Abstract
W. Schonwandt: Hinweise der Sozialwissenschaft zur Wohnungs-planung, Shriftenreihe “Bau- und Wohn-forschung” des Bundesministers für Raum-ordnung, Bauwesen und Städtebau, 1982
Based on “The Suggestions for the Design Method of Houses from the Social Science Study” as the major reference source, this paper attempts to clarify the overall status of the studies on the collective housing in such countries as Germany, U.S.A. and England. It then makes the comparative study on the user needs research of houses and its design method between Europe and Japan. In order to correctly understand the flow of the related researches, it also refers to the “User Needs Research in Housing” written by Madame C. Cooper-Marcus of the University of California at Berkeley as the second reference source. The history of the research described by Madame Cooper-Marcus indicates the recent research of collective housing tends to become more scientific as the true needs of users (residents) are sought. The main focus in the history of the research in Europe has been on the way of living based on the post war recovery planning. Schonwandt made a proposal based on his analysis of the bibliographic data based between the end of the war and 1982. In his thesis on Europe and U.S.A., emphasis is not placed on the importance of such a subject as is the main issue in Japan: rationalization of living conditions to cope with the minimum size of housing in Japan. Western researcher are rather optimistic about the design method of houses as they stressed the aspects of psychological or mental health in family life or of self discipline or sociality in the child's growth. In short, user needs in Europe seem to be based on the simple humanism without self control. On the other hand, in Japan such humanism is somewhat restrained and functionalism in the life management seems to play a greater role. This paper does not fully cover the whole researches con-ducted in Europe or U.S.A. The author intends to deepen and broaden the scope of study in the future collecting relevant data and covering the countries not covered so far, specific researchers and the peripheral fields of the study.
