Effective dimensions in enhancing the quality of life in outdoor academic spaces from the perspective of experts

Introduction: Universities around the world compete to attract students and evolve their educational structures by offering appealing learning and research environments.Due to the emphasis on educational spaces, the physical development of universities often neglects or reduces open spaces, reflecting planners' and designers' focus on indoor areas and their disregard for outdoor environments.This oversight leads to issues such as low student presence, lack of mental and physical comfort, and declining environmental quality.When students' needs and aspirations are met within the university's cultural context, it enhances their quality of life in that environment, fostering social, educational, and recreational activities while providing a better living environment in terms of ecological, social, and economic quality.The current study aims to identify the factors influencing the quality of life in university outdoor spaces from the perspectives of experts.Methodology: Given the lack of a clear theoretical foundation for the components of quality of life in outdoor university spaces and the exploratory nature of the research, this study adopted a survey-based approach using the Delphi method.After conducting a document analysis of academic articles and research to extract relevant content, open-ended interviews were held with a statistical population of 27 experts.Participants were recruited using the snowball sampling method, and data collection continued until theoretical saturation was reached.Subsequently, using open coding, axial coding, and contentobjective table techniques, a researcher-developed questionnaire was prepared and completed by experts in two rounds.Finally, the results were extracted through Q-factor analysis in SPSS software.Results: After administering the questionnaire to the experts, factor analysis was conducted on their responses, and common themes were identified across their input.At this stage, five factors, representing the participants' perspectives, emerged as statistically and thematically significant.These factors were named based on theoretical foundations, question content, and expert consensus.The Delphi technique ultimately identified five key dimensions: physical, environmental comfort, functional activity, sociability, and semantic-perceptual. Conclusion:The results indicated that, from the expert's perspective, the five dimensionsphysical, environmental comfort, functional activity, sociability, and semantic-perceptualranked in order of importance in contributing to the enhancement of welfare and quality of life in outdoor university spaces.These dimensions help create an environment that is livable and pleasant for students, enabling them to comfortably and enjoyably spend their leisure time there.