Abstract
Sedentary lifestyle is a major cause of several non-communicable killer diseases globally. However, there is limited understanding of how the design and planning of residential buildings can help in curbing sedentary lifestyle among urban population in the developing countries. This research investigated the spatial layout of residential buildings and its influence on sedentary lifestyle of the occupants in Enugu metropolis in southeast Nigeria. A questionnaire survey of 400 residents and evaluation of the active design features of the floor plans of their residential buildings were conducted in the study area. The data were analysed using descriptive statistics, ANOVA, Duncan multiple comparison test, and thematic content analysis. The residential buildings were found to have the traditional house and western style house layouts. Although the results indicated that residents spent about 90% of the time at home on sedentary activity, those living in buildings with traditional house layout were found to spend the least time on sedentary activity compared to those in dwelling units with western style house layout pattern. The results of Duncan multiple comparison test revealed that residents in house layouts where the conveniences are separated from the sleeping place or lounge, spent significantly lower time on sedentary activity such as sitting, while the reverse was the case for light activity like standing. The findings of this research are instructive in revealing that when it comes to active design, the traditional house layout pattern appears to have advantage over the modern or western style. It is therefore recommended that to achieve residential design that promotes physical activity among occupants, architects and other professionals involved in housing development should consider the adoption of the traditional layout concept in the design of future homes in the study area and beyond.
Highlights
Knowledge on the relationship between human health and the indoor environment has continued to evolve as evidence has continued to accumulate on how the lack of physical activity has become a major contributor to some chronic and non-communicable diseases across the world
This study explored the spatial design of residential building types and its influence on sedentary lifestyle of the occupants in Enugu metropolis in southeast Nigeria
It can be concluded that the residents sampled in the survey spent around 90% of the time at home on sedentary activity such as siting, the layout of residential buildings patterned after the traditional house design concept encouraged more physical activity among the occupants than those patterned after the modern or western style house layout pattern
Summary
Knowledge on the relationship between human health and the indoor environment has continued to evolve as evidence has continued to accumulate on how the lack of physical activity has become a major contributor to some chronic and non-communicable diseases across the world. This has become more pronounced than before as studies have shown that a high proportion of urban residents in different regions of the world spend around 90% of their time indoors either at home or at work [1,2,3]. In view of the foregoing, authors have argued that the health risk directly or indirectly associated with sedentary behaviour has informed increasing research on architectural design interventions for curbing sedentary lifestyle among the population [18]
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