THE MEDIEVAL CITY OF RHODES THROUGH THE EYES OF ITS RESIDENTS: AN EVOLUTION OF THE PERCEIVED RESIDENTAL ENVIROMENTAL QUALITY

Ioannis Tsakiris¹, Maria Kaila², Manolis Tsakiris^3
1Dr, University of the Aegean, GREECE, itsakiris@rhodes.aegean.gr
²Prof. University of the Aegean, GREECE, kaila@rhodes.aegean.gr
³Postgraduate Student, University of Athens, manos.tsakiris@outlook.com

Abstract

If we accept that the improvement and subsequent maintenance of the quality of the urban residential environment can be used as indexes of high or low level of quality of the resident’s life, an evaluation of the quality of the urban environment is then rendered necessary and constitutes an object of study of outstanding significance for Environmental Psychology.
This paper aims to study the answers of residents (N=162) of the Medieval City of Rhodes, Greece, which constitutes a monumental space recognised by UNSECO as a World Heritage Site, nowadays consisting of the remnants of the Hippodamian urban tissue of the Hellenistic Era, the Roman, Early Christian and Early Byzantine Eras and the Medieval City. 
For the obtainment of the data, the certified and valid tool “Perceived Residential Environmental Quality (PREQ & NA)” was used. It comprises a list of 44 questions separated into 14 indexes. Each question was evaluated by the participants according to the subjective extent of disturbance on a 7-point Likert scale (from 1 for strongly disagree to 7 for strongly agree).
The statistical criteria Mann-Whitney U and Kruskall-Wallis were used for the study of the answers inputs according to gender and age group respectively, which demonstrated that a significant number of the indexes under examination can potentially be experienced as, up to a compelling extent, disturbing residential environmental features.

The averages of the answer inputs demonstrate that the dimensions of buildings (p=.004), constitute a disturbing feature for women, whereas men are disturbed more by the lack of public sports services (p=.020) and green spaces. At the same time, all participants agree that environmental health, the established way of living, the public transport network, the existence of commercial and financial services and the existence of maintenance services can potentially be experienced as stressful environmental features.

The examination of averages reveals that the age group 50-59 feel, in comparison to other age groups and on the grounds of the current situation, less safe (p=.001), are disturbed more by the pollution and noise levels (p=.001), the lack of green spaces and social care (p=.001), the insufficiency of the public transport network and the lack of accessibility (p=.026), thus raising the aforementioned indexes to rather stressful factors.

The age group 40-49 rather express their disturbance in the tendency of isolation of residents (p=.005), the increased difficulty in forming interpersonal relationships with other residents (p=.006), and the possibility of coming across dangerous people at night (p=.003) in comparison to younger age groups.

It is our firm belief that the current paper offers the opportunity and the stimulus for further comparative studies (both on a national and an international level), at the same time providing the research field of the quality of residential environments with valuable information, which could, consequently, significantly benefit the fields of health, sustainability and Environmental Education as well.

Keywords: disturbing environmental features, urban quality indexes