Residential satisfaction in urban historical districts and human needs: An environmental affordance approach (Sabzevar, Iran)

Despite their historical, cultural, and social significance, many historic urban districts struggle to meet residents’ needs, thereby undermining residential satisfaction and quality of life. The historic district of Sabzevar, Iran, exemplifies this challenge, as aging residents increasingly leave due to declining satisfaction. This study investigates how deficiencies in environmental affordances — the environment’s capacity to support human needs — contribute to this trend. Using a mixed-methods approach and path analysis, we identify four key dimensions of affordance: Physical-spatial (comfort, security), functional (accessibility, flexibility), perceptual-psychological (legibility, safety, place attachment), and socio-cultural (social interaction, aesthetics). Findings reveal low overall residential satisfaction, with the perceptual-psychological dimension emerging as the strongest predictor (β=0.55, p<0.05), likely due to its role in fostering emotional attachment and perceived safety — critical factors for aging populations in historic settings. While socio-cultural affordances remain relatively strong (preserving community identity), physical-spatial and functional dimensions are critically deficient. Based on these findings, we propose context-specific urban design interventions — including shaded rest areas, traffic calming, Lynchian legibility enhancements, and CPTED-based safety measures — to improve livability and support resident retention. This study advances the application of Maslow’s hierarchy within affordance theory and offers actionable insights for human-centered revitalization of historic districts.

Keywords: Residential satisfaction, residents' needs, environmental affordances, environmental design, historical districts.