Are people willing to share living space? Household preferences in Finland
This paper explores citizens’ interest in space sharing in private housing. It is based on a large-scale random sample citizen survey (N = 1448) conducted in Finland focusing on multiple aspects of low-carbon housing. Both quantitative preference-related results and qualitatively analysed open quest...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Ubiquity Press
2024-11-01
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| Series: | Buildings & Cities |
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| Online Access: | https://account.journal-buildingscities.org/index.php/up-j-bc/article/view/453 |
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| author | Enni Ruokamo Eliisa Kylkilahti Michael Lettenmeier Anne Toppinen |
| author_facet | Enni Ruokamo Eliisa Kylkilahti Michael Lettenmeier Anne Toppinen |
| author_sort | Enni Ruokamo |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This paper explores citizens’ interest in space sharing in private housing. It is based on a large-scale random sample citizen survey (N = 1448) conducted in Finland focusing on multiple aspects of low-carbon housing. Both quantitative preference-related results and qualitatively analysed open question responses show that the concept of shared space use is relatively low in popularity. However, there are differences depending on the space to be shared. Approximately half of the respondents are willing to use shared space for exercise, children playing and repairing activities, whereas a small fraction would use it for cooking, working and studying, or guest accommodation. Respondents’ backgrounds only slightly impact the willingness to share spaces. However, people in urban areas are more willing to share spaces. Larger floor area per inhabitant is negatively associated with the willingness to share spaces. This implies that sufficiency in housing is linked with space-sharing interests. This paper concludes that space-sharing is relatively unattractive under present conditions. Improving functionality and social trust by attractive design, clearer user rules and spreading good examples could be approaches to enhance the situation. Practice relevance Space-sharing as an operationalisation of housing sufficiency could be an attractive avenue for increasing the utilisation rate and efficiency of space use among households. Based on the results from a survey of Finnish citizens, space-sharing received somewhat mixed responses, although 75% of respondents indicated at least some willingness for sharing activities. Respondents with high climate-change awareness and those living in urban areas are associated positively with an interest in space-sharing. Future development needs to increase the attractiveness of sharing spaces include paying attention to the design of shared spaces, formulating clear user rules, creating functional booking and fee systems, and building awareness towards responsible user practices. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-a9bbd375d1cb45fea4426f3c118551aa |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 2632-6655 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-11-01 |
| publisher | Ubiquity Press |
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| series | Buildings & Cities |
| spelling | doaj-art-a9bbd375d1cb45fea4426f3c118551aa2025-08-20T02:32:18ZengUbiquity PressBuildings & Cities2632-66552024-11-0151601–619601–61910.5334/bc.453453Are people willing to share living space? Household preferences in FinlandEnni Ruokamo0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2896-4800Eliisa Kylkilahti1https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0116-224XMichael Lettenmeier2https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6428-0775Anne Toppinen3https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0910-1505Finnish Environment Institute (Syke), OuluDepartment of Economics and Management, University of Helsinki, HelsinkiDepartment of Economics and Management, University of Helsinki, HelsinkiDepartment of Forest Sciences, University of Helsinki, HelsinkiThis paper explores citizens’ interest in space sharing in private housing. It is based on a large-scale random sample citizen survey (N = 1448) conducted in Finland focusing on multiple aspects of low-carbon housing. Both quantitative preference-related results and qualitatively analysed open question responses show that the concept of shared space use is relatively low in popularity. However, there are differences depending on the space to be shared. Approximately half of the respondents are willing to use shared space for exercise, children playing and repairing activities, whereas a small fraction would use it for cooking, working and studying, or guest accommodation. Respondents’ backgrounds only slightly impact the willingness to share spaces. However, people in urban areas are more willing to share spaces. Larger floor area per inhabitant is negatively associated with the willingness to share spaces. This implies that sufficiency in housing is linked with space-sharing interests. This paper concludes that space-sharing is relatively unattractive under present conditions. Improving functionality and social trust by attractive design, clearer user rules and spreading good examples could be approaches to enhance the situation. Practice relevance Space-sharing as an operationalisation of housing sufficiency could be an attractive avenue for increasing the utilisation rate and efficiency of space use among households. Based on the results from a survey of Finnish citizens, space-sharing received somewhat mixed responses, although 75% of respondents indicated at least some willingness for sharing activities. Respondents with high climate-change awareness and those living in urban areas are associated positively with an interest in space-sharing. Future development needs to increase the attractiveness of sharing spaces include paying attention to the design of shared spaces, formulating clear user rules, creating functional booking and fee systems, and building awareness towards responsible user practices.https://account.journal-buildingscities.org/index.php/up-j-bc/article/view/453buildingsco-housinghousinghousing designshared spacesharingsocial practicesspace usagesufficiencyfinland |
| spellingShingle | Enni Ruokamo Eliisa Kylkilahti Michael Lettenmeier Anne Toppinen Are people willing to share living space? Household preferences in Finland Buildings & Cities buildings co-housing housing housing design shared space sharing social practices space usage sufficiency finland |
| title | Are people willing to share living space? Household preferences in Finland |
| title_full | Are people willing to share living space? Household preferences in Finland |
| title_fullStr | Are people willing to share living space? Household preferences in Finland |
| title_full_unstemmed | Are people willing to share living space? Household preferences in Finland |
| title_short | Are people willing to share living space? Household preferences in Finland |
| title_sort | are people willing to share living space household preferences in finland |
| topic | buildings co-housing housing housing design shared space sharing social practices space usage sufficiency finland |
| url | https://account.journal-buildingscities.org/index.php/up-j-bc/article/view/453 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT enniruokamo arepeoplewillingtosharelivingspacehouseholdpreferencesinfinland AT eliisakylkilahti arepeoplewillingtosharelivingspacehouseholdpreferencesinfinland AT michaellettenmeier arepeoplewillingtosharelivingspacehouseholdpreferencesinfinland AT annetoppinen arepeoplewillingtosharelivingspacehouseholdpreferencesinfinland |