Influences of socio-cultural values to community housing design in the Gaza Strip Palestine

Abstract

Rapid socio-cultural change in contemporary life is affecting housing design in the Gaza Strip Palestine. Alongside design issues of housing, the absence of sociocultural values is also one of the serious problems facing the community of the Gaza Strip . Academic literature shows that socio -cultural values are deeply rooted in housing design and can play an integral role in developing sustainable communities. Thus, scholars believe that socio-cultural values should be incorporated in housing design and have suggested further inquiry . However , integrating socio -cultural values in housing design is a challenge . Against this background , the current study aims to investigate the relationships between socio -cultural values and housing design by bridging research gaps identified in the literature. This study employed the triangulation study design using both quantitative and qualitative data to address the research objectives. The quantitative data of 252 respondents were obtained through questionnaires , followed by seven semi -structured interviews conducted with residents from the Gaza Strip to complement quantitative results and provide better understanding of socio-cultural values in the context of housing design. Quantitative data was analysed through structural equation modelling (SEM) using AMOS 22 and qualitative data was analysed through thematic analysis using NVIVO 11. The quantitative findings revealed that social values namely family structure (FS), family values (FV ), family life style (FLS ) and cultural factors namely privacy (PV ), religion and attitude beliefs (RAB), safety and security (SS) related positively with housing design (HD ). Several major themes of social and cultural values also emerged in explaining housing design. This study makes a novel contribution based on socio-cultural values and housing design in the field of built environment.