37º IAHS World Congress on Housing: - Universidad de Cantabria

XXXVII <strong>IAHS</strong><strong>World</strong> <strong>Congress</strong> on HousingOctober 26 – 29, 2010, Santander, SpainCODE: 336CAN DESIGN FACILITATE COMMUNITY? HOUSINGDESIGN AND A DESIRE FOR LIGHT SOCIALITY1Ritsuko Ozaki and 2 Anne Schram1Imperial College Business SchoolImperial College Londone-mail: r.ozaki@imperial.ac.uk2Department of Architecture, Building and PlanningEindhoven University of Technologye-mail: a.l.schram@bwk.tue.nlKey words: housing design, spatial features, sense of communityAbstractHousing developments consist of a variety of building elements, objects and open spaces.Design of such features can facilitate encounters among people and convey messages aboutthe behaviour appropriate to particular space. This paper investigates how design of blocks offlats can facilitate a sense of community among residents in urban housing developments,based on a small-scale exploratory study of two housing schemes in Canary Wharf, London,UK. Community has traditionally been characterised as being bound to place, holding sharedvalues and being tight-knitted, thus evoking a feeling of nostalgia in our modern societywhich is full of uncertainty and insecurity. Today, community takes new forms: it is based onpeople’s cultural attachments, rather than their innate social orders. Community is now moreheterogeneous and is ‘occasional’ in nature. Our conclusions are that the physical design ofthe building can promote the sense of community and communal activities among residents.We also emphasise that community is sought by most of our respondents ‘on selective terms’,and as such, design also needs to reflect residents’ diverse perceptions of community.37º <strong>IAHS</strong> <strong>World</strong> <strong>Congress</strong> On Housing Science 192