The internal layout design of social housing in Libya : a cultural value perspective

Social housing is a basic human need and essential for the future of individuals and society. An appropriate housing internal layout plays a crucial role in the sustainable urban development. The fundamental goal of sustainable development in the built environment is to protect and improve the quality of life which lies at the heart of the interaction between the environment, economy, society and culture. Cultural sustainability reflects the ideas of how to accommodate local cultural values and norms with modem means. Previous research on housing design from an Islamic perspectivehas consistently concluded that traditional housing design for Muslims are affected by Islamic tenets, but that modern housing design did not adequately consider the cultural values which stem from Islamic rules. This conflict articulated in the literature, however, does not go on to provide an adequate explanation of its causes, and what constitutes appropriate internal layout design from an Islamic perspective. To investigate these questions a conceptual framework is offered for sustainable social housing layout design from a cultural value perspective which identifies and integrates:cultural capital - an intangible variable which expresses local cultural values that has to be explicated and considered in internal layout; social capital -a variable represents the actions taken by actors; and, structural capital -a variable is added to represent applicable sustainable development indicators to evaluate social housing development from a cultural value. The conceptual framework was investigated and developed through a single case study. Semi-structure interviews were used to explore a variety of key actor perspectives on the 60,000 social housing units project in Libya. Content analysis and cognitive mapping were used as data analysis tools. The results revealed two different perspectives: the needs, flexibility, functionality, and adoptability of private areas, semi-private areas, and semi-public areas in housing units were sufficiently created in response to the lifestyle, religious activities, social occasions, family structure and family privacy from the local design teams and users' perspective. The preference of public areas was insufficiently identified in response to the family privacy from the users' perspective. In developing and testing the conceptual framework, the research findings contribute to sustainable development theory by affirming that cultural sustainability theory is significant for appropriate social housing layout design from a cultural value perspective. The results pointed out that an appropriate internal layout and design of social housing units that accommodates diverse user's activities and needs can be occupied for longer periods of time and can minimise environmentally and financially cost. Enhancing societal cultural heritage in the built environment benefits the overall population and helps raising cultural sensitivity and awareness that enriches the society