ASSESSMENT OF THE EFFECT OF AN EXTERNAL FACTOR FOR DWELLING OCCUPANTS’ SATISFACTION: ACCESS TO BASIC ACTIVITIES.

Most approaches in housing research are based on a static perception of the dwelling, occupant and its environment. However, the increasing population settled in a dense urban environment with an increasing complexity of movement and mobility requires more sophisticated approaches than that are currently used. In an attempt to evaluate occupants’ perceptions related to compulsory urban mobility and their effects extending to housing satisfaction, a set of researches has been conducted. The aim and the focus of this paper has been to assess the validity of attempts to compose a consolidated indicator to measure the aspects related to that mobility. The significance of the indicator is tested through its incorporation in various housing user satisfaction researches. The results showed that there is a correlation between the home and environment satisfaction levels and the higher grades for the indicator defined as “access to basic activities (ABA) indicator”. The vice-versa was also affirmative. One conclusion is that dwelling occupants’ easy / enjoyable temporal mobility targeting basic activities would increase housing satisfaction as a greater portion of this mobility originates from or ends up in dwelling. Further analysis of the findings may provide hints for avoiding occupants’ dissatisfaction with less dependence on complex, large scale and major physical interventions to existing housing stock and to its environment.