Living Space: The Contemporary Housing Environment as a Place for the Family

Abstract

This paper discusses housing areas from the perspective of meeting the livingneeds of families. In recent decades, significant changes have been observedin Poland both in terms of the formation of new housing complexes and insocial expectations regarding living conditions. The new housing complexesdiffer significantly from the traditional, typical ones with distinctive architectureand low-standard common spaces, commonly referred to as panel blockhousing estates. Previous research on housing environment quality generallypoints to the need to create developments that provide the highest possiblequality of life. These studies focused on the problems of one particular groupof residents, such as children, seniors or people with disabilities. However,families, which make up a significant portion of the population and are importantusers, have not been adequately addressed in urban planning studies to date.Therefore, this problem merits investigation and existing research methods orurban development concepts that can be used to evaluate residential areasshould be identified as should factors and spatio-functional characteristics ofresidential areas that can influence the creation of high-quality space for families.This study, based on a literature review, evaluated two selected developmentmodels in terms of providing optimal living conditions for families. It was foundthat current proposals may be useful in determining features of family-dedicatedspace, yet they display a range of deficiencies that should be addressed.The study’s conclusions can be used as a basis for further investigation and asrecommendations in the context of planning and urban policymaking