Evaluation of the Human Settlements Environment of Public Housing Community: A Case Study of Guangzhou

Fan Wu,Yue Liu,Hui Yan,Ling-Hin Li,Yingyan Zeng,Yi Zhang

doi:10.3390/su12187361

Abstract

With the improvement of social housing policies and an increase in the quantity of public housing stock, issues such as poor property management service, poor housing quality, and insufficient public services remain to be resolved. This study focuses on the human settlement environments of public housing communities in Guangzhou and establishes an evaluation system containing built environments and housing environments satisfaction criteria. In our analysis, the evaluation system was modified using data collected from surveys through factor analysis, which reduced dimensions to the indoor environment, the community environment, and social relations. Moreover, multivariable regression analysis was performed to identify the differences of needs among residents with different living environments and family backgrounds. The result shows that housing area, transportation resources, and public services have met the basic needs of residents who were generally satisfied with the community environment of their public housing. However, acoustic insulation and community amenities in the city were found to be relatively poor and still have space for improvement. Further, requirements on indoor housing environments and social relations of residents living alone need more attention. Specific recommendations based on this study can be used as a reference for future public housing construction and improvements.

Highlights

With the rapid speed of urbanization globally, both housing demand and pressure in expanding urban areas of economic activities are increasing
The per capita housing area of the surveyed communities can be seen to be lower than the urban residents per capita for a living area of 35 square meters in Guangzhou, but it is still higher than the minimum requirement of 15 square meters
Among the three field layers, residents have the highest rate of satisfaction with social relations, followed by housing environment, and community environment

Summary

Introduction

With the rapid speed of urbanization globally, both housing demand and pressure in expanding urban areas of economic activities are increasing. Especially social housing in urbanized areas, is getting more and more acute since more people are being drawn to urban areas for better job opportunities. Governments around the world, including China, have established various social housing policies that involve the construction of public housing to meet the needs of low-income people living within cities who are essential for the urban economy. Public housing policy in China was first proposed in the Circular of the State Council on Further Deepening the Urban Housing System Reform in 1994. Since 2006, China has accelerated the construction of public housing in urban cities. The government has improved the housing provision system, including the renovation of rundown areas and provision of more public rental housing etc

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Conclusion