Scholarly record

QUALITY OF LIFE WITHIN COLLECTIVE HOUSING NEIGHBOURHOODS: THE HOUSING STOCK AND THE LIVING CONDITIONS

S. Badescu, A. M. Branea, M. S. Gaman

Abstract

In recent years, the scientific community, as well as practitioners around the world, have gradually turned their attention towards the matter of life quality, both from an ecological, as well as from a socio-economic point of view – particularly in relation to the realities of the urban environment. Within contemporary cities, collective housing neighborhoods concentrate the highest densities of housing units, thus offering shelter to a large percentage of the population. These developments therefore have the largest impact on the quality of life within the urban environment and are thus increasingly studied by specialists across the world. However, while scholars concentrate fully on aspects such as accessibility and connectivity, resource and waste management, public facilities or even the physical configuration of the neighborhood and of the public space itself, the housing stock and the living conditions that the apartment buildings offer to their inhabitants are all too often ignored by the specialized literature – even though these aspects significantly influence the quality of life for individuals, whom they bear upon on a daily basis. This paper therefore proposes a theoretical study in regard to this subject, identifying the physical characteristics of the housing stock which have the greatest impact on the quality of life, as well as analyzing the way in which these aspects influence the overall well-being of individuals. Moreover, in order to further substantiate this research, the paper focuses on the study of positive examples from around the world regarding interventions on collective housing buildings and neighborhoods, identifying possible implementable measures in order to improve the existing situation. Finally, the research concentrates on the collective housing neighborhoods within the city of Timisoara, Romania, analyzing the situation of the housing stock within these developments, as well as proposing certain strategies that could, in time, lead to an increased overall level of life quality.

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