This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Appold, S. Articles by Yuen, B. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                   What's this?

Families in Flats, Revisited

Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise, Kenan-Flagler Business School, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, CB 3440, Kenan Centre, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3440, USA, appold{at}unc.edu

Belinda Yuen

School of Building and Real Estate Management, National University of Singapore, 10 Kent Ridge Crescent, Singapore. Fax: 65 775 5502, rstbyuen{at}nus.edu.sg

High-rise flats occupy an ambiguous position in contemporary discussions of urbanism. While allowing for densely populated walking environments, they are widely seen as culturally inappropriate and, whether based on theories of life cycle or lifestyle, especially unsuitable for families with children. Despite the frequent discussion, empirical research into the impact of housing on daily life is rare and, because of strong selection effects, lacks generalisability. The high-rise flats of Singapore provide the opportunity for a natural experiment isolating the impact of neighbourhood density from domestic density in that the prevalence of high-rises with large flats makes it possible to isolate the treatment effects of apartment living on families from the selection effects of housing choice. On the basis of comparisons of adult time-use diaries across household types and societies, it is concluded that the direct effect of apartment living on families is minimal. Nevertheless, planning and management issues along with broader economic and fertility trends will probably moderate any potential movement of families into flats.

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?