Residential design affecting dimensions of equity

ABSTRACT: In Sweden social sustainability perspectives on housing design are rare, this strikes the group of weaker households. Due to the present housing shortage a dwelling providing a qualitative space for every-day life is not a realistic alternative for many households. The groups of households that not have the economical strength to involve in the housing market have little power to change their residential situation. The housing market focus on the limited group of buyers and the alternative, the rental apartment, implies years of abeyance in a que-system to get hold of an apartment. Meanwhile the on going demographic transformation challenges existing residential design and the design practice in turn tends to employ a narrow perspective on household constructions and residential use. The research work is focused on residential usability (flexibility) and how this can affect social sustainability dimensions in a residential situation. It also focuses on how social sustainability issues can be activated into the practice of residential floor plan design. The methodological approach is based on a mixed method research where qualitative, empirical studies and research by design are employed. The work embrace a theoretical perspective based on assumptions from Schneider and Till. Findings from the research show that flexibility in residential design represents an important factor in the realisation of a sustainable society. A salient finding is that flexible space can provide more equitable residential solutions as the extended spatial capacity can provide qualitative residential situations for diverse households during a residential process. This paper concentrates on the magnitude of flexible space as an agent for the dimension of equity, presenting parts of the work with empirical studies. The continuing research intends to delve deeper into the question of residential usability and social sustainability from the perspective of time and the residential process

Dwelling in time: Studies on life course spatial adaptability

The ongoing demographic transformation entails profound changes in population structures and implies constantly renewed needs and requests for different apartment space configurations. This challenges the field of design and calls for more adequate apartment solutions for a sustainable urban future. However, current design does not meet this challenge. Rather it imposes a conventional attitude as furthermore the housing market, dominated by a commercialized lifestyle focus, appears to ignore the question of long-term resilience. This dictates conditions for residential quality of life, in particular regarding issues of social sustainability, as households often lack the possibility to adapt their homes according to every day needs and long-term life project aspirations. The situation calls for an urgent future realization of a more resilient housing stock. The thesis addresses the issue of adaptable apartment space and how this can respond to the household’s changing spatial needs within an extended life course frame. The aim has been to investigate social dimensions of housing conditions and how adaptability can contribute to enhanced sustainability.The methodological approach consists of a qualitative research using a mix of methods, with empirical studies of living situations combined with research by design in the master studio MPARC Housing Invention. The empirical studies consist of enquiries and observations on consecutive dwelling situations effectuated throughout extensive interviews and floor plan registrations. The master studio design work has provided investigations of adaptable apartment design projects of multi-family residential buildings. The research has been part of the transdisciplinary knowledge platform Positive Footprint Housinginitiated by Riksbyggen EF, where in parallel the experimental housing project brf Viva has been unfolded, enabling a full-scale research on solutions of adaptable apartments. \ua0\ua0\ua0\ua0\ua0\ua0\ua0\ua0\ua0\ua0\ua0 The research findings show that adaptable space can provide vital support in family life course processes. It enables people to remain in their neighbourhood and to preserve valuable social qualities. It can also increase the possibilities to exercise power over the planning and future transformation of a household’s living situation. Spatial adaptability is thus found to be a neglected but most relevant factor for the future design of sustainable apartments

Utvärdering av stadsdelen Aranäs i Kungsbacka

Hur blev det sen? Alltför sällan finns det tid eller intresse för arkitekter och planerare att återvända till gjorda projekt för att undersöka hur det blev. Alla diskussioner om krav och regler, ambitionen att skapa bra bostäder och bostadsområden, mötet med de ekonomiska ramarna – hur togs det emot av de boende? Den här rapporten är ett resultat av att Utvecklingsgruppen for samhällsplanering, i Kungsbacka kommun, tog initiativ till utvecklingen av en metod för utvärderingar. Kungsbacka kommun och i synnerhet Kungsbacka stad växer snabbt och gruppen ansåg att det var viktigt att kunna utvärdera genomförda bostadsbyggnadsprojekt och ta med vunna erfarenheter till kommande projekt. Hur bygger vi en fungerande attraktiv stad och hur bygger vi den för alla och med platser där människor vill vara? Den här är en rapport om en utvärdering av Aranäs, en ny stadsdel intill Kungsbacka gamla stadskärna. Utvärderingen genomfördes 2011-2012 och omfattas av djupintervjuer och en enkät som delats ut till samtliga boende. Materialet har sedan sammanställts digitalt och presenteras i diagram, kommentarer och en sammanfattande värderos. I samband med utvärderingen har också en metod för utvärderingar tagits fram. Metoden är tänkt att användas i kommande utvärderingar av nya bostadsomraden i Kungsbacka stad. Utvärderingen är gjord av Chalmersforskarna Anna Braide Eriksson och Ola Nylander som är verksamma som doktorand respektive professor på Institutionen för Arkitektur. De har tidigare gjort bostadsundersökningar för Hyresgästföreningen och för allmännyttan i Göteborg. Arbetets resultat vänder sig till politiker och tjänsteman som jobbar med samhällsplanering, men också till fastighetsägare, byggare och boende i kommunen

Sustainable Design, Innovation, and Climate Change: Design Developer Competition as Governance and Response to Future Challenges

The paper discusses a design developer competition in Sweden. The competition is organized by the Norrk\uf6ping municipality and has been conducted as a joint effort by the public authority, academia, and private companies. The task was to design and build rental apartments. The winning designs are intended to be implemented in an agreement between the developer and the municipality. The paper will focus on the benefits and drawbacks of early steering in housing design through developing a research-supported competition program for sustainable design and innovative solutions for reducing energy use and climate impact, including the response to these challenges by the winning design team.Steering PrinciplesThe paper adopts a simple model of municipal governance for the competition process. The model is based on four principles. The first is steering by competitor (design team). The organizer has invited companies to submit expressions of interest along with reference projects and company information, working methods, and an organizational structure for the project indicating professional responsibility for architecture, energy, and climate impact. After prequalification, five out of twelve multidisciplinary design teams were selected for the competition. The second principle is steering by competition program. In this case, the municipality requires the selected design teams to produce design proposals according to a competition program that specifies objectives, delivery demands, and judging criteria. Research-based appendices have been added for descript-tions of design strategies that support social sustainability, templates for making climate declarations and presentations of energy solutions, information on circularity (including recycling), and innovative aspects of the proposal. The third principle is steering by design. The jury identifies the overall best solution. Two external experts have been added to a jury of in-house professionals (civil servants) employed at the municipality. The power of picking a winner is thus shared with “outsiders.” The developer behind the winning design will be granted access to the site according to the competition program and can implement the proposal after agreement with a municipality. A land allocation agreement has been signed. The resulting contract to transfer ownership of the site to the winning developer is not included in this study.Aim and ResultThe paper has an explorative approach. The aim is to describe and critically examine the first steps in a design developer competition: 1) invitation and prequalification, 2) programming the compe-tition task and constructing design teams, and 3) identifying good solutions and articulating the motivation for the selection of the winning design. The findings in the case study are presented in nine specific conclusions from the process of inviting and selcting design teams to programming the competition and eventually singling out the proposal the the best overall solution. Regarding climate footprint, energy, circularity, and design for flexible apartments, the competition can be seen as successful

Innovativ lokal bostadsutveckling - markanvisningskonkurrenser som professionellt laboratorium

Bostadsbyggande i Sverige \ue4r en utmanande klimatfr\ue5ga med tydliga kopplingar till kostnadsutvecklingen och risker av att bygga socialt segregerade omr\ue5den. Detta projekts centrala id\ue9 \ue4r att markanvisningst\ue4vlingar kan anv\ue4ndas som ett innovativt s\ue4tt att m\uf6ta dessa utmaningar. Markanvisningar \ue4r en t\ue4vlingsform f\uf6r arkitektur, byggande och planering som anv\ue4nds av kommuner f\uf6r att utveckla och genomf\uf6ra projekt p\ue5 offentligt \ue4gd mark

Housing Inventions 2012, social h\ue5llbarhet och bostadsutformning, Positive Footprint Housing

Rapporten inneh\ue5ller en sammanst\ue4llning av studentprojekt fr\ue5n masterstudion Housing Inventions 2012, Institutionen f\uf6r Arkitektur, Chalmers tekniska h\uf6gskola. Arbetet i studion utg\uf6r en del av ett licentiatarbete, som \ue4r en del av Positive Footprint Housing projektet, ett forskningsprojekt med fokus p\ue5 h\ue5llbara bostadsl\uf6sningar som \ue4r ett samarbete mellan bla. Riksbyggen, G\uf6teborgs Universitet, Johannebergs Science park och Chalmers tekniska h\uf6gskola. Studenterna i studion har arbetat med fr\ue5gor om social h\ue5llbarhet i en bostadskontext. Rapporten sammanst\ue4ller delar av de fr\ue5gest\ue4llningar som tagits upp under studioarbetet och presenterar studentprojekten

Housing Inventions 2013, Social h\ue5llbarhet och bostadsutformning, Positive Footprint Housing

Rapporten inneh\ue5ller en sammanst\ue4llning av studentprojekt fr\ue5n masterstudion Housing Inventions 2013, Institutionen f\uf6r Arkitektur, Chalmers tekniska h\uf6gskola. Arbetet i studion utg\uf6r en del av ett licentiatarbete, som \ue4r en del av Positive Footprint Housing projektet, ett forskningsprojekt med fokus p\ue5 h\ue5llbara bostadsl\uf6sningar som \ue4r ett samarbete mellan bla. Riksbyggen, G\uf6teborgs Universitet, Johannebergs Science park och Chalmers tekniska h\uf6gskola. Studenterna i studion har arbetat med fr\ue5gor om social h\ue5llbarhet i en bostadskontext. Rapporten sammanst\ue4ller delar av de fr\ue5gest\ue4llningar som tagits upp under studioarbetet och presenterar studentprojekten

Adaptability of apartments- A bottom up concern: Two narratives of life course spatial adaptability

The ongoing demographic transformation calls for dwelling solutions with a wide capacity to host diverse dwelling needs for the present as well as for the future. Adaptable apartments can, in this context, be one step towards more sustainable design solutions, but adaptable design solutions have a relatively small role in the current Swedish dwelling design context. Focus is instead on function-defined rooms and rational and small apartments, with a “mobility with changed spatial needs” concept, where the household is expected to move when the living situation changes. The direction taken today towards small rational apartments is well motivated as it promotes affordable dwellings, but critical social qualities are at the same time endangered. The research findings presented in this chapter, based on a qualitative interview study, show that adaptable space can provide vital support in family life course processes. It enables people to remain in their neighborhood and to preserve valuable social qualities. It can also increase the opportunities to exercise more influence over the planning and future transformation of a household’s living situation. But what can be regarded as more extraordinary is the household’s strong incentive to stay in the apartment and use the space available in whatever way they can to adapt it to their changing spatial needs. Adaptable dwelling space becomes a bottom-up concern not sufficiently attended to by residential design practice

Residential usability and social sustainability, Towards a paradigm shift within housing design?

ABSTRACTThe ongoing demographic transformation poses challenges for the field of residential design. Meanwhile rules and regulations maintain a conventional approach to the subject. The housing market is considering the home as a commercialized lifestyle question, not focusing on the long-term residential resilience of the housing stock. These preconditions imply a misfit between accelerating diversity in articulated consumer preferences and appropriate offers in the housing market. This situation impacts the quality of life in housing, in particular regarding issues of social sustainability. In order to obtain a sustainable housing stock we need to develop a new focus and new perspectives for the design professions. This study constitutes a part of a larger research and development experimental project, the Positive Footprint Housing project. This licentiate thesis concentrates on the notion of residential usability and how it relates to aspects of social sustainability. It also focuses on how these issues can be incorporated into the practice of residential design. The mixed methodological approach is based on the combination of studies of residential life situations with non-directed interviews and research by design in master studios. The work adopts a theoretical perspective presented by Schneider and Till and tests the hypothesis of residential usability as a critical precondition for socially sustainable residential processes. Findings from the research show that enhanced usability in residential design represents an important factor in the realisation of a sustainable society. A main result is the elaboration of a model for implementing social sustainability aspects in the design work in order to promote future housing design innovations. Further research intends to address the complexity of residential user participation and accompanying social consequences.Keywords: residential design, residential usability, flexibility, adaptability, alterability, social sustainability, residential process, user participation, demographic transformatio