Adequate Housing and COVID-19: Assessing the Potential for Value Creation through the Project

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has profoundly affected the relationship between people’s behaviors and residential spaces, bringing to public and academic attention, on the one hand, the exacerbation of pre-existing problems and, on the other, the potential of spaces, such as communal gardens and apartment-block terraces, to become important resources of sociability or privacy. Overall, this raises the question of how to assess the responsiveness of the existing residential stock to needs that transcend the traditional concept of housing adequacy—e.g., the need for adaptable, open, and livable spaces. This research moves from the assumption that underused spaces in residential neighborhoods represent a crucial asset for creating new economic and social values through architectural and urban projects. Consequently, moving from an in-depth observation of a selection of public housing buildings in Turin as a paradigmatic case study, the aim is to explore the potential for the adaptive reuse of residential spaces at different scales—from the apartment to the neighborhoods—highlighting the implications for design. In doing so, the paper puts forward a methodological approach, which widens the way housing adequacy is normally assessed, by focusing on the possibility of transformation of often neglected spatial resources.

Designing value creation. Towards a transformation of peripheral neighbourhoods

“…The limitations imposed by the pandemic have first of all imposed a high degree of adapt-abitudini ed usi, trasformandosi in luogo di lavoro, formazione, tempo libero. Muovendosi verso la riapertura, sono quindi emerse sempre più marcatamente alcune esigenze complementari alla casa stessa, riscontrabili nella nuova centralità assunta dalla dimensione di prossimità e socialità del contesto e dei servizi legati all'abitare (Florida et al, 2021;Quaglio et al, 2021). Emerge, ad esempio, non solo una domanda di spazi aperti privati, come terrazzi e giardini, ma anche una tendenza a prediligere la vicinanza di spazi verdi comuni o pubblici.…”

“…In the phases of maximum restriction, the home has become the symbol of a change in habits and uses, transforming itself into a place of work, training, leisure. Moving towards reopening, some complementary needs to the house itself have therefore emerged more and more markedly, which can be found in the new centrality assumed by the proximity and social dimension of the context and of the services linked to living (Florida et al, 2021;Quaglio et al, 2021). There is, for example, not only a demand for private open spaces, such as terraces and gardens, but also a tendency to prefer the proximity of common or public green spaces.…”

“…Questi spazi accessori o condivisi possono infatti acquisire valore in base alla loro flessibilità e adattabilità a diversi usi, anche a costi anche molto bassi. In questo senso, l'idea che si intende suggerire è che le tecniche di valutazione attuale non sempre permettono di cogliere l'adeguatezza di uno spazio abitativo in modo esaustivo, non considerando pienamente gli aspetti che stanno acquisendo sempre più importanza quali la sostenibilità sociale e la reale rispondenza a una domanda concreta di spazi e funzioni (Leupen, 2006;Power and Roger, 2020;Quaglio et al, 2021). Come è stato messo in evidenza dalla pandemia, le esigenze possono cambiare rapidamente e un intervento di trasformazione, per housing complexes or those belonging to a single managing entity.…”

“…of the projects to actually meet a concrete demand for space and functions (Leupen, 2006;Power and Roger, 2020;Quaglio et al, 2021). As the pandemic has highlighted, needs can change rapidly and a transformation intervention, in order to gain value, should at the same time aim to respond as best as possible to current requirements and ensure a high level of flexibility to adapt to unpredictable conditions.…”

Can Homes Affect Well-Being? A Scoping Review among Housing Conditions, Indoor Environmental Quality, and Mental Health Outcomes

“…The authors focused the attention on residential settings by studying which factors characterized them most. From the existing literature, the authors found the relevance of the following five sub-domains [ 25 , 26 , 27 ]: House type, age, and floor levels: Such as the apartment/flat layout, shared houses, typology of rooms, condominiums, flats, detached houses, their construction year, floor levels, etc. ; Housing qualities: Such as number of bedrooms, type of apertures, spaces’ dimensioning, the presence of structural problems, type of air system, problems of condensation, energy efficiency retrofits, etc.…”