Analyzing the Effects of Abandoned Houses on Neighborhood Satisfaction in the Walled City of Famagusta

Housing abandonment is one of the social and physical problems in some of neighborhoods than others today. Housing abandonment emerged as problem in such areas due to wide range of factors such as social, economic and physical forces and public policies. Neighborhood is a place where people and residents spend their majority of life times in. Accordingly, it is a small community that people are gathered in and sharing their emotional feelings and things. Both in modern and tradition cities, neighborhood satisfaction depends on physical, social and economical overall condition of specific neighborhood. In addition, when housing abandonment appears in a neighborhood, it dramatically affects on neighborhood satisfaction that heading into decline of quality of life as well as neighborhood. Not only physical condition, social and economic conditions of the neighborhood had negatively affected by the housing abandonment. Any problems that can happen in these three structures of a neighborhood are directly decreasing the neighborhood satisfaction among residents. Accordingly, main aim of this study is to analyze the effects of housing abandonment on the neighborhood satisfaction. For this study, Walled City of Famagusta as a one of important historical and traditional part of the Famagusta City, is selected as a case study area. This thesis is carried on three residential districts among nine districts that each district has a dense housing pattern. Also, existence of residential abandonment in the selected districts is another reason for this selection. Thus, the case study areas are analyzed through series of analyses and the effects of housing abandonment on neighborhood satisfaction in Walled City is tried to be achieved. Accordingly, this thesis is composed of five chapters. The first chapter is included with introductory part, that relates to aim and objectives and method of the study. Chapter two defines the abandonment issue, its negative consequences and reasons. Chapter three explains the neighborhood satisfaction and its indicators. As a result of the theoretical part, it is achieved that reasons of housing abandonment relies on the neighborhood satisfaction. In the fourth chapter, case study areas are analyzed by using the indicators that are achieved at the end of the literature review in chapter three. Physical and social analyses technique-questionnaire survey is used for gathering data from the selected districts. Conclusion and recommendations are given in the fifth chapter. The findings from physical and socio-economic analysis show that, the physical and socio-economic conditions of neighborhood give impetus to increase the housing abandonment and at the same time decrease the neighborhood satisfaction. It means that residential districts of Walled City have highly deteriorated façade and structural condition, locational obsolescence, lack of environmental standards, fair level of place attachment, lack of safety and health and moderate level of new houses in housing market. Accordingly, these negative impacts are causing housing abandonment in the neighborhood. Due to this growth of housing abandonment that is obtained, from the results of analysis the residents are not satisfied to live in the neighborhoods. Keywords: Historical neighborhood, housing abandonment, neighborhood satisfaction, Walled City of Famagusta