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Psychological needs and human wellbeing are aspects of sustainability that urgently need to be reconsidered in architecture. Too often, the concept of sustainability is connected to quantitative building performance, without enough consideration of how people use and enjoy spaces and how their wellbeing is influenced by their environment. This pape...
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... Additionally, the concept of critical regionalism in architecture underscores the importance of balancing global architectural language with local climate and culture to create meaningful and contextually relevant designs [6]. Moreover, social sustainability in architecture is being redefined to encompass elements like psychological needs and human wellbeing, stressing the necessity of a comprehensive approach to sustainability in architectural design [7]. In addition, incorporating environment-behavior knowledge specific to cultural contexts in architectural design can enhance social aspects of wellbeing [8]. ...
Human health and wellbeing in the field of design have been a rising focus in the last decade due to the growing recognition of the built environment’s impact on occupant health and productivity. This study aims to assess the implementation of wellbeing rating systems among architectural firms for commercial office buildings, focusing on designers’ perceptions, challenges, and experiences in incorporating these systems. A mixed-methods approach will be used, combining quantitative surveys and qualitative interviews to gather data from a sample of designers working on commercial office building projects. The quantitative survey will assess designers’ knowledge of wellbeing rating systems. The qualitative interviews will investigate designers’ understanding and awareness of wellbeing rating systems, motivations for using them, and challenges they face during implementation. This study aims to identify potential areas for improvement and recommend strategies to enhance the successful integration of wellbeing rating systems into design practices, ultimately contributing to healthier and more sustainable commercial buildings. Also, findings reveal that 36% of architectural firms in Riyadh expressed an interest in adopting the WELL Building Standard (WELL). Contributing to the existing body of knowledge by shedding light on the level of adoption of wellbeing rating systems among designers in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, providing current challenges and strategies recommendations that are essential in shaping building regulations, guidelines, and tools related to occupant wellbeing.
... She described social needs and values for living environments divided into contact, privacy, experiences, purposefulness, play, orientation, identification, and aesthetics (Gehl, I. 1971). These eight psychological needs that Gehl identified, conceptualise a human-friendly design that can also be applied in today's discussion on social sustainability, and are discussed by Peters (Peters, 2016). ...
... Contemporary planning is dominated by the sustainability-paradigm, but the three dimensions (environmental, social, and economic sustainability) are not equally prominent in the planning practice (Peters, 2016;Wolbring & Lisitza, 2017). Urban development has a clear economic driving force, in today's planning paradigm that is influenced by neoliberal currents of ideas. ...
... Planning ideals such as the 15-minutes city or that citizens should walk or bicycle to meet all basic daily needs (Moreno et al., 2021;City of Portland, 2009) are not thought through with regard to human diversity (Wolbring & Lisitza, 2017). The conflicts of the planners' triangle are more important than ever to address, specifically the one between social justice and environmental protection (Campbell, 2016;Peters, 2016). This needs to be done both to reach sustainability and to adjust the gap between persons' abilities and the environmental affordances (Lid, 2013;Begnum, 2020). ...
This thesis explores how more equal and inclusive living environments can be achieved by using Universal Design (UD) to incorporate human diversity in all stages of planning and construction.
The ongoing exclusion of persons with disabilities from the built environment does not result from a lack of knowledge on how to remedy existing obstacles nor of how to avoid creating new ones. Other reasons must be found.
The aim of the thesis is to provide new knowledge and solutions regarding how UD can be implemented in urban development and the built environment, including the whole process from vision to outcome. The thesis is based on three studies, which resulted in five papers. The theoretical framework involves conditions that affect the planning and construction processes of today: forms of governance, the view of the users of the built environment and how they are categorised, choices and priorities in the planning process, and theories of UD.
Triangulation was used in the studies as a research strategy, to test the validity and increase the reliability of the findings. The studies included a document study, a multiple case study, semi-structured interviews, workshops and go-along interviews in three cities.
The findings show numerous factors that influence the conditions for how human diversity is included or not in urban development processes. These factors include the norms and categorisations of the users, current urban building trends and planning practices. Examples show how Universal Design can be implemented in the entire process – from idea to finished construction. The findings show the need
for several changes. All studies demonstrate the importance of protecting significant societal goals throughout planning and construction processes. This indicates that public actors must take greater responsibility to lead planning processes and follow up on the results.
The municipalities are at the forefront of defending social goals and operationalising conventions that Sweden as a nation has undertaken to follow, an example being the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Being able to access and use the built environment is a fundamental human right.
... Sustainable development in the built environment, often known as sustainable architecture, is guided by three fundamental concepts: Ecological, socio-cultural, and economic. A number of studies have demonstrated the importance of social sustainability for sustainable urban development in the fields of architectural design and urban planning (Bahrami, 2016;Peters, 2016;Andersen and Røe, 2017;Filep and Thompson-Fawcett, 2020;Aurigi and Odendaal, 2021;Zoranić, 2021). The results of the other two studies indicate that culture demonstrates change and sustainability as a result of the differentiation of the aspects that make up the culture; and architecture, which reflects the culture (Memmott and Keys, 2015;Ertaş and Taş, 2017). ...
... The majority of studies in this group use a qualitative case study technique that includes tools from environmental behavior studies such as observation, interviewing, surveys, and descriptive analysis (Stamps, 2011;Sotoudeh, 2012Sotoudeh, , 2013Sotoudeh and Abdullah, 2013;Salama, 2014;Zhou and Zhang, 2015;Lambe and Dongre, 2016;Peters, 2016;Saradj, 2016;AboWardah, 2017;Kanesh et al., 2017;Kanesh et al., 2018;Filep and Thompson-Fawcett, 2020;Oranratmanee, 2020;Parvizi, 2020;Gharehbaglou and Ardabilchi, 2021;Kaboli et al., 2021;Samsudin et al., 2021;AlFadalat and Al-Azhari, 2022;Saad, 2022;Abedi and Iravani, 2015;Skaboni and Pourjafar, 2017;Rahimi et al., 2021;Choi and Park, 2021). In a different way, some case studies use a qualitative contentbased strategy for understanding data, as well as a descriptive analytical method and a systematic analysis approach (Lee and Lee, 2014;Ozorhon, 2014, 2015;Laurens and Salura, 2015;Rıza and Doraltı, 2015;Bahrami, 2016;Cetin, 2017;Bhagyajit Raval et al., 2020;Jagxhiu, 2020;Costa and Rosado, 2021;Gharehbaglou et al., 2019;Seyedeh Masoumeh Fotokian, 2022;Abuorf and Wafi, 2020;Afsari and Yousefi, 2020;Karrimi, et al., 2020). ...
... Several studies have shown that social sustainability is significant for sustainable urban development in the field of architectural design and urban planning (Bahrami, 2016;Peters, 2016;Andersen and Røe, 2017;Filep and Thompson-Fawcett, 2020;Aurigi and Odendaal, 2021;Zoranić, 2021). ...
... This was in parallel with the seminal study of her architect and urbanist husband, Jan Gehl, Life Between Buildings. Her book has never been translated, however (Peters 2016). She made the same kind of observations of human behaviour, just in the semi-public spaces between housing blocks, whereas her husband looked at the streets and squares of the Copenhagen city centre. ...
... The capacity of balconies to improve the indoor thermal environment has been evidenced (Alonso et al. 2019;Antoniou & Yannas 2017;Barrio et al. 2013;Camponovo et al. 2006;Mohamed et al. 2009;Tsichritzis 2015). A well-designed and spacious balcony can act as a substitute for a private garden or courtyard (Gray 2014;Levitt & McCafferty 2019), thereby helping to fulfil psychological needs for different spatial experiences and purposefulness (Peters 2016). The lockdown experience intensified the discussion about the need for access to outdoor spaces and nature for mental wellbeing during pandemics (Pouso et al. 2021; Housing Europe 2021). ...
The role of a balcony is well recognised in the history of urban living. If designed carefully, balconies fit certain spatial and normative contexts and respond to residents’ needs. This study examines how balconies are used and what variables influence the variety and intensity of their usage. A non-participatory observation of 3000 balconies in Wrocław, Poland, was followed by interviews with relevant stakeholders. Key questions were: How do people adapt balconies to their personal needs and for what types of activities do they use balconies? Interviews (n = 41) were conducted with developers’ representatives, estates agents, architects and residents. Results indicate what kind of physical features (size, dimensions) or contextual features (orientation, exposure, community pattern) affect balconies’ usage. The residents’ activities performed on balconies and type of furniture are presented: their features, estate characteristics and surrounding context. Interviews with industry stakeholders reveal that developers and designers have a poor understanding of how balconies are actually used: their assumptions are that balconies are used for leisure and not for other functions. This research identifies and confirms the variety of balconies’ functions, and the most crucial features of well-designed balconies are adaptability and responsiveness to context.
... This took off in the 1960s with Jane Jacobs' criticism of modernist renewal projects in residential areas of New York (Jacobs 1961). Jacobs was followed by scholars of architecture (Newman 1972;Gehl 1971b), criminology (Jeffery 1971) and psychology (Gehl 1971a), whose research focused on how urban space and design affect residents' mental states in relation to fear, stress, social exclusion, crime, and happiness, as well as their use of public space. Since then, an increasing number of urban studies have extended this field of knowledge, refined by computer-generated isovists, GPS tracking of movements, crowd-sourcing using smartphones, and recently direct measurements of people's responses to urban environments by using sensor-wristbands to monitor heart rates and skin conductance (Knöll et al. 2018;König and Schneider 2014). ...
This paper presents a typomorphological analysis of train station neighbourhoods to examine passengers’ fear of crime at the station in relation to the surrounding urban form. The study defines station neighbourhood types in the Copenhagen Metropolitan area within the pedestrian catchment area, an 800 m (1/2 mile) radius around the 84 S-train stations. The types are defined through a typomorphological analysis based on urban parameters related to Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) and Placemaking. The types are compared with 9 years of passenger surveys of fear of crime at these stations. The analysis establishes three dominant station neighbourhood types and demonstrates the relationship between them and passengers’ fear of crime at the stations. The research underlines the importance of the surrounding urban environment in the design and governance of train stations, and proposes a typomorphological method to identify potentials in regional planning and in upgrade of transit-oriented developments.
... Community can be connected to nature by accessing to green lungs, such as parks, gardens or playfields. The well-being of the communities is increased through employment and education opportunities within local vicinity, civics engagement and other local amenities (Peters, 2016). ...
Sustainable development is key to the strategic sustainability within a society. Sustainable neighbourhood development (SND) is a fundamental element of a sustainable community. However, SND on it own will certainly not permit all stakeholders, particularly the end-users, to efficiently address current or projected future issues that positioned beyond the extent of physical development scope. Thus, this research aims to explore whether pre-occupancyassessment criteria addresses the adaptive measures of sustainable dimension pillars (SDP) upon post-occupancy holistically. The research objective is to identify the post-occupancy sustainable criteria gap of SND. To achieve this, the research applied Stakeholders-Inclusion Approach using Post-Occupancy Evaluation Model (POEM) Handbook as measurement tool. This research seeks to measure and identify SDP gap on economic, social and environmental balance and responsive approach towards incremental improvements in SND at community and individual levels. The findings indicated that there are SDP adaptation gaps in post-occupied SND.
... 9). Some academics have been critical of the way in which this split has been institutionalised and also the manner in which the "wider debate has prioritised environmental concerns (energy use, climate change) and economic considerations (cost savings, speed of construction, short life spans for buildings)" [3] (p. 371). ...
... Some academics have been critical of the way in which this split has been institutionalised and also the manner in which the "wider debate has prioritised environmental concerns (energy use, climate change) and economic considerations (cost savings, speed of construction, short life spans for buildings)" [3] (p. 371). Despite the anthropocentric focus of the definition of sustainability [4], social sustainability is "often relegated to a default position, describing those aspects not as easily quantifiable as economic or environmental" [3] (p. 371). ...
It is widely recognised that the achievement of a sustainable built environment requires holistic design practices and approaches that are capable of balancing the varied, and often conflicting, demands of environmental, social and economic concerns. However, academics and practitioners have recently highlighted, and expressed concerns about the knowledge gap that currently exists within environmental policy, research and practice between understandings of the technical performance of buildings and their social meaning and relevance. This paper acknowledges these concerns and is developed from the author’s own direct experiences of practice-led research and active participation in design-build projects. It argues for a theoretically-informed and socially-engaged approach to built environment research, pedagogy and practice that seeks to encourage an integrative understanding of the design, realisation and use of sustainable architecture. The paper draws on the Philosophy of Technology and in particular the work of Andrew Feenberg to analyse the buildings and to propose an integrated and inclusive framework for understanding sustainable design that acknowledges not just what the built environment does, but also what it means. It also suggests that what a building means also informs what it can do, and for whom. Although the technical and social dimensions of design can be interpreted as distinct practices and are often institutionally separated, this paper argues that the realisation of sustainable design must seek a conscious interaction and interchange between these two differentiated dimensions.
ABSTRACT: We must design houses that afford homes, cultivating atmospheres that sensually and emotionally nurture thriving individuals. Mood is the psychological and physiological medium of exchange between designers and dwellers. The ability to affect people’s moods, attuning them to the overall atmosphere, represents the ultimate timeless task of meaningful architecture. In this paper, we developed an analysis and design tool to systematically explore domestic atmospheres and investigate the primary generators available to architects. We crafted the ABODE (the Atmospheric BODy Experience) matrix, embedding the twelve generators of atmosphere articulated by Peter Zumthor on the y-axis and the six atmospheric senses synthesized by Juhani Pallasmaa on the x-axis. By combining architecture, phenomenology, and biology, the ABODE matrix promotes an affect-based approach and returns the body to the center of the design process. To test this tool, we selected the Hermitage cabin designed by llabb, a Genoa-based firm founded by Luca Scardulla and Federico Robbiano. *** KEYWORDS: architecture — atmosphere — body — resonance — attunement — mood — generators of atmosphere — Peter Zumthor — Juhani Pallasmaa — llabb — Hermitage cabin
