Obtrusive Intimacy in Multi-Owned Housing: Exploring the Impacts on Residents’ Health and Wellbeing

ABSTRACT

In Australia, densification trends and affordability issues have led to increased numbers of people living in high-density multi-owned forms of housing. These housing forms are characterized by close living arrangements, necessitating co-operation with and consideration for neighbours. In the absence of cooperation and consideration, strained relations/disputes among tenants are common, having the potential to result in a range of negative consequences for individual health and wellbeing. While most current research has focused on large-scale developments, little attention has been given to issues arising from smaller-scale multi-owned housing. Through 26 in-depth interviews with residents in smaller multi-owned housing in Adelaide and Melbourne, and drawing on the concept of obtrusive intimacy, this article explores the issue of noise in small multi-owned housing and its impacts on privacy, neighbour relations, and health and wellbeing.

KEYWORDS:

• Multi-owned housing
• strata
• privacy
• noise
• obtrusive intimacy
• health and wellbeing

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank our participants who generously shared their experiences with us.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

^1. Names are pseudonyms