Housing Stakeholder Preferences for the “Soft” Features of Sustainable and Healthy Housing Design in the UK

Agne Prochorskaite, Chris Couch, Naglis Malys and Vida Maliene
Additional contact information
Agne Prochorskaite: Department of the Built Environment, Liverpool John Moores University, Cherie Booth Building, Byrom Street, Liverpool L3 3AF, UK
Chris Couch: School of Environmental Sciences, University of Liverpool, Jane Herdman Building, Liverpool L69 3GP, UK
Naglis Malys: School of Life Sciences, Centre for Biomolecular Science, The University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, UK
Vida Maliene: Department of the Built Environment, Liverpool John Moores University, Cherie Booth Building, Byrom Street, Liverpool L3 3AF, UK

IJERPH, 2016, vol. 13, issue 1, 1-15

Abstract: It is widely recognised that the quantity and sustainability of new homes in the UK need to increase. However, it is important that sustainable housing is regarded holistically, and not merely in environmental terms, and incorporates elements that enhance the quality of life, health and well-being of its users. This paper focuses on the “soft” features of sustainable housing, that is, the non-technological components of sustainable housing and neighbourhood design that can impact occupants’ health and well-being. Aims of the study are to ascertain the relative level of importance that key housing stakeholders attach to these features and to investigate whether the opinions of housing users and housing providers are aligned with regards to their importance. An online survey was carried out to gauge the level of importance that the key stakeholders, such as housing users, local authorities, housing associations, and developers ( n = 235), attach to these features. Results revealed that while suitable indoor space was the feature regarded as most important by all stakeholders, there were also a number of disparities in opinion between housing users and housing providers (and among the different types of providers). This implies a scope for initiatives to achieve a better alignment between housing users and providers.

Keywords: sustainable housing; quality of life; health and well-being; housing stakeholder; preference survey; soft feature (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/13/1/111/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/13/1/111/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:13:y:2016:i:1:p:111-:d:61852

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().