A Post-Occupancy Evaluation Of Dwelling Density In Multifamily Apartments In Public Housing Estates In Lagos

ABSTRACT

This study is an attempt to establish how actual dwelling density during the habitation phase correlates with the programmed dwelling density during design phase in multifamily apartments in Lagos. In this regard, the research attempts to establish design density as the number of adultequivalent persons intended to occupy an apartment. It further attempts to determine the actual dwelling density as the number of adult-equivalent persons occupying the same apartments during habitation. Using Post-occupancy Evaluation (POE), the two results are compared to determine the strength of the association between the outcome occupancy and the predicted occupancy for different prototype apartments. The study is restricted to low-income and medium-income mass housing estates built by Lagos State Development and Property Corporation (LSDPC) between 1973 and 2005, which contain multifamily apartments. This investigation is a case study of LSDPC as a single unit entity, based on survey research design. Four large housing estates were purposively chosen for detailed study. Ebute-Metta estate is in the medium-income category, while the three low-income estates are Abesan, Iba, and Dolphin II. The unit of study is the original prototype apartments. The study population is 17,679. The sample frame is 7,764 comprising all the multifamily units in the four estates. Data for this study were obtained from primary and secondary sources. Data collection was through triangulation approach comprising survey, physical measurements of “as-built” floor plans of existing apartments, and an assessment of archival drawings from LSDPC’s database. The survey approach involved structured questionnaires, distributed to and collected from household heads. A probability sample design was employed to select apartments to be studied within each estate. A two-stage approach was applied to select representative sample sizes. In all, a 7.5% sample of the apartments was chosen from each estate as follows: Abesan (320), Dolphin II (43), Iba (179) and Ebute-Metta (40), totalling 582 apartments. These samples were then stratified according to the proportion of two-bedroom type, three-bedroom type, and four-bedroom type existing in each estate. A systematic random technique was finally applied to choose the eventual 582 units for detailed study. A total of 184 questionnaires were returned, giving an effective return rate of 32%.