Contextual Reports on Residential Satisfaction Studies from Developing Countries: Review Highlights

Abstract

Residential satisfaction, the perception of an individual regarding his residential provisions and an examination construct of the aid gotten for life fulfilment through the living dwelling and its socio-physical environment, has received a multidisciplinary investigation both in width and depth for over a long period even though not many were conducted in the developing nations until recent times. We have in this paper, briefly overviewed studies on residential satisfaction with emphasis on its determinants/predictors as reported in researches carried out in different parts of the globe. Residential satisfaction encompasses the gratification from dwelling as a unit of its features, qualities and functions as well as the attributes of the environment where the dwelling is situated; thereby comprising cognitive, affective and behavioural aspects of life. Researches, though with little exemptions, have generally reported correlations between satisfaction and socio-demographic attributes of the residents. Research outcomes have equally shown that satisfaction studies are used for predicting life satisfaction, measuring quality of life and estimating performance of housing projects. Its measurement has transcended the application of bivariate to multivariate and structural equation modelling in contemporary studies. It is however observed that the various studies on the topic have not sufficiently addressed the vacuum of establishing the predictors of this phenomenon in residential segregated urban environment rooted in violent conflicts.