WHAT MAKES CERTAIN HOUSING TYPOLOGIES MORE FAVORABLE: AN INVESTIGATION ON THE PERCEPTUAL QUALITIES OF THE LATE 20TH CENTURY GATED COMMUNITIES OF BATIKENT, ANKARA

Duygu GOKCE

Abstract

This paper investigated the housing preferences among the residents of late 20th-century gated community settings. Batikent, a successful gated community-based urban housing development initiated in the 1980s Ankara in Turkey, was chosen as a case study location. The goal was to determine the preferred home types, and the capacity of the given home environment to maintain the perceived residential quality, as well as the prominent perceived attributes influencing residential preferences. Gated community typologies were limited to those built in the Batikent region, hence restricting their socioeconomic classification to middle-income families. The four immediately distinct gated community typologies within the given location are single-family homes with one to three floors, as well as low-, medium-, and high-rise apartment buildings. A survey of 217 inhabitants was carried out to gauge their perceptions of residential satisfaction and preference traits. Regardless of the residents' present housing type, single-family homes were most preferred, followed by low-rise apartment complexes. The results were unaffected by additional variables like proximity to transit hubs, the broader characteristics of urban neighborhoods like population density, or demographic variations like age, gender, income level, length of residence, or ownership status. Batikent residents mainly tend to relocate themselves within the same district. Its perceived qualities were thus further investigated, and single-family houses showed more satisfaction with nature bonding. Social interaction, social bonding, and place identity were the major qualities behind their preferences. Overall, the research revealed that either it is the living habits or the spatial qualities of the gated communities behind the inhabitants’ residential preferences.

Pages: 44 - 55