A View of Social Sustainability in Mass Housing Areas Through Traditional and Alternative Households

Abstract

The living conditions that differ with changes in economic, cultural, and social structures change the household structures with which the individual shares their life, as well as the individuals themselves. Therefore, in addition to traditional households (nuclear family, extended family), alternative households with different lifestyles (single parent and children, only spouses, people living alone, people sharing a house) are emerging and gradually becoming more visible. To establish a connected, strong, and healthy community and to create socially sustainable environments, the physical environment should meet the needs of all users; thus households and practices that allow people to live together with the differences of the community should be considered. To maintain social sustainability in living quarters, the diversity of households should be encouraged, and the requirements and demands should be met in mass housing areas, the preferred living environments in the 21st century. In this sense, the study focuses on the necessary social sustainability providers for different households to create a long-term and spirited community that can live together. The satisfaction level of traditional and alternative households with social sustainability criteria is determined, and whether this situation differs according to the household structure is questioned. In the research, social sustainability has been investigated through social equity (diversity, accessibility, inclusion) and community sustainability (security, social interaction, sense of place, community stability, and participation) criteria at the scale of mass housing and its immediate surroundings. The study is quantitative research. The structured questionnaire had applied to 87 residents of the complex with a face-to-face interview technique in a mass housing area in the Ümraniye district of Istanbul. The survey data was analyzed using descriptive statistics and the Mann-Whitney-U test. As a result of the analysis, diversity and participation satisfaction differed significantly according to the household structure, especially at the housing and neighborhood scale, to ensure social sustainability. This situation reveals the necessity of planning and design covering all households to ensure social sustainability in the area.