The Influence of Urban Safety on Housing Choices

The Case of Traditional and Contemporary Housing Types in Palestine

Abstract

The paper analyzes Palestinian families’ preferences for housing types and explores changes in their choices after the earthquake of March 2023. The aim is to estimate urban resilience with changes in the housing environment regarding feeling safe. To do so, Nablus City was chosen as a case study due to its location in a seismic area. An empirical study was conducted in the city in traditional (cluster) and contemporary housing (apartment buildings), and thus, two neighborhoods were chosen. The study clarifies the differences between the architectural and urban characteristics of the selected types. Using questionnaires also measures users' satisfaction with their homes and the urban environment regarding safety and its influence on their future housing choices. A sample of 60 householders was chosen to explore the study objectives. The result of the study shows superior satisfaction with contemporary housing in terms of feeling safe due to its good physical conditions but dissatisfaction with many modern concepts such as weak relation with the outdoors and high rising. However, many traditional concepts can still give a safe feeling, like a low-rise environment, fewer units that share common areas, private entrances, and strong relations with outdoor spaces. Hence, the study's main conclusion is that current housing environments fail to provide good urban resiliency with the changing of housing choices after an earthquake in terms of feeling safe. Based on these findings, a discussion was conducted to provide detailed changes in housing choice decisions in Nablus City compared to the previous literature. Updating the current housing types for a much safer environment was also clarified and discussed.