The provision of subsidizes housing for citizens is a common practice in Gulf countries as part of the welfare societies. In Kuwait, following the discovery of oil in the middle of the 20th century, many governmental housing projects, containing thousands of housing units, were constructed and distributed to citizens. Immediately after their delivery, modifications and changes were applied on these units by end users. The changes vary from minor to major, interior to exterior, immediate to gradual, and functional to aesthetical. This paper investigates the phenomenon of applying changes and modifications on governmental housing units by end users in Kuwait. This activity causes waste of time and resources that could be better utilized to produce more housing units for other citizens. It is also an evidence of a mismatch between the designs of housing units produced by governmental agencies and expectations and needs of end users. The study focuses on identifying the extent and causes of this phenomenon as well as possible solutions that could benefit both end users and the government. The paper is based on field studies conducted in five governmental housing projects in Kuwait where there have been activities of transformations and modifications of governmental housing units by end users. A survey of changes and modifications was conducted using standardized questionnaire, interviews, photographing and systematic observations. The study concluded that these modifications and changes were made to satisfy social and cultural needs not achieved by the prototypes offered by the government. It also pointed out the ability and willingness of the people to participate in the housing process and production. It stresses the need to develop a new approach to include the people in the process of design and production of housing that would facilitate the production of a more satisfying environment and reduction in cost and time of governmental housing provision.

1. ISBN 978-1-84626-xxx-x
Proceedings of 2009 International Conference on Social Science and Humanities
Singapore, 9-11 October, 2009, pp. xxx-xxx
Modifications of Governmental Housing Projects in Kuwait
Yasser Mahgoub+
Kuwait University
Abstract. The provision of subsidizes housing for citizens is a common practice in Gulf countries as part of
the welfare societies. In Kuwait, following the discovery of oil in the middle of the 20th century, many
governmental housing projects, containing thousands of housing units, were constructed and distributed to
citizens. Immediately after their delivery, modifications and changes were applied on these units by end users.
The changes vary from minor to major, interior to exterior, immediate to gradual, and functional to
aesthetical. This paper investigates the phenomenon of applying changes and modifications on governmental
housing units by end users in Kuwait. This activity causes waste of time and resources that could be better
utilized to produce more housing units for other citizens. It is also an evidence of a mismatch between the
designs of housing units produced by governmental agencies and expectations and needs of end users. The
study focuses on identifying the extent and causes of this phenomenon as well as possible solutions that
could benefit both end users and the government. The paper is based on field studies conducted in five
governmental housing projects in Kuwait where there have been activities of transformations and
modifications of governmental housing units by end users. A survey of changes and modifications was
conducted using standardized questionnaire, interviews, photographing and systematic observations. The
study concluded that these modifications and changes were made to satisfy social and cultural needs not
achieved by the prototypes offered by the government. It also pointed out the ability and willingness of the
people to participate in the housing process and production. It stresses the need to develop a new approach to
include the people in the process of design and production of housing that would facilitate the production of a
more satisfying environment and reduction in cost and time of governmental housing provision.
Keywords: Kuwait, Governmental, Housing, User, Modifications, Architectural Design, Planning
1. Introduction
The phenomenon of altering and modifying governmental housing units by their end users is a common
practice in governmental housing neighbourhoods in Kuwait. They result in changing the environment of
governmental housing projects from planned neighbourhoods composed of repeated typical units into
neighbourhoods composed of irregularly modified units. The impact and consequences of these
modifications and changes are numerous. The quality of the resulting physical environment after the
application of these changes is questionable. There is a concern over wasted time and cost of construction
and modifications. Lastly, the appropriateness of the design of the governmental neighbourhoods and
housing units in meeting social and cultural needs of the occupants is in doubt. There are two opposing
points of views regarding this phenomenon. The opposing view proclaims that people are damaging the
houses provided to them by the government, while the supportive view asserts that people have needs and
desires that are not satisfied by the prototype units provided by the government and that they are willing to
participate in the housing process by cost and effort. This paper examines modifications and alterations made
by governmental housing end users in governmental housing projects in Kuwait. It attempts to identify the
impact of these changes on both dwelling and community levels. It is an attempt to understand the reasons
behind applying these modifications and identify methods to prevent waste of effort and cost in future
governmental housing projects in Kuwait.
+
Dr. Yasser Mahgoub. Tel.: + (965) 99545031; fax: +(965) 24842897.
E-mail address: yasser.mahgoub@ku.edu.kw – yassermahgoub@gmail.com .

2. 2. METHOD
The data for this study was collected through several methods. Site visits to several government housing
projects in Kuwait were conducted. A standardized questionnaire was distributed to a stratified sample of
occupants of governmental housing units in seven governmental housing projects. The sample size was thirty
from the seven different governmental housing neighborhoods, out of which twenty seven responded. All the
selected informants reside in a four-hundred square meter typical governmental housing unit. In depth
ethnographic interviews were conducted with five participants to evaluate governmental housing units from
their point of view. Photographs of modifications and changes were collected illustrating their types and
magnitude. The hypothesis guiding this study is that modifications and changes applied to governmental
housing projects should not be viewed only as a waste of time and cost, they should be viewed as
expressions of people’s need to control their built environment, willingness to participate in the production
of their housing and determination to change unsatisfactory conditions.
3. Modifications of Public Housing in Different Contexts
According to Turner, “the willingness of people to invest their energy and initiative and their savings or
other material resources depends on the satisfaction they experience or expect as a result.” (Turner, 1976, p
53) Modification of public housing units by end users is a world wide phenomenon. As indicated by Salama,
“for many years and through their own initiative, public housing dwellers have been engaged in alteration
and extension activities aimed at adapting their dwellings to better suit their needs.” (Salama, 1998, p.32) He
asserts that understanding this phenomenon is a prerequisite to any attempt to provide better quality housing
environments and to improve living conditions in existing ones. Studies of user modifications and
transformations of public housing usually utilizes low and medium income housing in developing countries
as case studies. (See Tipple (1996 and 2000), Shiferaw (1998), Murphy (1997) and Garrod (2000)). For
example, Shiferaw observed that “transformations of human settlements are very dramatic in cities of the
developing countries where, despite the rapid urbanization process and demographic change, housing
provisions fall short of demand. This results in continuous transformation of shelters in order to meet basic
needs and changing situations. Thus, construction of new dwellings and also modification and maintenance
of government-owned ones are private concerns.” (Shiferaw, D. 1998 p. 437) Murphy conducted a survey of
residents' modifications to publicly constructed dwellings in Oaxaca, Mexico to determine how the housing
met residents' needs. He concluded that “by understanding public housing modifications to previous designs,
designers can create housing that has adequate, usable space.” (Murphy, 1997, p. 1) Tipple asserts that,
“there is considerable advantage arising from this activity for the sustainability of cities in developing
countries and is congruent with many of the precepts of sustainable development.” (Tipple, 1996, p. 367) He
recommends that they could be enabled through policy to provide housing goods more efficiently.
4. Governmental Housing Provision in Kuwait
Before the discovery of oil during the 1940’s, traditional houses in Kuwait were made of several rooms
surrounding a courtyard. Groups of houses along a narrow street called farij, were occupied by relatives and
kin of the same family or tribe. The narrow, shaded farij, was appropriate for hot-arid weather of the summer
and the cold-desert weather of the winter. The house was built by vernacular builders called al-ustaz – the
master builder – using local adobe mud bricks or coral stones for walls and imported wood trunks for roofs.
The vernacular builder translated the needs and aspirations of the owner into a house according to their
available land and economic resources. Following the discovery of oil, the government assumed the
responsibility of providing housing for the citizens. New private housing neighbourhoods were constructed
providing sites and services for those who wish to build their own houses and complete housing
neighbourhoods were constructed containing finished housing units to be distributed to other citizens.
Since the early 1950’s, Kuwait became one of the first Gulf states to provide housing welfare to its
citizens through the establishment of governmental agencies and authorities specialized in planning and
construction of governmental housing projects. As described by Khattab, “in its strive to fulfil its
constitutional pledge of providing public housing to all Kuwaitis, the government has tried several policies
over the past four decades. These policies have ranged from providing the beneficiaries with a house and plot

3. in new housing estates, a flat in apartment blocks in Kuwait city, a loan and plot in site and services projects,
or only a long-term loan with low interest.” (Khattab 2000, p. 353) In 1954 the Construction Council was
established. Two thousands housing units were constructed using several prototypes in the neighbourhoods
of Shamiah, Kefan, Fayha, Salmiya and Duaia. In 1956 the State Properties Department was established and
assumed the responsibility of distributing the houses to the people- later supported by a Housing Committee
established in1958. In 1962, following the independence of Kuwait in 1961, the responsibility of distributing
governmental housing units was assigned to the Ministry of Welfare and Employment. In 1974 the Public
Housing Authority was established to assume the responsibility of design and construction of governmental
housing units followed by the establishment of the Ministry of Housing in 1975 to assume the responsibility
of distributing the houses to the citizens. In 1986 the Ministry of Housing and the Public Housing Authority
were combined into one entity called the Public Authority for Housing Welfare (PAHW) that assumed all
responsibilities of planning, design, construction and distribution of governmental housing neighbourhoods
and units.
The planning and design of governmental housing neighbourhoods and units is completely different than
the traditional houses of old Kuwait. Examples of early types of governmental housing are shown in figure
(1).The governmental houses are designed as detached villas lined along a network gridiron streets within
typical neighbourhoods containing essential daily and weekly services. (See figure (2a)) Unlike the
traditional dwellings, the decision making process regarding planning, design and financing of units is made
without the active participation of the end users. The government provided completely finished housing units
distributed using a public selection process. Figure (2b) illustrates the process of public housing selection
and figure (2c) illustrates a prototype of a governmental housing unit. According to recent studies
governmental housing deficit increased from 51000 units in 1998 to 54963 units in 2000 and is expected to
reach 68000 units by the year 2010, provided that the government constructs the currently needed 54000
units. The average waiting period to receive a governmental house as reached 8.5 years from the date of
application. (Ramadan, 2004) Considering that the average family size is five, the statistics means that
approximately 250,000 citizens – approximately 25% of the almost one million Kuwaiti citizens - are
waiting to receive governmental housing units.
Fig. 1: Different styles of early governmental housing projects in Kuwait.
a) b) c)
Fig. 2: a) Typical neighbourhood planning and b) the selection process, and c) typical design of a governmental unit.
5. Quantity and Quality of Modifications
Descriptive statistics was used to analyze the data collected from the sample. It revealed that 86% of the
respondents indicated that they applied modifications and changes to improve the functionality of the units,
7% indicated that they applied the modifications to improve the aesthetic qualities of the units, and 7%
selected both reasons. The most common types of modifications observed were classified into two main
categories: interior and exterior modifications. Interior modifications included major changes such as change
of distribution and size of rooms - by altering the location of interior walls to change the size of a room,

4. expansion or division of spaces, creation of storage spaces, staircases, changing the intended use of space
from one function to another, and minor modifications such as repositioning of openings; doors and windows,
installation of curtains for separation or privacy purposes, and the repainting of walls. (See figure (3))
Modified Houses Major Modifications Exterior modifications Interior modifications
a) b)
Fig. 3: a) Modified units and b) types of modifications : a) Exterior and b) Interior
Exterior modifications included major modifications such as altering elevations completely to create
more fashionable facades instead of the typical facades, addition of fences and gates to create identified
entrances and provide more privacy for the interior of the unit, raising roof parapets and closing up exposed
balconies to provide more privacy for the rooms, for use as an extra room or as an extension of an existing
room, and making openings in walls for new windows. Modifications of ground floor included additions and
extensions to create new rooms and diwania – a social gathering room for men. Vertical and horizontal
extensions are rare due to structural limitations.
Appropriating public open spaces for use as private gardens or parking spaces usually starts during the
selection of unit during the raffle selection process. Prime choices are usually units adjacent to street corners
and units overlooking open public lands. Immediately after the acquisition of the unit the owner annexes the
land by fencing it and claims it as his own. Later they are used as private gardens and parking sheds for
automobiles. Immediately after their completion, the appearance of all governmental housing projects is
similar. This is due to the fact that they all originate from the same prototype planning and prototype units
design. After going through the process of modifications and change by end users, each unit develops a
character of its own resulting from the transformation activities of the residents.
End users’ financial capabilities and willingness to apply changes are expressed through the amount of
money spent to do these changes. Approximately 27% of the users indicated that they spent between 1000 to
5000 KD on changes and modifications, 22% between 5000 and 10000 KD, 22% between 10000 and 20000
KD, 7% between 20 and 30000 KD, and 22% between 30000 and 40000 KD. (1 KD = approximately US$
3.3) On average, the cost of modification and changes made by an end user is 15,000 KD, which is
approximately 37% of the total cost of the unit paid by the government- which is approximately 40,000 KD.
(Figure (4a)) Most of the removed building materials are discarded in junkyards and garbage dumps. 52% of
the respondents indicated that they through away the material, 41% indicated that they have sold the material,
while only 7% indicated that they have reused the material. Figure (4b) illustrates the application of
modifications and changes that can be saved if other means of design and distribution of units is used.
Expence of changes and modification The materials that are changed
7%
22% 27% 1000-5000 KD
5000-10000 KD discarded
10000-20000 KD sold Begin End Use
7% 52%
20000-30000 KD 41% reused
22% 22% 30000-40000 KD
Time & Cost
a) b) c)
Fig. 4: a) Cost of modifications and b) Materials reuse and c) Model of modifications of units
It is not only materials and cost that are wasted in this process, but also time that is spent to do them
before being able to use the units. The model in figure (4c) illustrates the process of producing the unit and
the impact of applying modifications on time and cost. Some users suggested receiving the unit as a concrete
skeleton without any finishing while others preferred to receive the unit with an additional loan for
remodeling. The majority of respondents demanded that there should be cooperation between the Public

5. Authority for Housing Welfare (PAHW) and the intended users before and during designing the unit to
achieve a design that meets the requirements of the family and to avoid future modifications and changes.
The immediate problems of modifying units can be solved if the final finishing materials are not applied
without consulting the end user. This will reduce the number of people who start remodeling their house
immediately after receiving their units. People intending to modify or do future changes to their units can be
provided with open areas that makes future expansion possible. Long term solution for similar future projects
include the provision of the citizens with a concrete skeleton units and a loan to finish up the units. There
should also be close cooperation between the PAHW and users at early stages of designing the unit. Users
can be offered to pay the difference to get what they want, if requirements exceed the price limit of the unit.
Cooperation between the three sides of the housing triangle; the government, the designer and the citizen,
should be more close and innovative. The government’s attitude towards the phenomenon was until recently
a resentful one. Newspapers advertisements warn users and local contractors against the application of
modifications and changes to governmental units without receiving proper approvals and consents. A new
initiative is being studied to deliver skeleton-only units to be completed and finished by the end user.
6. Theoretical Implications
Governmental housing provision in Kuwait is following what Habaraken termed the “Old Model” of
housing provision, where housing is viewed as only “a matter of production of buildings and the primary
goal is to give shelter, build as many units as you can, there is no time to waste, the need is too large.”
(Habraken, 2002, p.9) There is an enormous emphasis on the number of units in terms of needs and
production. The utilization of typical, repeated prototypes is viewed as the only valid way of producing large
number of units in a very short period of time. The exclusion of the end user from the process is another
typical aspect of the old model. While their needs are studied as typical requirements for the design stage of
the project, end users are not involved in the actual process of design and construction. Habraken stresses
that “professionals are important and, indeed indispensable, but they must work together with users, user
groups, and those who represent them: the politicians and other elected officials. Housing projects and
neighbourhoods must grow and develop over time. There is no such thing as an instant environment. What is
good today is insufficient tomorrow.” (Habraken, 2002, p.9) The use of prototype designs has proved
inappropriate in many contexts. This study illustrated that, especially when they have good financial
capabilities, people strive to achieve individuality and uniqueness in their housing units. Uniform floor plans
do not ensure satisfaction since they only address the needs of the average family, which does not usually
exist. In the old model, changes and transformations by end users are viewed as failures of the housing
project.
7. Conclusions
A new model for governmental housing projects is needed. It should recognize modifications and
changes made by housing occupants as positive contributions to housing process. “In this model both
professionals and non professionals can have a place. In some cases users can do the job better, in others
professionals must do it.” (Habraken, 2002, p.9) There are many approaches that benefit the development of
a new model for governmental housing in Kuwait. Gann suggests “the use of new technology to provide
flexibility in housing with the goal of increasing choice for residents.” (Gann, 1999, p. 1)
User modifications of governmental housing projects in Kuwait are likely to continue as long as its
benefits outweigh its cost. The modified units have accommodated the dwellers needs and aspirations better
than the original units. They can be viewed as collective efforts to express individuality and uniqueness.
Until users’ socio-cultural needs, aspirations and capabilities are recognized, they are going to adapt their
houses to express their identity and individuality. It is not only an expression of dissatisfaction with the
product but also resentment to a process that does not recognize their existence.
Governments all over the world will continue to produce governmental housing units. It is recommended
that new projects should take into considerations the possibility of end user modifications of units. People
should be viewed as active participants in the efforts to solve the housing problem. End user participation
activities can take place from early stages of planning, design and construction stages, to the finishing stages.

6. Currently the government is interested in user participation in the finishing stages and the selection of
finishing materials. The author of this paper recommends the expansion of this participation to include
planning and design of neighbourhoods and units. More important is the change in the attitudes of decision
makers and housing officials. Existing housing strategies and practices are reproducing the same mistakes of
the past and prohibiting the adoption of new approaches towards housing. Housing should be viewed as a
continuous process of change and modifications to satisfy the changing needs and aspirations of end users.
Post occupancy evaluation of governmental housing projects should be a regular activity and should
feed-forward the design of new projects. Existing housing strategies should be reviewed in the light of in-
depth studies of success and failures of past projects. It was recommended by other researchers “that new
projects should take into consideration the possibility of future transformation activity from the early
planning and design stages. Housing should be seen as a process of constant transformation and endless
variation. There is certainly a lot to be learned by looking at user transformation as it unfolds in a continuing
open-ended process of unexpected developments.” (Salama, 1998, p.32) This study represents a different
case of user modifications of governmental housing. While most of the studies conducted in this field used
developing countries; such as Mexico, Bangladesh, Egypt, Ghana, India and Zimbabwe, as case studies, this
study used governmental housing in an oil rich country as a case study. While there are obvious differences
between the two contexts, there are many commonalities of the way people interact and control their built
environment. The results of this study should not be generalized to other contexts. They represent a context
where people exercise their right to control and transform their living environment. Future research should
compare these results with other similar environments.
8. References
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