Housing Usability and Public Residential Buildings in Ado-Ekiti, Nigeria
The Case for Universal Design
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.56180/jes.vol1.iss1.39Keywords:
Aging, disability, public housing, usability, universal design, usersAbstract
Most studies on public housing focus on abstract and generalised categories such as gender, class, income and tenure; leaving the age and functional limitation categories virtually unexplored. This has the tendency of giving misleading recommendations to the policymakers regarding improvements on existing housing stocks and concerning the design and construction of future housing projects. The purpose of this paper was to carry out a usability study of public housing estates that was based on all categories of users including age and functional capability. Structured questionnaire was administered on 157 participants drawn from two public housing estates in Ado-Ekiti. The data obtained were analysed using frequency counts and percentages. Chi-squared test was also conducted on the results to determine whether significance difference exists in the usability level across all categories of users of the housing estates. Findings revealed that the level of housing usability was generally low, but was higher for the young and able-bodied than the old and physically challenged tenants. The paper closes by advocating for adherence to the principles of universal design in future public housing proposals.
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