Exploring the Adequacy of Massive Constructed Public Housing in China

Xiaolong Gan,Tao Wen,Jian Zuo,Yujuan She

doi:10.3390/su11071949

Abstract

Public housing programs are an effective strategy to provide adequate housing, not only in developed countries, but also developing countries. This study holistically investigates the sitting occupants’ perception of adequate housing towards their public housing units using Chongqing, a typical city in western China, as a case study. Results showed that generally, the public rental housing (PRH) programs were perceived to be adequate by their residents in the estates sampled. The components of neighborhood environment, housing unit, and affordability were the top three factors affecting the overall housing adequacy. The importance of physical aspects as well as the nonphysical aspects of adequate housing is likely to change according to their residential purpose. Therefore, the residential purpose of residents should be taken into consideration when planning the physical and nonphysical elements of public housing programs. Meanwhile, socioeconomic characteristics of age, family income, family members, residence length, and housing types have significant effects on overall housing adequacy and its components. These findings shed some useful insights on the sustainable development of public housing in China and provide a useful reference for future public housing developments in developing countries. The provision of adequate housing also helps to attract and retain talent, which consequently improves the competitiveness of the city.

Highlights

Adequate housing refers to housing that is fundamental in meeting the physiological, psychological, health, and security needs of occupants [1]
Based on the standardized beta coefficient presenting the relative influence in predicting the overall housing adequacy, the most influential aspect is the neighborhood environment, accounting for about 40% of the variance, followed by housing unit and affordability, with nearly 18% and 10% of the variance, respectively
As previous studies mainly focused on the physical aspects and overlooked the nonphysical aspects, this study aims to fill this knowledge gap by enquiring about the level of housing adequacy of public housing

Summary

Introduction

Adequate housing refers to housing that is fundamental in meeting the physiological, psychological, health, and security needs of occupants [1]. It serves as the genesis of other necessities of life, such as education and good health, and is of great importance regarding fundamental human rights [2]. To achieve the goal of adequate housing, one of the targets in the Millennium Declarations, an enabling strategy for the improvement of slum dwellings has been promoted by the UN-Habitat since the late 1980s [3]. Public housing is often constructed in an economic and timely manner without taking residents’ needs and aspirations into consideration. According to Turok [5], a focus on delivering bricks and mortar can become a numbers game that relegates the qualities of housing, and inadequacy has been tagged as a common characteristic of public housing [1]

Objectives

Findings

Discussion

Conclusion