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Human-Centric Space Design: Occupant Comfort, Wellbeing, and Post-occupancy Evaluation of Multi-Scale Built Environment

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A special issue of Buildings (ISSN 2075-5309). This special issue belongs to the section "Architectural Design, Urban Science, and Real Estate".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 August 2024 | Viewed by 5023

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Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Leiqing Xu

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Guest Editor

Department of Architecture, College of Architecture and Urban Planning, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China
Interests: environmental behavior; environmental psychology; spatial analysis; community building and urban renewal

Prof. Dr. Xin Li

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Guest Editor

Department of Architecture and Planning, College of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Guangxi University, Nanning 530004, China
Interests: environmental psychology and behavior; place-making; livable community; urban design
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

With the advancement of environmental behavior and environmental psychology, the study of the relationship between material space and users’ behavior has made profound impact on the development of architectural research. Empirical quantitative methods provide an effective basis for the rational arrangement of spatial behavior. More and more designers have realized that users must participate in the process of environmental evolution, which is based on an overall, systematic, and practical evaluation of the actual operation of built environment and users' feedback. Users’ opinions play an important role in measuring a space’s quality for improvement. In this sense, various analytical methods for environmental evaluation and Post-Occupancy Evaluation (POE) have been proposed, such as the Delphi method, semantic differential, analytic hierarchy process, etc. Particularly after the COVID-19 pandemic, this re-shaped people’s daily life, causing physiological and psychological changes. For instance, the demand for leisure activities in nearby parks has correspondingly increased, calling for safer and healthier public spaces with natural characteristics and appropriate spatial scales. Maintaining social distancing is highly valued and has become a new behavior pattern, which has changed basic public and indoor space designs. Moreover, resisting the impact of public events in high-density urban environments has become a major factor. On the neighborhood scale, the concept of the 15-minute life circle and affordability have been emphasized to enhance community resilience. More attention has been paid to the older groups and adolescent groups, aiming to ensure a more supportive infrastructure and built environment for them. The elderly oriented renewal and remodeling of residential communities that can cope with health emergencies has also proposed.

Therefore, this Special Issue aims to focus on the broad evaluation and optimization of urban built environments to make human-centric spaces beyond the scopes of building performance, energy conservation, and green strategies. It offers a platform to share the latest research findings on the study of human–place interactions at many scales using new theories, data, models, sites, and implications. This Special Issue incorporates empirical methodologies and informatics technologies. This Special Issue not only expects literature contributions to architecture and urban designs, but also interdisciplinary benefits.

Potential topics include, but are not limited to:

Multi-dimensional senses towards urban built environment.
Indoor/outdoor quality and wellbeing.
Living willingness.
Imageable urban morphology.
Urban vitality.
Urban space and social network.
Healing environment.
Natural exposure and preference.

Prof. Dr. Leiqing Xu
Prof. Dr. Xin Li
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Buildings is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

space quality
public space
place making
multi-scale
urban analytics

Published Papers (7 papers)

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Research

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18 pages, 910 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Assessing Accessible Travel Satisfaction in Old Communities: A SEM Study

by Liya Fan, Yingqing Xiong and Yizhan Peng

Buildings 2024, 14(5), 1273; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings14051273 - 1 May 2024

Viewed by 328

Abstract

China faces a significant population of individuals with disabilities, and the aging demographic exacerbates this challenge. There is an urgent need for accessible environments for vulnerable groups such as persons with disabilities, the elderly, and pregnant women. Consequently, this study aimed to explore the factors influencing satisfaction with accessible travel in old communities in Nanchang City. Adopting a perspective encompassing vulnerabilities across all age groups, we employed interviews, on-site surveys, questionnaires, and literature reviews to construct a model of satisfaction with accessible travel. This model comprises five evaluation dimensions: pedestrian pathways, public spaces, signage guidance, social support, and software provision, encompassing twenty-seven influencing factors. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was utilized to validate the model. The research findings indicated that social support (0.697), pedestrian pathways (0.480), and public spaces (0.291) exerted a significant overall effect on satisfaction within the model, whereas the influence of software provision (0.225) and signage guidance (0.249) was comparatively smaller. Vulnerable groups within the community prioritized operational maintenance (0.818) and cultural advocacy (0.791) within social support. They also emphasized aspects of pedestrian pathways such as elevation treatment (0.809) and pavement design (0.803), as well as rest facilities (0.804) and service facilities (0.790) within public spaces. Finally, based on the weighted ranking of factors among latent variables, we propose corresponding optimization strategies and development proposals. This paper contributes to providing theoretical, practical, and technical support for the design of community accessibility that caters to socially vulnerable groups across “universal and all-ages” groups. It plays a proactive role in enhancing the quality of life for these vulnerable groups and promoting the improvement of accessibility environments in old communities. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Human-Centric Space Design: Occupant Comfort, Wellbeing, and Post-occupancy Evaluation of Multi-Scale Built Environment)

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22 pages, 1296 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Regional Architecture Building Identity: The Mediating Role of Authentic Pride

by Zihao Cao, Muhizam Mustafa and Mohd Hafizal Mohd Isa

Buildings 2024, 14(4), 1059; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings14041059 - 10 Apr 2024

Viewed by 482

Abstract

The impact of regional architecture on residents’ identities varies, involving complex emotional aspects. We conducted an in-depth study of the deep connection between regional architecture and identity in China’s Huizhou and Minnan regions, highlighting its key role in stimulating authentic pride. Initially, we carried out a survey among 433 residents from both regions using questionnaires to obtain quantitative data, revealing the mediating role of authentic pride. Subsequently, we conducted in-depth interviews with 20 residents from 4 villages of the 2 regions, and the coding results explained the multidimensional reasons behind the quantitative analysis outcomes. This research not only deepened the understanding of how regional architecture impacts identity recognition but also highlighted the urgency of preserving regional culture under the pressures of globalization and modernization. Moreover, this study provided strong reasons for the preservation of architectural heritage, emphasizing its importance as a cornerstone of identity and a means to enhance community cohesion. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Human-Centric Space Design: Occupant Comfort, Wellbeing, and Post-occupancy Evaluation of Multi-Scale Built Environment)

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18 pages, 5187 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Strategic Design Approaches for Eliciting the Perception of ‘Prestige’ in Housing Consumers

by Antoni Montañana, María Luisa Nolé and Carmen Llinares

Buildings 2024, 14(3), 853; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings14030853 - 21 Mar 2024

Viewed by 481

Abstract

In the current real estate landscape, there is a growing trend to focus on adding value to products to address the customer’s affective/emotional perspective, his/her perceptions of the ‘Prestige’ of properties being crucial for his/her final assessments of the products. This study delves into the design elements that shape perceptions of ‘Prestige’ using Kansei engineering in 235 participants who evaluated various real estate promotions through: (1) a set of 60 adjectives and (2) reason for purchase (residence or investment). A first factor analysis of the set of adjectives yielded 15 independent axes. A subsequent linear regression indicated that the ‘Prestige’ axis was among the four most important factors in/drivers of property purchase decisions. In the second phase, 62 design elements (and their respective categories) of real estate promotions were identified to establish 16 groups. A linear regression determined that Information presentation and Building were the groups of elements with the greatest impact on subjects’ perceptions of ‘Prestige’. A subsequent Univariate General Linear Model analysis identified the design elements significant for each group, such as Development type and Building shape, respectively. Finally, a Bonferroni post hoc test identified the important categories in each identified design element as Facing blocks and Stepped. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Human-Centric Space Design: Occupant Comfort, Wellbeing, and Post-occupancy Evaluation of Multi-Scale Built Environment)

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19 pages, 9109 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Developing a Holistic Approach for Constructing Rural Living Circles in the Loess Plateau—Taking Yongning Village as an Example

by Mengying Wang, Mingzhi Zhang, Yingtao Qi, Dingqing Zhang, Chenguang Wang, Wenying Yao and Dian Zhou

Buildings 2024, 14(2), 514; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings14020514 - 13 Feb 2024

Viewed by 505

Abstract

Insufficient public service facilities in rural areas, which leads to failures in meeting the needs of villagers, has become a significant barrier to the high-quality development of rural regions. This issue is particularly acute in the Loess Plateau area, where the complex topography leads to scattered and independent village layouts, making it challenging to allocate service facilities based simply on distance and population. Aiming to arrange public service facilities efficiently and intensively from a “bottom-up” approach, this study, from the perspective of living circles, attempts to summarize the current usage and needs of villagers at the “village–town–county” levels, as well as to seek strategies for facility allocation in villages. This provides a scientific basis for optimizing the configuration of service facilities in the Loess Plateau area. Through field surveys based on questionnaires and interviews with over 60 households and more than 100 villagers, this study authentically reproduces a picture of their daily lives and summarizes their needs for well-configured services and facilities. The findings of this study include the following: (1) The village domain serves as a space of daily production and living for villagers, necessitating facilities for everyday purchases, activities, and elderly care; the town domain supplements the daily production and living needs of villagers, with a higher demand for production materials; the county domain, integrating urban and rural spaces, provides higher-level medical, educational, and other service facilities. (2) Within the village domain, villagers’ demands for facilities lean towards miniaturization and integration. With the increasingly aging population, the demand for elderly care and health facilities is becoming more urgent. Facilities such as activity rooms, fitness equipment, and stores with a wide range of products at reasonable prices can effectively improve levels of convenience and happiness in villagers’ lives. This study summarizes, from a “bottom-up” approach, the villagers’ facility layout needs within the rural living circle, providing a scientific basis for establishing a human-centered rural living circle and enhancing the quality of rural living environments. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Human-Centric Space Design: Occupant Comfort, Wellbeing, and Post-occupancy Evaluation of Multi-Scale Built Environment)

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29 pages, 31979 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Study on the Perception of Local Characteristics in Cultural Street Vending Spaces, Taking Xi’an Baxian Temple as an Example

by Yingtao Qi, Liping Yue, Tie Guo, Dian Zhou, Yulin Ren, Mengying Wang, Yujia Liu and Yujun Yang

Buildings 2024, 14(1), 192; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings14010192 - 11 Jan 2024

Viewed by 915

Abstract

The mode of urban renewal in China has changed from incremental expansion to a value-added stage, and the development of cities has increasingly focused on the human experience and quality improvement. However, Cultural Street Vending and the unique street spaces in the historic districts that bear important connotations to the city have shown a trend of rapid decline and even disappearance. Therefore, how to identify the characteristics and connotations of such street vending spaces, grasp the relationship between perception of locality and built environment elements in different states and formulate targeted protection and renewal strategies is presently an urgent problem to be solved. Many studies have now discussed in detail the identification of elements, street perception and preservation strategies for historic districts. However, the Cultural Street Vending space, which carries special urban memory connotations, has been neglected, especially the characterisation of this type of space in different time dimensions. This paper takes the Cultural Street Vending space as a research object and focuses on the perceptual differences between its market day and non-market day, aiming at grasping the perceptual characteristics and constituent elements of this type of street space in different time states, as well as the patterns of changes they undergo. This paper took the Baxian Temple, a typical Cultural Street Vending space in a historic district of Xi’an, as the research object and took 30 architecture students as the evaluators to score 33 pairs of adjectives and recall the elements of nine streets. This paper compared and analysed the differences in the structure of people’s psychological perception of the street in the state of market day and non-market day by SD method. It was found that the activities of the vendors obviously promoted people’s positive emotions, and three commonality factors including impression, vitality and morphosis were extracted through the factor analysis. Moreover, through the element recall method to understand the change in element perception on the market day, we found that the range of people’s perception was smaller on the market day and summarised the element map of the space and the element components of high, medium and low characteristics. The correlation analysis between psychological quantities and environmental elements revealed that people’s positive psychology has a positive correlation with vendors, goods and street components and a negative correlation with greening, colour and texture. This study can provide an important research basis for the development of conservation and renewal strategies for this type of Cultural Street Vending space. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Human-Centric Space Design: Occupant Comfort, Wellbeing, and Post-occupancy Evaluation of Multi-Scale Built Environment)

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31 pages, 8198 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Research on Leased Space of Urban Villages in Large Cities Based on Fuzzy Kano Model Evaluation and Building Performance Simulation: A Case Study of Laojuntang Village, Chaoyang District, Beijing

by Liuchao Wei, Wei Duan and Siqiao Dong

Buildings 2024, 14(1), 120; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings14010120 - 2 Jan 2024

Viewed by 801

Abstract

China is in the transition period of urbanization, and the imbalance of land use generated during the original rapid development of megacities still exists, resulting in the preservation of a large number of urban villages in the peripheral areas of cities. Unlike formal housing, these villages are heavily influenced by the confrontation and interweaving between top-down policies of local governments and bottom-up spontaneous construction by local villagers, resulting in a diverse and complex status quo. At the same time, self-built housing in urban villages has become a gathering place for a large number of low-income migrants due to its relatively low rental prices. In terms of the research of urban villages on the current situation of housing, the real needs of users and housing performance are mostly subjective judgments and conclusions. Therefore, the entry point of this paper is the leased space and the leasers, taking Laojuntang Village in Chaoyang District of Beijing as the research object and analyzing its current problems and the real needs of users. This paper adopts an integrated approach of fuzzy Kano model evaluation and building performance simulation. After analyzing the data and discussing the influencing factors, this paper identifies the specific problems and user needs that exist in leased spaces in Laojuntang Village: (1) The architectural performance of leased space is a Must-be Quality, which is the bottom-line requirement and must be improved. (2) The quality of the basic facilities and equipment of the leased space is mostly a One-dimensional Quality, Attractive Quality, and the degree of importance is lower than that of the building performance. (3) The external activity facilities of the leased space are mostly undifferentiated needs, for which the local users are not particularly prominent. (4) The scale and plot ratio of local housing is relatively high, and users are dissatisfied and complaining, which falls under the category of Reverse Quality. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Human-Centric Space Design: Occupant Comfort, Wellbeing, and Post-occupancy Evaluation of Multi-Scale Built Environment)

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Other

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24 pages, 6340 KiB

Open AccessSystematic Review

Research Contents, Methods and Prospects of Emotional Architecture Based on a Systematic Literature Review

by Hongguo Ren, Minqi Shi and Jing Zhang

Buildings 2024, 14(4), 997; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings14040997 - 4 Apr 2024

Viewed by 561

Abstract

In recent years, research on building perception has increasingly become a hot topic. More and more scholars have explored the user perceptions of the built environment and guided the design through the perception results. The technical method of emotional engineering can quantify people’s emotions and facilitate the exploration of users’ perceptions in the built environment. However, most of the existing research is empirical, and there is no article to review the interdisciplinary direction of architecture and emotional engineering. This review uses the PRISMA method to conduct a systematic literature review of 147 studies on building environment assessment using emotional engineering methods, and discusses the relationship between the building environment and humans, especially in terms of emotions, cognition, behavior, and physiology. Through a systematic literature review, the theoretical basis of emotional architecture is put forward. It constructs the interactive mode and theoretical framework of emotional architecture and reveals that the combination of artificial intelligence, big data and machine learning may be the new direction of emotional architecture research in the future. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Human-Centric Space Design: Occupant Comfort, Wellbeing, and Post-occupancy Evaluation of Multi-Scale Built Environment)

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