Socio-spatial appropriations in dwellings of Cairo during lockdown: lessons learned for the post-pandemic era

Purpose The study examines socio-spatial appropriations in dwellings of Cairo, which were undertaken to expand dwellings affordances and accommodate new utilitarian demands during lockdown. The study questions whether those appropriations impacted dwellers' conceptions of dwellers' dwellings and scrutinizes how those appropriations could feedback the design of dwellings post-pandemic. Design/methodology/approach The research adopted a mixed-method approach and was constructed over two phases as follows: first, in-depth interviews with 20 participants to acquire qualitative data about the adopted appropriation strategies and the subsequent actualized affordances and second, an online quantitative survey answered by 133 respondents to quantify the frequency of the adopted appropriation strategies and test the relationship between appropriations and mental conceptions of dwellings. Findings The study identifies five main appropriation strategies undertaken by dwellers and builds upon them to recommend favorable design features of dwellings post-pandemic. Those are: securing unscripted spaces, reviving dormant spaces, space compartmentalization, temporal programing of space and space esthetic personalization. The study also affirms a relationship between undertaking appropriations and improved mental conceptions of dwellings. Finally, the study suggests recommendations for space use optimization which could be deployed in existing dwellings and could ultimately be considered for designing post-pandemic dwellings. Originality/value The originality of this study lies in the study's opportune documentation and analysis of such an exceptional condition. Thus far, very few studies have tackled socio-spatial practices in dwellings during lockdown, let alone the impact of the pandemic on the design of future dwellings.