Sustainable Public Space Reconstruction in Post-Conflict Iraq: A User-Satisfaction Framework

Public spaces in Iraqi cities carry social memory, daily trade, and civic trust; therefore, post-conflict reconstruction must be evaluated through social performance as well as physical repair. This study develops a user-satisfaction framework for sustainable and resilient public space reconstruction in post-conflict Iraq. A convergent mixed-methods design was used, combining literature and site analysis with Likert-scale surveys of residents and experts in two public-commercial case studies: Eskan Bazaar and Najafi Street. The resident survey included 901 valid respondent records (Eskan Bazaar, n = 451; Najafi Street, n = 450), and the expert survey included 89 respondent records (Eskan Bazaar, n = 48; Najafi Street, n = 41). The analysis used weighted means, standard deviations, medians, percentage agreement, site comparison, and reliability testing. Cronbach’s Alpha showed acceptable to excellent internal consistency for the local surveys (0.79 and 0.91) and excellent internal consistency for the expert surveys (0.93 for both sites). Results show that Najafi Street scored higher than Eskan Bazaar across all local factors, especially cultural preservation (3.15 versus 2.71) and accessibility (2.57 versus 2.30), while accessibility remained the weakest local dimension in both cases. Expert results similarly favored Najafi Street, particularly for cultural preservation (3.28 versus 2.83) and accessibility (3.26 versus 2.94). The findings were translated into a five-pillar framework covering community engagement, cultural preservation, environmental stewardship, economic revitalization, and adaptive resilience. The framework is preliminarily validated through construct reliability, cross-case application, expert-local triangulation, and monitoring indicators, while future post-occupancy testing is recommended.