Research on the Evaluation and Influence Mechanism of Public Housing Service Quality: A Case Study of Shanghai

Government provision of public housing services eases the disorderly spread of urban space, avoids the social risks caused by high density, and maintains a safe social life. The role of public housing services in realizing urban sustainable development has become increasingly prominent, yet the provision of adequate public housing of a decent quality in a desirable location is a major challenge. Therefore, this study proposes a holistic conceptual model of public housing service quality (PHSQ) and establishes corresponding evaluation indicators to objectively evaluate the current status of housing services. The results show that the overall PHSQ is low- to medium-quality; the city center has become a high-quality gathering area, and the suburbs are generally low-quality. The spatial pattern shows that a single high-quality center coexists with multiple low-quality centers, forming an approximate M-shaped distribution pattern. The geodetector results show that foundation supporting capacity, government control capacity, resource agglomeration capacity, market driving capacity, and social promotion capacity significantly affect the PHSQ. The influence produced by the interaction between different factors shows an enhanced relationship, especially between public discourse expression and other factors, implying the need to remove the overemphasis on “supply-side reform” and focus on the effectiveness of demand-side factors.