Block Level Social Contacts in Low-Cost Flats

This study evaluates the spatial properties of flats block, where daily social interactions often take place, in order to identify socially encouraging layouts. It attempts to establish any significant relationship between spatial properties of flats layouts and the local network of social relations among the residents. It employed network mapping to measure social contact sizes and utilized syntactical software to compare visibility and integration levels of various flats configurations. Findings showed possible relationship between flats spatial properties and the size of social contacts. Keywords: Flats configuration; Local Social Contact; Outdoor Near Home Space; Visibility; Integration. eISSN 2514-751X © 2018. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA cE-Bs by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open-access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia. https://doi.org/10.21834/aje-bs.v3i8.275