Where do People Interact in High-rise Apartment Buildings? Exploring the Influence of Personal and Neighborhood Characteristics.

Linh Nguyen,Pauline Van Den Berg,Masi Mohammadi,Astrid Kemperman

doi:10.3390/ijerph17134619

Abstract

Early studies conclude that high-rise apartment buildings present challenges for people’s quality of life, resulting in social isolation, social annoyance and anonymity for residents. Nevertheless, empirical research into factors supporting social interaction in high-rise apartment buildings is still scarce. This study aims to investigate how often and where people in high-rise neighborhoods interact, and how this is affected by personal and neighborhoods characteristics. A mixture of both quantitative and qualitative methods was used including social interaction diaries and questionnaires among 274 residents, in-depth interviews with 45 residents and objective measurement of the physical environments in four high-rise apartment buildings for low in-income people in Hanoi, Vietnam. Results demonstrate that social interaction is influenced by a number of personal and neighborhood characteristics. Furthermore, most social interactions—also gathering and accompanying playing children—take place in the circulation areas of the apartment buildings. However, the use of these spaces for different purposes of interaction is found to have negative impact on people’s privacy, the feeling of safety and cleanliness of the shared spaces. The findings of this study provide information for planners and designers on how to design and improve high-rise apartment buildings that support social interaction.

Highlights

Many studies have focused on social aspects of residential areas in modern cities
In order to understand the social interaction in the neighborhood, an interaction diary was developed following the social interaction diary method proposed by Van den Berg et al (2015) [55]
Descriptive statistics were presented based on questionnaires and interaction diary data collected from 274 respondents in four different high-rise apartment buildings and neighborhoods for low-income people in the city of

Summary

Introduction

Many studies have focused on social aspects of residential areas in modern cities. These studies have pointed out that social interaction is a very important factor of a community. As urban populations continue to grow and space is limited, vertical buildings play an important role in the city development. Specific studies on high-rise apartment buildings conclude that they ignore the needs and lifestyle habits of their residents [5,6]. Crowding in high-rise buildings makes it difficult to control social interaction [8] which may isolate people from each other [9]. People living in high-rise buildings are considered to have weaker social relationships, either with their fellow neighbors and/or

Methods

Results

Conclusion