing the Sustainable Housing Indices in Rural Areas (Case Study: Quchan Atigh Dehestan)

Purpose- sustainable rural housing can be considered as an important index in rural development. Hence, preparing plans in the area of sustainable rural housing requires different aspects and components of sustainable housing to be identified and analyzed. Designing and employing sustainable housing indices is especially important in rural planning as an essential instrument to express physical, socioeconomic, and environmental aspects of sustainable housing. The present study aims at identifying and explaining appropriate indices and criteria to evaluate housing sustainability and to operate the indices in the country villages. This is done by emphasizing Ghouchan Atigh rural district and presenting a modern methodological framework through a survey among the scientific elites by Delphi method. The present study is seeking to find out which indices are more valid and valuable for evaluating housing sustainability in Ghouchan Atigh rural district; and how is the process of designing appropriate indices and criteria to evaluate sustainable housing in rural areas.Design/methodology/approach- the methodology of the present study is based on descriptive-analytic methods as well as quantitative-qualitative mixed method.Findings- the findings of the study indicate that among 128 designed indices, 70 key indices were appropriate to rural housing structure especially in Ghouchan Atigh rural district. They include 28 indices to evaluate physical-infrastructural sustainability, 23 indices to evaluate social sustainability, 15 indices to evaluate economic sustainability, and 4 indices to evaluate environmental sustainability. The results also indicate that regarding analysis of the selected indices, physical-infrastructural indices are mostly valid in sustainability analysis with the score of 8.02. Environmental indices with the score of 7.89, social indices with the score of 7.65, and economic indices with the score of 7.49 are at the next ranks.