This special issue advances the understanding and implementation of housing adaptability and flexibility across a range of issues: spatial, social, environmental, economic, time and multi-use and multiuser adaptability.
The adaptability of our homes is a social, emotional and cultural issue as much as a technical or construction challenge. The need for housing adaptability and flexibility became apparent during the pandemic, when an increasing range of activities, such as working, studying, home-schooling, exercising etc., occurred in homes that were never designed for this purpose and thus ill-suited. However, the need for adaptability and flexibility is also necessary at other times during a building’s lifespan. Dwellings need to accommodate new working practices promoted by digitisation, or a changing demographic (ageing population, migration, fluctuation of household members).
Guest editors: Sofie Pelsmakers and Elanor Warwick
This special issue explores how to best adapt spaces to accommodate different and changing user needs (on a daily, seasonal, long term basis) and user generations. The papers in this special issue explore:
- Concepts of adaptability and flexibility in housing and their implications
- The potential for existing and new housing to become more adaptable over time
- Drivers and barriers to implementing housing adaptability
- How residents may overcome unadaptable spaces
- The benefits and unintended consequences
- What shapes inhabitants’ needs, perceptions and expectations for adaptable spaces
The papers in this special issue challenge policymakers, planners, clients, developers and designers to make new and existing dwellings more adaptable. This special issue makes clear both the needs and benefits that accrue from providing adaptability in housing. Moreover, it is financially viable to do so. When embarking on retrofitting strategies to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions from the housing stock, it would be wise and cost-effective to include adaption in retrofit programmes. But there is an equal justification for making the housing stock more widely adaptable – especially given the decreasing size of dwellings and changing nature of work and education. A home’s adaptive capacity supports an individual’s and community’s resilience when faced with different life events and their associated disruptions and consequences.
Table of contents
Housing adaptability: new research, emerging practices & challenges (Editorial)
S. Pelsmakers & E. Warwick
Sharing a home under lockdown in London
F. Blanc & K. Scanlon
Adapting owner-occupied dwellings in the UK: lessons for the future
T. Hipwood
Architects’ ‘enforced togetherness’: new design affordances of the home
E. Marco, M. Tahsiri, D. Sinnett & S. Oliveira
Inclusive Living: ageing, adaptations and future-proofing home
V. McCall
Balconies as adaptable spaces in apartment housing
T. Peters & S. Masoudinejad
The use of apartment balconies: context, design and social norm
M. Smektała & M. Baborska-Narożny
Residents’ views on adaptable housing: a virtual reality-based study
J. Tarpio & S. Huuhka
Lack of adaptability in Brazilian social housing: impacts on residents
S.B. Villa, P.B. Vasconcellos, K.C.R. de Bortoli, & L.B. de Araujo
Commentary
Housing Adaptability: Some Past Lessons
A. Rabeneck
Share:
Email
Latest Peer-Reviewed Journal Content
Implications of urban expansion: land, planning and housing in Lagos
B Oyalowo
Technological fascination and reluctance: gendered practices in the smart home
L K Aagaard & L V Madsen
Attuning smart home scripts to household and energy care
D Chambers
Modern methods of construction: reflections on the current research agenda [editorial]
S D Green
Masculine roles and practices in homes with photovoltaic systems
M Mechlenborg & K Gram-Hanssen
Brokering Gender Empowerment in Energy Access in the Global South
A Schiffer, M Greene, R Khalid, C Foulds, C A Vidal, M Chatterjee, S Dhar-Bhattacharjee, N Edomah, O Sule, D Palit & A N Yesutanbul
Housing adaptability: new research, emerging practices and challenges [editorial]
S Pelsmakers & E Warwick
Living in an Active Home: household dynamics and unintended consequences
F Shirani, K O’Sullivan, K Henwood, R Hale & N Pidgeon
Institutionalisation of urban climate adaptation: three municipal experiences in Spain
M Olazabal & V Castán Broto
Energy housekeeping: intersections of gender, domestic labour and technologies
R Martin
Speculation beyond technology: building scenarios through storytelling
R M Dowsett, M S Green & C F Harty
Professional judgement: an institutional logic approach to contractor tender pricing
D Jefferies & L Schweber
Emerging technologies’ impacts on ‘man caves’ and their energy demand
Y Strengers, K Dahlgren & L Nicholls
The gender of smart charging
S Pink
Fire performance and regulatory considerations with modern methods of construction
B J Meacham
Who cares? How care practices uphold the decentralised energy order
K Lucas-Healey, H Ransan- Cooper, H Temby & A W Russell
Alternatives to air-conditioning: policies, design, technologies, behaviours [editorial]
B Ford, D Mumovic & R Rawal
Benchmarking energy performance: indicators and models for Dutch housing associations
H S van der Bent, H J Visscher, A Meijer & N Mouter
Emissions from a net-zero building in India: life cycle assessment
M Jain & R Rawal
Lack of adaptability in Brazilian social housing: impacts on residents
S B Villa, P B Vasconcellos, K C R de Bortoli & L B de Araujo
Participation in domestic energy retrofit programmes: key spatio- temporal drivers
E Mohareb, A Gillich & D Bristow
Embodied carbon of concrete in buildings, Part 2: are the messages accurate?
A Moncaster, T Malmqvist, T Forman, F Pomponi & J Anderson
An alternative approach to delivering safe, sustainable surgical theatre environments
C A Short, A W Woods, L Drumright, R Zia & N Mingotti
Adapting owner-occupied dwellings in the UK: lessons for the future
T Hipwood
Integrating low energy cooling & ventilation strategies in Indian residences
M J Cook, Y Shukla, R Rawal, C Angelopoulos, L Caruggi-De-Faria, D Loveday, E Spentzou, & J Patel
Balconies as adaptable spaces in apartment housing
T Peters & S Masoudinejad
Latest Commentaries
Clothing: The First Layer of Personal Comfort
Alongside personal comfort systems (PCS) devices, clothing is another key site for (re)design in a body-centred personal comfort paradigm. Janine Morley (Lancaster University) explains how clothing and PCS could transform how thermal comfort is achieved whilst delivering energy savings and, potentially, increased satisfaction.
Can Personal Carbon Allowances Help Cities Reach Their Climate Targets?
Many cities throughout the world have set carbon and / or energy targets including renewable energy production and emissions reduction goals. Despite the commitment to take action, cities do not directly control the majority of the uses of energy or consumption-related sources of carbon emissions within their boundaries. Could a focus on household energy use, personal travel and consumption of material goods help to achieve this transition at city level? Tina Fawcett (University of Oxford), Kerry Constabile (University of Oxford) and Yael Parag (Reichman University) consider whether and how cities could harness personal carbon allowances in a practical manner.