Housing and Satisfaction With Environment in Singapore

Abstract

Singapore is a city state with 80 percent of the population classified as urban; of these 35 percent live in high-rise flats administered and constructed by the government around the perimeter of the central area. A further 40 percent live in crowded conditions in the central area itself. In seeking to evaluate the impact of the government's housing policy on people's satisfaction with their urban environment, two sample populations, one residing in government housing and the other in the old central row and tenement housing area of the city were surveyed. The data were subject to factor analysis' and the findings revealed that the form of housing per se had little effect on residents' satisfaction with their environment. Before concluding that housing had no impact, however, specific dimensions of housing such as density, size of dwelling, and household size would need to be examined in more detail than was possible in the present study.