Homes and people : an analysis of influences on satisfaction of public housing tenants in Malta

Abstract

My interest in public housing was enkindled during the four years I worked in the Housing Division of the Public Works Department. Throughout this period (October 1969 to November 1973) housing scheme after scheme was being transformed from a set of drawings into stone and mortar in rapid succession. The politicians' major concern was the construction of the maximum number of dwelling units with the available resources of time, labour and money. The architects' duty was then to design these units and arrange them in as pleasant layouts as possible, on the land available, I have always believed that the success of any designed object can best be evaluated by how far this goes in satisfying its users, or those who experience it. It became increasingly obvious to me that there was more to "housing" than just building dwellings, and that in the absence of a feedback mechanism to provide the relevant information, the success or failure of the projects could never be ascertained. It was for this reason that I selected this field of study when I joined the staff of the Department of Architecture. In the course of preparing this work I discovered that housing is a much more complex field than I had ever imagined. Within the time and resources available to me I could only scratch the surface by collating, in a systematic way, the influences on user satisfaction and making some general recommendations for future programmes. This work is divided into three parts: (1) An introductory historical background to the phenomenon of public housing. (2) A discussion on housing as a system and the various influences on user satisfaction. (3) The results of a survey carried out on eight public housing projects on the island. The discussion in Part Two is obviously influenced by the results obtained from the survey, which is fully described in Part Three. Several recommendations are made throughout the text and chapter 12 summarises the major policy and design implications derived from the results of the survey. The final chapter consists of an argument and proposals for a more direct user participation in public housing.