ZEMCH 2019 International Conference Proceedings April.2020 | Page 449
Figure 2. Expansions in house unit from Anglo neighbourhood. Images by Naurb [7].
4. Discussion
Previous studies have indicated that small changes in the current process of provision of social
housing could create opportunities for mass customization [11]. However, several conclusions from
confronting the mass customization processes with the process of provision of social housing and the
post‐occupancy processes, indicate that customizing the initial unit may not have lasting results in
terms of satisfying the families’ needs and avoiding problematic situations over time.
An important consideration is that mass customizer companies usually profit by attracting more
customers with customized products, gaining their fidelity, or taking advantage of their willingness to
pay a premium for a custom product [13]. However, these options are not available in this social
housing context. The amount the company can receive per unit is capped and the families do not have
a choice of developer. Stakeholders from different spheres of government are more interested in higher
number of units built than higher quality in design. This appears in all publicity and even official
program websites state that priority will be given to proposals that reach a higher number of
families[14]. Therefore, the companies still would not be motivated to mass customize even if the added
effort and cost were only marginally higher.
Furthermore, regulations around the numbers and types of rooms that the units must have,
combined with the restricted floor area to keep the costs low, mean that there is very little that can be
customized in terms of the families’ space needs. Although these regulations are necessary to establish
a minimum standard, they also have been identified as a barrier to mass customization. Investing in
flexibility could be a way to allow for the families to better satisfy their needs after occupancy while
still building all equal initial units within the regulation.
However, the way the families currently change and expand their units also leads to problems for
themselves, the neighbourhood and the city. National legislation has recognized the need to provide
technical assistance to low income families in housing design, including for renovations [15]. However,
most municipalities do not provide such assistance. This is understandable since the costs for
professionals to work individually with each family are high and the funding limited. Moreover, even
in cases which such technical assistance is available, it is usually only for families living in informal
settlements not for families of such social housing neighbourhoods since the latter are considered as
already adequately housed.
It is also important to highlight that the needs of the families change over time. Thus, having a
strategy to customize the initial unit and not addressing this as a process over time could still lead to
the same problems, especially with the expansions. One of the main advantages of a post‐occupancy
mass customization approach, compared to the way the families currently change their units, is that
there would be an established ‘solution space’ [16] for the housing product, outlining what can and
what cannot be built, thus, avoiding the problematic changes. However, some changes to the current
Post-occupancy Mass Customization for Social Housing Developments of the Lowest Income Range
in Brazil: Possibilities for Improving Neighbourhoods as they Evolve Over Time
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