ZEMCH 2015 - International Conference Proceedings | Page 492

Introduction Chile has made substantial efforts in order to ensure the provision of adequate housing solutions to people in social vulnerability. The country’s low-income housing policy—strongly reliant on private enterprise whilst financed through savings and demand-side subsidies—is often regarded as an example of successful governance for its capacity to cope with a growing demand for units whilst reducing the accumulated deficit to an historic minimum (Held 2000; Chamorro 2013). This success, nonetheless, is increasingly being challenged by significant qualitative problems in neighbourhoods and dwellings as well as by high levels of dissatisfaction among their residents (Arriagada and Sepúlveda 2001; INVI 2002; Sugranyes 2005). In this context, a number of public and non-governmental initiatives are currently exploring alternative approaches to housing design and development aiming to enhance residential quality through active community interventions, participatory design and incremental housing (e.g. Atria 2007; Naranjo and Purcell 2010). The outcomes of these initiatives have been extensively reported and discussed; however, understanding the impacts of self-help personalisation on residential satisfaction is a problem that may need further analysis. Residential satisfaction is considered to be a fundamental component of life quality and general wellbeing (Sirgy and Cornwell 2002; Balestra and Sultan 2013), hence its significance for housing policies aimed to assist people in social vulnerability (Kahana et al. 2003). Most of the literature acknowledges the complexity of this phenomenon as involving diverse social, physical and psychological factors; nonetheless, there is a degree of consensus when defining residential satisfaction as a measure of the difference between actual and expected residential conditions (Lu 1999). Galster and Hesser (1981), for example, assume that individuals undergo constant evaluation of their housing conditions based on their own needs and expectations in a process that ultimately defines their residential satisfaction levels. Similarly, Morris and Winter (1975) explain residential satisfaction as a result of the relationship between culturally derived norms and perceived characteristics of a neighbourhood and dwelling. According to both theories, lack of adequacy between residential environment and household needs results in misfits that can motivate different forms of housing adjustment such as modifications or extensions to the dwelling, relocation, or even adaptations at the household structure level. In the context of social housing, self-help personalisation becomes a fundamental strategy for low-income households aiming to improve their own residential conditions (Ibem and Amole 2012). Chile’s extensive experience with self-help housing dates back to the 1950’s (Haramoto 1983; Hidalgo 2005; García et al. 2009); however, over the past decades the country’s housing policy has progressively reduced the space for self-help action and privileged the economic advantages of close to finished industrialised products (Sugrayes 2005). Nonetheless, self-construction is still a ubiquitous phenomenon in these developments and may be harnessed towards enhanced residential quality without breaching the limits of affordable production (Greene and Rojas 2008; Aravena and Iacobelli 2012). This study uses survey data and statistical analysis to explore existing links between different personalisation strategies and satisfaction levels during early stages of occupancy in Chilean social housing to explore potential impacts that initiatives relying on self-help action may have on residential wellbeing within current normative constraints. Methods A residential satisfaction survey was conducted on four housing complexes located in Concep- 490 ZEMCH 2015 | International Conference | Bari - Lecce, Italy