Post-occupancy evaluation: an expert-user-oriented model proposal based on key sustainability indicators

Abstract

Purpose The user-oriented reusing of historical heritages is a powerful planning strategy to increase sustainability and provide socioeconomic benefits for cities. The study aims to determine the post-occupancy sustainability of reused historical buildings.

Design/methodology/approach A holistic model was designed by considering expert and user opinions to select the post-occupancy sustainability of reused historical buildings. The proposed model was developed concerning key sustainability indicators (KSI). This proposed model, which integrates expert and user views, is examined in an educational building with significant cultural value in Mardin.

Findings The results of the KSI model indicate that the functional, technical and environmental sustainability of the building are at a medium level, while the aesthetic sustainability is rated as good. An analysis of the differences between importance and performance shows that the largest gap is in functional sustainability, with the smallest gap in technical sustainability. The environmental and aesthetic sustainability indicators show a smaller performance gap than the other two. The results suggest that functional sustainability requires immediate intervention, technical features should be improved based on user needs and aesthetic and environmental sustainability require monitoring but no urgent action.

Originality/value The originality of the research is that it proposes a model that combines expert opinion and the opinions of building users to monitor the sustainability of the reused buildings throughout the usage process and enables them to be monitored with key sustainability criteria and to develop improvement suggestions in line with the results obtained.