Exploring Theory and Practice of Multi-family Housing Development in terms of Health and Well-being

As the population growth and the structure of service-centered modern industries, cities have been densely populated areas. According to the phenomenon, the demand for housing has exceeded the supply. To solve the lack of... [ view full abstract ]

As the population growth and the structure of service-centered modern industries, cities have been densely populated areas. According to the phenomenon, the demand for housing has exceeded the supply. To solve the lack of housing inventory, housing developers have supplied houses intensively, especially the multi-family housing has led the development trend for last decades (CBRE, 2017). While the intensive growth, the public interest in health and well-being has grown (United Nation Department Programme, 2010). To satisfy the public in terms of health and wellness, housing developments have been competitive (IBIS, 2017). In this situation, the built environment research organizations; US Green Building Council, International Well Building Institute, the Fitwell system, and International Living Future Institute, have emerged and studied the influence of the built environment on health and well-being. Their research outputs have theoretically guided architects and developers when they work in the built environment by considering environmental qualities. The Southeast area of U.S. is the most distributed area of multi-family housing (IBIS, 2017) and housing developers in the area have developed multi-family housing facilities by using their conceptual perspectives in terms of health and well-being (Rider T.R., 2018). This study explores theories of the built environment research organizations and practices of multi-family housing developers in the Southeast of the U.S. by comparing the perspectives and approaches of the theories and developers in terms of health and well-being. This research aims to investigate the gap between theory and practice in the multi-family housing development to support the public health. This paper identifies (1) the multi-family housing developers’ perspectives and approaches to develop their housing facilities in terms of health and wellness, (2) overlapped and separated area between the perspectives and approaches of the developers and the research organizations guidelines, and (3) the other area which does not fit the guideline but is applicable to be added in the guideline in future. As the result, this research illustrates (1) reference for the multi-family housing development in terms of health and well-being, (2) overlapped and separated area between theory and practice in the multi-family housing development, and (3) potential guideline from practice to theory. Consequently, this paper proposes how the multi-family housing developers can support the public health through the built environment by considering health and well-being of their occupants.