The At-Home Feeling

Research article

Would residents also close their windows if they knew the consequences to our social environment? Is it the designers' responsibility to design a residential area where everyone feels connected to the neighbourhood with its people? Or is there another way to contribute to the at-home feeling?

”Housing is a composite commodity that fulfils several human needs” (Becker, Khosravi, Sr Dr Mohd Tawil, & 2 Monshizadeh, 2016). Gary Becker, a professor of economics and sociology at the University of Chicago, states that housing is not just about building homes. Dwelling is, without a doubt, the biggest need but a social space that provides interaction often determines the quality of living.

This paper will stress the importance of the design of a street that makes people feel at home. Alexandra Stoddard, who is an author, designer, and lifestyle philosopher, states the following: “At home, you have the freedom to be quiet and alone and feel connected to everyone and everything” (Stoddard, 1999). It is about the search for the purpose of a residential street where people will feel at home. To get a better understanding of the impact that social spaces have on the quality of living, it is important to start at the very beginning of social life.

In the 16th century, almost all of the social life took place on squares, streets, quays, and bridges, where the markets were held, and most of the social interaction took place. From the time of urbanization in the 19th century, traffic and activity increased, leading to an increase in the number of streets. This was also the time when rules for buildings along the street were introduced due to shade and crowding. Until the mid-20th century, the streets had focussed on the exchange where social and economic life was stimulated. However, this focus radically changed due to the separation of functions. Sidewalks were introduced in order to give

the pedestrians a safe area on the street and greenery was planted to clarify the outlines for each kind of modality. After the start of separating functions, streets became even more divided once the cohesive space disappeared. This separation resulted in a strong hierarchy between all different kinds of modalities. Suddenly, a new life was breathed into the residential streets in which the human scale became very important. This new approach resulted in areas where pedestrians were favoured. However, other traffic modalities were impeded, which resulted in less lively streets. This design was created as an alternative for the separation of functions. This alternative has led to the emergence of the well-known 'home zones' which include shared space, traffic calming, and low speed limits. It is the opposite of the strong separation of functions, because there is no separation at all (Teeffelen, Zweerink, & Van der Werf, 2021). Over the years, the car has occupied a dominant place in the street profile and conditions for slow traffic have become interrupted, but provided better conditions for cars instead. Foot and bike paths have been narrowed or merged with unsafe conditions as a result.

The biggest problem we must deal with now, is concerning the way designers stimulate the quality of living. Several psychological studies show that social connections are essential in creating an at-home feeling. This is exactly why the following thesis is formulated. In order to make people feel more at home, streets in residential areas should always be designed to connect private places with public spaces. Streets in residential areas could provide a subtle transition between the private and the public domain. Moreover, this paper concerns the definition and interpretation of the at-home feeling, why is it important, and how can urban planning interventions contribute to this vital quality? 

The at-home feeling

The reasons behind the characteristics of our residential environment seem needles to talk about, often preventing us from asking such obvious questions as: Why do we cover our windows? Why is it that we rarely put a bed on the ground floor at the street side? And why do we decorate our front yards? Et similia. Answers solely referring to social cohesion and privacy which has everything to do with the public space adjacent to the homes. The design of public spaces mostly determines whether the curtains are open or not, because logically you cannot ask the residents themselves to do this. It is about a combination of the possibility to have social interactions on the one hand and preventing an intrusion into one's personal affairs on the other hand to encourage an at-home feeling.

The at-home feeling can differ per individual in the exact same situation. According to a research article regarding the elements that will ensure the at-home feeling, home is defined as a multiscalar and context-dependent concept, which is socially constructed through experiences (Feng & Breitung, 2017). This research has shown that social contacts are the most influential, followed by functional division.

“Home does not always feel like home” (Mooradian, 2004) is the title of an article in which psychological and social support is explored. This means that living somewhere does not always go hand in hand with the at-home feeling. It is mainly about the behaviour that you may or may not feel comfortable or familiar with. Experiences arise from a certain type of behaviour that you are used to as an individual. According to this article, social support is essential in order to have a smooth adjustment for different cultures with different experiences. Therefore, streets should provide room for a variety of different types of cultures with its behaviour.

Behaviour itself can be subdivided into two systems, unconscious behaviour and conscious behaviour. Unconscious behaviour is the impulsive system that makes decisions intuitive, automatically and quickly with little or no effort. In other words, unconscious behaviour is about the system that we call our gut feeling. Conscious behaviour is categorised as the rational and reflective system that requires thinking. 95% of human behaviour is unconscious (Kahneman, 2011). Because of the fact that the at-home feeling is based on experiences, most of this feeling consists of unconscious behaviour. Furthermore, people prefer habitual behaviour over change which makes it overly complex to influence the at-home feeling (Tversky & Kahneman, 1974).

According to research regarding the influence of the social environment that influence both conscious and unconscious behaviour, three key factors are highlighted. The first is about the social environment and contains surroundings, climate and sphere which determines behaviour. This key factor refers to conscious behaviour and the elements in the street that lead to unconscious behaviour. The second is about the habits which are often ingrained manners and it is only about the unconscious behaviour based on experiences. The third is about intuition and suggests that people need to act intuitively and can therefore make mistakes in thinking. This one is about unconscious behaviour based on acting as one thinks they should in a particular situation (Tversky & Kahneman, 1974). Designers should always explore these factors thoroughly in order to undergo location- and person-specific interventions to strengthen the social interaction.

Connecting places

As human beings, social interaction is an essential aspect that contributes to our life. Throughout our lives, we learn to interact with others which has a crucial impact on not only our social lives, but our physical, mental, and emotional health as well. Therefore, research has shown the importance of social interactions, but why would we like that?

More than half of a person's life is spent at home (Roberts, 2001) and due to the current pandemic this number will be even higher. Because of the fact that we are here so often, it is so important that we have an enjoyable time here. Social interaction is one of the most crucial factors regarding the well-being of everyone, ranging from childhood through late adulthood (Steptoe, Dockray, & Wardle, 2009). Although social interaction is complex, it is vital to generate the at-home feeling. In social science, social interactions can be defined as the basis of any interdependency between individuals or individuals within a common group.

As argued in the book ‘Multinomial choice with social interactions’, the decisions of one individual will be influenced by the behaviour and characteristics of others (Brock & Durlauf, 2003). Charles Frederick Manski, an econometrician known for the identification of social interactions says a person’s social interactions with the neighbourhood consists of two factors: contextual and endogenous (Manski, 2000). Contextual refers to those factors that are group specific and based on the characteristics of the group members. Endogenous refers to the way people are affected by the contemporaneous behavioural choices of group members. There is an increasing recognition that social interactions do play a major role in explaining individual behaviours.

Most of the research in the field of social interaction focuses on its positive aspects but the negative side of it has received considerably less attention. Negative interactions may include invading another’s privacy, interfering in another’s affairs, or failing to provide help to others. The negative social interactions could cause an individual to experience an adverse psychological reaction such as invading another's privacy (Emerson, 1976). However, these negative effects can largely be prevented by careful design. "People come where people are" (Gehl, 2010), is a common Scandinavian saying which suggests that people are influenced by the presence of other people and causes a certain type of behaviour.

To bring out the positive effects of social interactions, planners should have the aim of more than just ensuring that people can walk and cycle in the city. According to the urban planner and architect Jan Gehl, planners need to do more than merely provide sufficient space for movement. Planners need to focus on to the much more important challenge of enabling people to have social interactions (Gehl, 2010). Social interactions should be the starting point for the planning of streets that encompasses the vital qualities that ensure the liveability in a city.

Designing the at-home feeling

Richard Thaler, who has done research on behavioural science states the following: “The intervention must count as a mere nudge where any aspect of the choice architecture alters people’s behaviour in a predictable way without forbidding any options.” (Thaler & Sunstein, 2008). This means that the public space must stimulate social interaction and prevent the street from leading to adverse unconscious behaviour. The design of a street must prevent the users from having the opportunity to practice behaviour that can have a negative effect on the at-home feeling. In the book Cities for People, written by Jan Gehl, cities are analysed in order to improve the liveability of the residents of multiple cities all around the world. The approach to this is divided into the four vital qualities of a city, which are safety, lively, sustainability, and health. It is debatable which of these four elements is the most important one, but each provides benefits to improve the quality of living. The way these qualities are applied to depends on the place itself (Gehl, 2010).

Feeling safe is, according to Jan Gehl, one of the most crucial qualities of a residential street. Life and the actual residents make the streets more inviting and safer in terms of neither experienced nor perceived security. According to Jane Jacobs, a journalist, author, theorist, and activist who influenced urban studies and sociology, ‘eyes on the street’ is a particularly important aspect to improve the (social) safety (Jacobs, 1993). Eyes on the street means the connection between people in the public area and the residents in their homes. A few things are necessary when you want to achieve this connection correctly. There needs to be life in buildings, soft edges of buildings or homes, clear structures, clear-cut territories, and a soft transition between private and public space.

The lively city is about the advantages of high social interactions between people. Research has shown that life in cities is a self-reinforcing process, meaning that cities should contain a carefully planned public space that supports the processes that reinforce life in the streets. This way of carefully planned streets will make the possibility of negative consequences very small and will most likely contribute to the at-home feeling. The inviting and lively city can be seen as a goal itself but can also be the starting point to designing with a high liveability. The lively city is not only about numbers, crowds, and the size of the city. Moreover, the sense that city space is inviting and popular that creates a meaningful place, a place where people want to live in. City life is a matter of quantity and quality in which the public space must be adapted to the street itself. It is necessary to have a clear picture of the wants and needs of the residents or future residents to influence their behaviour in a positive way.

There is a large and growing interest in sustainable cities and that is for a good cause. The transportation sector in particular, is an important item for streets. However, giving a higher priority to pedestrian and bicycle traffic would be a significant element in overall sustainable policies. One of the biggest advantages of bicycle and pedestrian networks over cars is the space they occupy. Pedestrian and bicycle traffic do not crowd city space and make a positive contribution to green accounts by reducing a lot of pollution and carbon emissions. The biggest advantage of slow traffic is that it greatly expands the field of social vision. When people move slower, the social contact is greater, this is because of the fact that several details can be included in this way. 

The relation between health and urban planning is an important topic, well-planned sustainability could improve health, but this is not the only factor. According to Jan Gehl, a good city space provides a valuable contribution to health policy which means that a good public space invites people to go outside, to exercise, and to meet. "Invitation is the keyword in this connection to city quality on the small scale – at eye level – is crucial" (Gehl, 2010). This invitation could be reached in several ways, but the most important is to consider the wants and needs of the residents in the specific street.

Conclusion and recommendations

The world is changing and so does the degree of importance shift with regards to social connections in a street. Every time and place requires a different method to contribute to the at-home feeling. This paper answered the questions: what, why, and how to approach the design of the public space of streets in residential areas. It is important to ensure the at-home feeling in order to determine the quality of living. Over time, shifting attitudes regarding the human scale in urban projects have resulted in fewer social connections in the streets. Social interactions have been interrupted by barriers such as cars. Designers can have a great influence on the stimulation of the at-home feeling by designing public spaces in the streets thoroughly. This paper has delved into the definition of the at-home feeling, why social connections play such an important role and how it can be achieved.

From the research, we can conclude that the at-home feeling can differ a lot per individual, but the environment also plays a major role. The at-home feeling is mostly based on the behaviour you may or may not feel familiar with. When we look more closely at behaviour, we find that it can be divided into two types, conscious and unconscious. Most of our experiences are determined by unconscious behaviour which means that the (social) environment plays a considerable role. There are three key factors regarding the influence of both conscious and unconscious behaviour which are about the social environment, habits and intuition. Designers should take these factors into consideration to undergo location- and person-specific interventions for behaviour that leads to positive change of social relations.

It is now clear that public space must stimulate social interaction, according to Jan Gehl, this can be achieved by designing according to four vital qualities. The first one is safety and is, according to Jane Jacobs, mostly about 'eyes on the street'. This is about connecting the private domain with the public space. The second is the lively city which is a matter of quantity and quality. Creating a lively street differs per location which is why general interventions cannot be named, as long as the design fits the location and its inhabitants. The third is about sustainability which has environmental advantages but social and spatial advantages as well. The fourth and last one is about health where 'invitation' is the key word, paucis verbis, the invitation to go outside and meet each other.

In order to make people feel more at home, streets in residential areas should be designed based on the four vital qualities that enhance social interaction. These qualities should stimulate a certain desired behaviour with little opportunity for negative behaviour to occur. In this way, the public space of the street can provide connections with private places which contributes greatly to the at-home feeling.

Research regarding the advantages of social interactions has told us that those positively influence the liveability of a residential area when the public space in the streets is well designed. We can now say that for the design of the most advantageous at-home feeling, further research is necessary because, as mentioned before, home is a context-dependent concept that can be interpreted in different ways by different people. I would therefore recommend using this research on designing the at-home feeling as a basis for an urban development project.

References

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This project is a fictitious project based on current trends. No external parties were involved in this project