Residential satisfaction is a vital component of individual quality of life which has been explored by researchers from different perspectives. This study takes the stance to investigate residential ...satisfaction from sociodemographic standpoints. The purpose is to contribute to further research on residential satisfaction by exploring specifically the impact of age, gender and marital status on overall residential satisfaction and in more detail with components of residential satisfaction of residents living in apartment buildings in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Quantitative analyses of a survey of 204 residents living 59 apartment buildings in Dhaka was conducted to examine whether there is any relation between residential satisfaction with age, gender and marital status of the apartment dwellers. This study also examined if these sociodemographic characteristics had a moderator effect on some of the key components of residential satisfaction. Primary findings indicate that there exists a significant relationship between residential satisfaction with age, gender, and marital status. Further analysis revealed that the "Married" group was more satisfied than the "Single/Never married" group, senior people tend to be more satisfied than are younger respondents and females were more satisfied than males concerning overall residential satisfaction. This study concludes that potential sociodemographic differences among households in apartment developments in Dhaka should be considered for effective residential satisfaction and to create a socially sustainable living environment.
In the contemporary human community relations, great attention is paid to social sustainability due to its ties with the local identity and social culture. That is, the common spaces are considered ...as the social arena that creates a high opportunity for people to bond and interact. In light of this, this study aims at highlighting the importance of such spaces through a case study of the apartment building in Amman, and its impact on social sustainability. Several issues were addressed in order to develop insight into this relation, namely, social equity, social capital, civic engagement, community stability, place attachment, and safety and security. A mixed-method approach was adopted in this research that entailed spatial analysis of layouts of 65 apartments’ building, an on-line survey of 197 residents of apartments’ buildings, and face-to-face interviews with 30 architects and developers. The results of this study bring to notice that apartment building in Amman is deficient in indoor common spaces in terms of functionality and that the few indoor common spaces that are found are mainly limited to circulation paths with no hierarchical system. This finding underlines a crucial need for formulation of design guidelines for multi-family housing with the consideration of social sustainability as an integral part in the infrastructure. These design guidelines, once formulated and enacted, will guarantee provision of indoor common space qualitatively as a hub for a wide range of activities.
Purpose
The COVID-19 global health crisis is undeniably a global housing crisis. Our study focuses on quality of life in urban mid- and high-rise apartment housing, the fastest growing housing types ...in many cities around the world. This housing typology presents unique challenges relating to connection to nature, daylight and fresh air.
Design/methodology/approach
This multi-disciplinary literature review analyzes more than 100 published papers from peer-reviewed sources from environmental psychology, building science and architecture relevant to quality of life in high-rise housing, as well as more than 40 recent newspaper and magazine articles about the possible impacts of COVID-19 on housing. We identify synergies between passive design strategies and health-promoting architecture or “restorative environmental design” principles.
Findings
Post-pandemic, health-promoting apartment housing design must prioritize (1) window placement and views that support stress recovery and restoration; (2) lighting levels based on spaces that can satisfy multiple uses and users; (3) bedrooms designed for restful sleep that contribute to circadian regulation; (4) living rooms with better indoor air quality, with a focus on natural ventilation; (5) access to nature, through the purposeful design of balconies and (6) unit sizes and layouts that enable physical distancing and prevent crowding.
Originality/value
We identify new social and environmental design priorities in the form of evidence-based design principles to inform and promote healthy and restorative living environments for residents in apartment housing.
The article considers the analysis of construction of spatial (floor) property, which assumes the existence of real property rights to individual premises in buildings in relation to such rights with ...the right to the building as a whole.
Understanding how the design of urban infrastructure influences the independence and autonomy of people with intellectual disability has far-reaching implications for community inclusion and ...participation. This article explores how urban design elements of an apartment complex influence how a person with an intellectual disability receives support and participates in the wider community. The study reports on the post-occupancy evaluation of an Australian development of over 400 apartments in Sydney, where 25 people with intellectual disability received 24-hour support. Fifty-three interviews were conducted with people with intellectual disability, their families, and disability support staff. Participants with intellectual disability described what living in their new apartment was like and appreciated the outdoor gardens. However, they also explained that wayfinding was more difficult than in their previous homes—all free-standing group homes. Disability support staff discussed how providing community care for people with intellectual disability in an apartment differed from a suburban free-standing house. Findings were translated into design suggestions for improving service provision to people with disability through the urban design around multi-tower sites of mixed-tenure apartments. The article concludes with recommendations for urban design features to support safe, efficient, and quality care in a high-density urban setting. When viewed through a lens of social infrastructure, the results show how urban design has the potential to influence the collective independence and provision of care to diverse communities in urban centres and cities and is relevant to people with disability, older people, and other community groups who rely on community-care support to remain living independently at home.
Unbundled residential off-street car parking, where spaces are purchased or rented separately to housing, has been shown to reduce car ownership and use, and improve housing affordability. However, ...there is little understanding of the potential for unbundling parking in the context of residential apartment buildings, including the characteristics of apartment residents who are receptive to unbundling. This research explores the potential for unbundling off-street car parking based on a survey of apartment residents (n = 424) in Melbourne, Australia. The data was analysed using descriptive statistics and binary logistic regression modelling, supplemented by qualitative comments from survey respondents. Over one-third (35%) of apartment households were found to experience a mismatch between the supply and demand of their allocated off-street car parking, either having too much or too little parking relative to the number of cars they owned. Around 42% of apartment residents indicated receptiveness to unbundling off-street car parking. Living in a household with 2+ cars was found to increase the odds of being receptive to unbundling by over 3 times. Given the misallocation of off-street car parking relative to household car ownership in apartment buildings, the results imply that efforts could be directed towards unbundling off-street car parking from apartment housing, while carefully managing any associated risks. Future research could seek to explore the potential for unbundling car parking for other land uses and in other jurisdictions.
•Draws on a survey of apartment residents (n = 424) in Melbourne, Australia.•35% of respondents experienced a mismatch in their allocation of off-street car parking.•42% of respondents indicated receptiveness to unbundling off-street car parking.•Living in a household with 2+ cars increased the odds of being receptive to unbundling by >3 times.
Abstract
This research investigation falls in the very few studies that seek the association between city development and sustainable urban planning. This study emphasized to examine and explore ...effects of urban village disamenity on Nanjing suburban and posh area property valuation. Globally, slums exist in almost every country; however, researchers focused less on slums’ crumbled infrastructure, crimes, and other social problems; however, few kinds of research studies covered the adverse impact on the property value. This paper plans to seek the effects of rural area migrants on Nanjing City in response to the late 1970 economic reform implementation as they aimed to extract benefits of reforms offering enhanced economic opportunities, higher rate of income and employment, and comprehensive social benefits. This study examined the negativity of urban villages on the surrounding area valuation and its impact on residential properties. The results of this study specified an adverse effect of urban villages on the value of nearby apartments; however, residential units closer to these villages experienced the worst impact compared to the residential apartments located far away. The findings revealed that urban villages' neighborhood negatively influences home selling value when compared with other houses located far away. This study is helpful for government officials and policymakers to resolve urban villages' issues.
It is important to reduce the building load and downsize the heat source equipment capacity during construction or renovation carried out toward the achievement of carbon neutrality by 2050 in Japan. ...However, this sometimes results in the oversizing of the heat source equipment capacity, despite the fact that designers are engaged in the implementation of safety designs while attempting to balance between cost and risk. This study investigated the simultaneous usage ratio of heating based on occupant behavior in an apartment building with the aim of optimizing this capacity. This ratio was defined as a peak load-based approach rather than simultaneity based on the number of people using the system. First, the analysis was conducted for the heating load characteristics for each dwelling unit and each household composition. The subject of this case study was an apartment building located in Sapporo, Japan. Based on these data, a method for creating the curve of the simultaneous usage ratio to avoid a combinatorial explosion was suggested. As a result, the ratio created for about 200 dwelling units was 53.6% in an apartment building and generally stabilized when the number of dwelling units exceeded 30. Finally, a case study was attempted to analyze the influence of changes in household composition on the ratio. If the method proposed in this study for creating the curve of simultaneous usage ratios were to be applied in not only this case study but also in case studies of non-residential buildings such as offices, new results about the curves of ratios that differ from those of apartment buildings could be obtained. Therefore, this case study provides a methodology for statistically quantifying the simultaneous usage ratio as one of the factors in determining the appropriate heat source equipment capacity in the design stage.
Arriving migrants of middle-class backgrounds increasingly establish themselves in high-rise apartments of densifying cities of the Global North through the private rental market or first ...homeownership. From their transient and elevated homes, transnational migrants find themselves vacillating between a desire to perform the archetype of the successful migrant livelihood and the realities of metropolitan vertical living. Memories and narratives of life ‘back home’ shape practices and relationships that enable them to put down roots. Yet high-rise housing, with its socio-material implications, mediates migrants’ everyday experiences in unique ways. This article investigates transnational migrants’ ambivalent feelings of ‘home’ in two verticalising cities, London and Melbourne. Drawing on affect- and practice-theoretical approaches to emotions and on the geographies of home, I argue that ambivalence enables migrants to habituate to the transience of their high-rise housing situation. Through interviews with 42 transnational migrants of diverse nationalities and socio-economic backgrounds, I analyse two registers of ambivalence as they unfolded in migrants’ narratives of high-rise housing. In the apartment, migrants’ ambivalent sensations revealed the embodied transience of transnational homemaking. In the vertical development, migrant’s ambivalent attachments unveiled their negotiated and intermittent feelings of belonging. Given these differential registers of ambivalence, I demonstrate that migrants are unevenly positioned to adjust to their vertical homes. I conclude by suggesting that ambivalence helps in further conceptualising the lived experience of high-rise housing, and that a more nuanced understanding of emotions is needed to envisage prospects for migrants’ livelihoods in apartments in the contemporary city.
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