Housing which does not promote and ensures desired level of satisfaction, among users, invariably remain underutilized, misused and abused by the community. Resources spent on creating such shelter also remain under-utilized and generally go waste. Accordingly, shelter created, should invariably include housing satisfaction, as integral part of siting, planning ,designing, construction and management of housing neighborhoods. Unfortunately, most of the public agencies involved in creating housing stock have little knowledge and understanding of the context, relevance and importance of housing satisfaction, which is not appropriately spaced and addressed in the housing stock created . Agencies involved in urban planning and planning of human settlements also do not include user satisfaction, while planning, designing the residential component at the local and city level. For understanding the context / genesis of the housing satisfaction and its inclusion in all policies/ projects ,it will be important that detailed studies/ surveys of the existing housing stock should be conducted, for assessing the level of user’s satisfaction/dissatisfaction and evaluate critical factors promoting housing satisfaction among users, besides generating valuable information on urban renewal and neighborhoods ; offering insight to which specific neighborhood problems are of major concern .Analysis may help housing associations / stakeholders engaged in developing urban housing find right policy mix to improve overall quality of life in the residential neighborhood through improved housing satisfaction. Based on the study, detailed guidelines can be evolved/ made operational, for making it integral part of all the new housing projects to generate desired level of satisfaction among the beneficiaries of the houses Furthermore, they also need to define which neighborhood characteristics have a positive influence on residential satisfaction and which do not. In the absence of such guidelines, effort invariably remain focused more on physical and economic characteristics as determinants of residential satisfaction, while ignoring other social, cultural and environmental aspects.

1. Residential Satisfaction -as an Option to Promote Quality Housing
*Jit Kumar Gupta
*jit.kumar1944@gmail.com
Housing, in addition to being an essential component of human living , has many other
connotations, which impact the quality of living, livability and usability of shelter.
Housing, being individual centric, has high degree of connectivity with individual likings
and likings, based on both objectivity, subjectivity, social, physical, structural and
neighborhood components. In addition to getting/sourcing an appropriate shelter, it is
important that secured shelter, should be able to provide desired level of satisfaction to
its owner/occupants, for remaining relevant.
House should not be considered merely as a structure, made of brick, mortar, cement, sand,
concrete and glass. It has to be seen and valued in the larger context as a living organism,
because of its impact on the quality and pattern of life of the occupants. Studies have
revealed that 80% of the human lifespan is spent in the space provided by the buildings.
With largest proportion of lifespan spent within the space provided by the house,
residential space considerably influences and impact the quality and psyche of human
living, thinking, working, operation, productivity and health. Accordingly, not only
providing appropriate quality of shelter to an individual/family remains important, but
equally relevant and vital will be to ensure that house made available also provides desired
level of quality and satisfaction to the occupant and family. If house does not provide
appropriate level of living satisfaction, then entire purpose, logic and rationale of providing
shelter remains diluted,marginalised and defeated.
Housing satisfaction has never been considered, valued and made integral part of the
siting, planning , designing, and construction of housing. Houses are being planned,
designed and constructed, without understanding, appreciating and evaluating the need of
the family, which is going to occupy and use the said space. Neighbourhood quality
created by the housing does not find any relevance in the parlance of housing. Entire
mechanism of planning and designing is based on and revolves around maximizing the
stipulations made in the development control in terms of; ground coverage, height of
building and floor area ratio permitted on the piece of land being used for housing. Focus
of developers invariably remains to create maximum built-up space and number of
dwelling units , to generate maximum profit/revenue from the land used for project.
Facilities to be provided, as part of the housing, to support the families living in the
complex also remain diluted and minimal because of lack of understanding of the housing
satisfaction on the part of parastatal agencies. Individual owners also have little
knowledge and understanding of the context of satisfaction while getting the house
designed and constructed. Cumulatively, all this leads to creating housing stock which has
little connectivity with the quality of life and housing satisfaction to be provided to the
occupants. In order to promote quality housing and quality living; relevance and context of
housing satisfaction needs to be studied, evaluated and made integral part of the process
of planning, designing and construction of housing itself.

2. Residential satisfaction largely remains a complex phenomenon involving number of ,
social, physical and economic factors related to ; subjectivity ; prevailing environment;
quality of structure; services available; quality of indoor/outdoor spaces etc. Precisely
defining housing satisfaction, remains invariably a challenge for all experts and users.
Number of researches undertaken in the domain of housing satisfaction, have evaluated the
subject, taking different parameters as the indicators to define the housing satisfaction,
which have invariably led to different conclusions. The parameters included by researchers
for defining housing satisfaction related to; physical, social, environmental, economic,
structural, aesthetic, accessibility, location, neighborhood, neighbors, availability of
amenities, services , infrastructures etc., aspects of housing.
Defining Residential satisfaction;
Residential satisfaction, has been defined as the feeling of contentment ,which one has or
achieves and what one needs or desires in a house Housing satisfaction remains a broad
and complex term which includes satisfaction with the social and economic factors of
the individual as well as the built and natural environments (Mesch & Manor, 1998). The
scale ranges from an individual’s housing unit to the neighborhood in which that housing
unit is located and even the larger surrounding area and the city. Factors invariably
involved in evaluating and assessing housing satisfaction are both objective ones ( crime
rates) and subjective ones (perceptions of crime). Assessing, evaluating and quantifying
housing satisfaction holds distinct advantages in rationalizing planning , creative
designing and quality of housing in both green field development and brown field
development, because it helps in;
 Finding level of satisfaction of house owners, including how many residents are most
satisfied or dissatisfied with their neighborhood?
 Providing policy-makers with additional information on where to target their
improvement efforts.
 Comparing residents’ views with the ways in which other stakeholders (housing
associations, municipalities, policy-makers) define and interpret a neighborhood’s
problems and success factors for showcasing difference of opinion between the
stakeholders, leading to defining clear roadmap for more precise/effective
interventions in neighborhoods
Housing satisfaction remains owner/user centric and invariably revolves around individual
choices, likings and disliking. It sometimes involves lot of subjectivity, having little
rationale and objectivity. Factors governing the satisfaction sometimes defies logic and
involves factors/elements which have little relevance with human living. However, there
are certain factors which invariably remain connected/impact satisfaction. Accordingly, it
will be appropriate to define factors which are positively and negatively related to housing
satisfaction, so that they are duly considered, valued and made integral part of all housing
related projects and policy options evolved at local and national levels.
Factors which determine housing satisfaction/dissatisfactions and contributing to the
success/failures of the neighborhoods from the residents’ point of view have been found to
be revolving around;
 Visual Comfort; Providing adequate thermal comfort ; visual comfort and security
invariably promotes housing satisfaction of the occupants. Visual discomfort
invariably leads to creation of dissatisfaction among the residents located in adverse
environment.

3.  Facilities and infrastructures; Providing higher order and quality neighborhood
facilities and services, as apart of dwelling unit promote higher order of housing
satisfaction for the house owners. Poor access to neighborhood facilities and
inadequate supply of electricity and good drinking water remains major determinant
of dissatisfaction among the residents.
 Living Space; Rational and realistic sizes of living and sleeping areas, provided in
the residence, have been valued and known to impact the satisfaction level of the
occupant, whereas inadequate living spaces are known to cause undue congestion,
overcrowding, loss of privacy and quality of living, leading to stresses and
dissatisfaction among the users.
 Quality of management; Housing satisfaction remains contingent to the quality of
management provided in the housing estates. Poorly managed housing clusters
invariably cause concern related to safety, availability of basic amenities and services
essential for human living.
 Participation; Houses where residents are actively involved and participate in the
planning, designing, development and management of their houses invariably are
known to provide higher order of housing satisfaction by creating ownership among
the users. Non- involvement/marginalizing beneficiaries in the process of project
planning and management are known to be major cause of dissatisfaction among the
allottees/residents.
 Physical Characteristics; Physical, spatial characteristics and socio-cultural
attributes of the housing also impact the satisfaction of the occupants. Accordingly, it
will be desirable to consider and integrate the physical and social aspects of the
location, accessibility, climate, visibility, community, interaction etc. considered and
made as part of the project.
 Location; Location of the house/housing remains critical component of housing
satisfaction. Houses located close to polluting industries, garbage dumping yards,
sewerage treatment plants, slums etc. invariably lead to create dissatisfaction among
residents, whereas housing located near the natural features, water bodies, parks,
open spaces etc., are known to provide higher order of satisfaction among the
residents.
 Mixing; Irrational mixing of housing of various income groups involving lower,
middle and higher income housing , within the same complex, have been observed
to create various level of satisfaction/ dissatisfaction among the residents.
Accordingly, planning and development of residential complexes, involving various
groups, will have to be done with proper care and caution, in order to avoid
dissatisfaction among the residents. However, while planning, communities need to
be effectively integrated both, horizontally and vertically; physically and socially.
Innovative planning and placement of various income housing will remain relevant
and crucial to promote satisfaction among the residents.
 Social climate; Quality of Social climate/environment prevailing in a residential
neighborhood is known to promote satisfaction/dissatisfaction among the residents.
Residential satisfaction has genesis in not only in the quality of dwelling or by the
internal neighborhood reputation, rather, it is mainly revealed by people’s evaluation
of the social climate prevailing in their neighborhood. Residents’ opinions about their
neighborhood offer important insights about their overall residential satisfaction.

4. Residential social climate, is the most significant and valued component of overall
residential satisfaction. It is often been observed that lack of social cohesion remains
an important factor in the problematic neighborhoods. However, looking at the entire
context, it is not the degree of social interaction or social cohesion among the
residents that explain their residential satisfaction. Rather, it is the shared social
identity and the unwritten rules that explain the favorable social climate in the
neighborhood
 Social and Psychological Factors; Residential satisfaction in the domain of public
housing also remain largely contingent upon psycho-social aspects such as
relationships with neighbors and the degree of attachment to the residential
environment. These aspects sometimes are valued by the inhabitants more than
physical features such as infrastructure and equipment of the house and neighborhood
 Accessibility; Control over access to one’s home and one’s person are known to
promote housing satisfaction among elderly residents. Lack of quality and
appropriate accessibility invariably creates dissatisfaction among the residents
 Architectural & Physical features; Quality physical and architectural design such as
house form, architectural style, floor plan, and colors are known to considerably
affect and promote residential satisfaction
 Aesthetics; Satisfaction of aesthetic needs is a salient component of housing
satisfaction with regard to the inside, the outside, and the neighborhood. Aesthetic
qualities of the living environment are invariably valued and given importance across
all age and social groups
 Subjectivity; Subjective approaches to person-environment relations; residential
preferences and satisfaction; housing and neighborhood quality form integral part of
evaluating and are invariably embedded in the housing satisfaction.
 Homeownership ; Ownership is encouraged by many governments because it is
supposed to have a positive effect on both the individual and society as a whole while
evaluating housing satisfaction. Homeownership is assumed to be preferred over
renting, because it provides greater security, more freedom, financial advantage and
therefore higher order of housing satisfaction. Homeowners are more satisfied with
their housing situation than tenants.
 Developer Reputation; Certain developers are valued by house owners for maintain
the high standards of design, quality of construction, quality of construction, quality
of infrastructures and quality of maintenance provided to the inhabitants in the
neighborhood.
 Security and Safety ; Security and safety provided to the residents remains most
valuable and critical component of the housing satisfaction. Unsafe and insecure
housing are always discounted by the residents and remain major cause of
dissatisfaction among the users/owners of the houses.
 Quality of property, Neighbors ; Young residents, married couples, female heads of
households and large families are known to consistently record level of satisfaction
more strongly tied to perceptions of crime, run-down properties, and the similarity of
neighbors (Galster and Hesser 1981).
Considering the role and importance of achieving satisfaction in housing, it will be appropriate
and desirable that housing/shelter created, should invariably include and involve housing

5. satisfaction, as integral part of siting, planning ,designing, construction and management of
housing neighborhoods. All housing related/focused policies and programs evolved, at local and
national levels for creating appropriate shelter, should always include and define housing
satisfaction as the basic agenda of such program. Housing which does not promote and ensures
desired level of satisfaction, among users, invariably remain underutilized, misused and abused by
the community. Resources spent on creating such shelter also remain under-utilized and generally
go waste. Unfortunately, most of the public agencies involved in creating housing stock have little
knowledge and understanding of the context, relevance and importance of housing satisfaction.
Accordingly, housing satisfaction is not appropriately spaced and addressed in the housing stock
created by such agencies. Agencies involved in urban planning and planning of human settlements
also do not include user satisfaction, while planning, designing the residential component at the
local and city level.
In order to understand the context and genesis of the housing satisfaction and its inclusion in all
policies, programs and projects ,it will be important that detailed studies/ surveys of the existing
housing stock should be conducted, in order to assess the level of user’s satisfaction/dissatisfaction
and also evaluate the factors which are critical for promoting housing satisfaction among users.
Study can generate important and valuable information for policy-making on urban renewal and
neighborhoods in general besides offering insight in the degree to which specific neighborhood
problems are of major concern The insight/outcome emerging from the analysis may help housing
associations as well as other stakeholders that are developing urban housing, and urban
neighborhood, find the right policy mix to improve overall quality of life in the residential
neighborhood through improved housing satisfaction.Based on the study conducted and analysis
carried out of the existing housing, detailed guidelines can be evolved and put in operation, which
should be made integral part of all the new housing projects to generate desired level of
satisfaction among the beneficiaries of the houses.
Housing policy formulators need to include normative housing needs, infrastructure and amenities
and the quality satisfaction attributes of the occupants, to articulate the overall integrated housing
development framework Furthermore, they also need to define which neighborhood characteristics
have a positive influence on residential satisfaction and which do not. In the absence of such
guidelines, effort invariably remain focused more on physical and economic characteristics as
determinants of residential satisfaction, while ignoring other social, cultural and environmental
aspects.