Landscape-led approaches for the regeneration of low-income medium-rise housing : a cross-cultural assessment of social and ecological sustainability.

摘要

The regeneration of decaying housing is becoming paramount in meeting the currentudinternational demand for new dwellings within the sustainable agenda. Medium-riseudhousing is proposed as ideal as it meets the planning guidance's desirable densities andudfor its social and ecological sustainability possibilities through the landscape. Yet,udhaving few medium-rise housing areas regenerated with a sustainable-orientedudlandscape approach, the amount of research undertaken in this area is limited.udTherefore, the present study addresses this gap in knowledge by studying the short- andudlong-term contribution that may be made to inform future regeneration of housing.udThe research investigates a regenerated case study in Sweden and another one inudGermany which were assessed for social and ecological sustainability through a set ofudindicators, a survey, observational records, and semi-structured interviews. Afterwards,udthe applicability of the results was tested through a survey in an additional case study inudMexico where no regeneration has taken place.udIt was found that the arrangement of landscape was essential for encouraging socializingudand the respondents' design preferences were similar despite cultural differences. It wasudobserved that robustness and interpersonal distancing were most important forudsocializing whilst visual richness and mystery were clearly favoured by respondents.udInterestingly, it was also revealed that involving in ecological improvements facilitatedudresidents in knowing each other. However, it was found that perceptions and unclearudideas of sustainability as well as poor collaboration among stakeholders resulted in poorudmanagement of initiatives and a reduced participation of residents.udBased on these findings, the study makes design recommendations for landscapeuddesigners as well as proposing regeneration and operational guidelines for planning,udmanaging, and maintenance. Further research is required to document more regeneratedudhousing areas to enable sustainability issues to be more generally applied.