Understanding Social Sustainability in Housing from the Case Study “Wohnen mit uns” in Vienna and Adaptibility to Turkey

Abstract

The aim of this research paper is to contribute to the design of socially sustainable housing by discussing the significance of social sustainability and assessing this quality according to the determined criterias of social sustainability. There is a massive construction industry in Turkey, most of which is in the housing sector. These residential areas generally have been built as chaotic mass productions and lack a vision related to social quality. Today, there are significant problems confronting the building sector, such as globalisation, industrialisation, the imbalance between nature and humanity. These problems determine the quality of life we will have in the future. The intention of this paper is to demonstrate more socially orientated housing design, especially in countries such as Turkey in which this aspect is not a real concern in the housing practice according to the perception of author, especially in comparison to Europe. In order to achieve this goal, this paper first points out the importance of social sustainability in housing within architectural quality. The description and necessity of social sustainability in multi-unit housing have been discussed and the criteria have been determined to evaluatethe quality of social sustainability.An award-winning project in Austria has been chosen as a case study toanalyse and perceive social sustainability in residential areas, accordingto the described criteria. These criteria for assessment and the concretecase study including the emerging phase of the project backgroundprovide a guideline for developing housing projects towards socialquality in Turkey.In conclusion a general evaluation of the success of the case study withits background and applicability of this concept to Turkish housing,which is used by middle-class has been discussed.