Predictors of children’s satisfaction with mass housing

ABSTRACT

This article explores the predictors of children’s satisfaction with mass housing, which were built in the context of squatter housing regeneration. The results are based on a survey of 186 nine-to-twelve-year-old children living in four mass housing sites in Ankara, Turkey. They show the specific features of the dwelling and neighborhood that were critical in predicting children’s residential satisfaction: dwelling location and size; appearance of interior design elements provided by the authority; views from the windows; proximity, quality and quantity of public open spaces; quantity of greenery; building types in the mass housing estate; external appearance of buildings in the neighborhood; safety of street crossings; the continuity, width and comfort of sidewalks; the quality of municipal services; and the number of liked people in the neighborhood. These findings are important as they help planners and designers to consider and incorporate components that contribute to an improved residential satisfaction among children.

KEYWORDS:

• Residential satisfaction
• mass housing
• urban regeneration
• squatter settlements
• children

Acknowledgement

The author would like to thank referees, Professor Fahriye Sancar and Professor Adnan Barlas for their valuable comments and suggestions and Anita Akkas for her editing.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Funding

This work is supported by two grants the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK) [grant number 114C056] and Middle East Technical University [grant number BAP-08-11-2016-041].