The application of social indicators in the analysis of Zadar’s housing standard

This paper analyses the characteristics of the housing stock in the urban area of Zadar on the basis of social indicators. The theoretical framework of the paper encompasses a systematic review of the existing theoretical knowledge and empirical research on social indicators, as well as their application in studies of housing standards, the conceptual development of terms and the advancement of scientific cognition with regard to social indicators related to housing issues. The 39 variables available from the 2011 Census led to the formation of 9 social indicators. Said indicators have been displayed as representatives of the “external” characteristics of the housing standard, and later on categorized into composite indicators for further comparison. Areas with extremely low or high variations in housing standards were identified by means of comparison of the indicators. The second part of the paper presents the results of the survey conducted on the basis of 17 composite variables, which were formed with regard to two indicators. In addition to descriptive statistics, variance analysis and chi-squared tests were also used in order to identify the differences between housing quality zones with respect to Category A and Category B fit-outs, the results of which significantly contribute to the understanding of the housing standard. The spatial framework of the study is the settlement of Zadar, which is divided into 41 spatial statistical units, 22 local committees and 3 housing quality zones.