Residents' Perceptions of the Outdoor Spaces of Environmentally-friendly Apartment Complexes

The purpose of this study is to examine residents' perceptions of the outdoor spaces of environmentally-friendly apartment complexes focused on quality of life. On-site intercept surveys were performed to collect data and samples were selected from the residents who are currently living in two different environmentally-friendly certified apartment complexes. This study has examined importance and satisfaction of outdoor spaces of the study sites as they relate to quality of life, as well as they correlation between the New Environmental Paradigm(NEP), and satisfaction and loyalty, respectively. Data were analyzed using several statistical methods including descriptive statistics, Importance-Satisfaction Analysis(ISA), t-test, and correlation. The results suggest that outdoor spaces of the apartment complexes are perceived as an important place to improve residents' quality of life. Residents showed a high satisfaction rate to the natural environmental features(e.g. natural areas present, amenity of space) while they showed a lower satisfaction rate to the social environmental features(e.g. access to public transportation). Although most residents tend to have the New Environmental Paradigm based on the study results, NEP did not influence the level of satisfaction in environmentally-friendly apartment complexes. In contrast, there was a significant relationship between NEP and loyalty. In addition, a strong correlation emerged between satisfaction of outdoor spaces and loyalty to the housing estates. Given these results, various recommendations were given to promote better use of outdoor spaces of dwellings to improve residents' quality of life.