Housing quality evaluation using Analytic Network Process: a case study in the Ashanti Region, Ghana

Analytic Network Process (ANP) is a multicriteria decision analysis method. It provides a tool for identifying the relative importance of all the elements (criteria) influencing a goal of decision/evaluation problem (e.g. the problem of evaluating housing quality). The method allows for incorporating dependence relationships into the multicriteria evaluation procedure. Although ANP has successfully been applied for tackling a wide variety of evaluation/decision problems, it remains to be explored in its application to housing quality evaluation. A case study of housing quality evaluation in the Ashanti Region, Ghana using the method is presented. A set of quality-based indicators related to the physical (structural material, dwelling types, and housing services), socioeconomic (tenure and household density (overcrowding), and environmental (modes of solid waste and liquid waste disposal) aspects of dwellings were used for the evaluation. The results demonstrate the effectiveness of the ANP method. The ANP method was successfully used for combining a large number of evaluation criteria (indicators) to obtain a composite measure of housing quality. It also identifies the most important factors (indicators) contributing to the variability of housing quality of districts in the Ashanti Region, Ghana.