Description
CHAPTER ONE
1.0 INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
Student housing is essential to the attainment of quality education, most
especially in higher institutions were students come from far distance to study.
It has become increasingly important to evaluate housing for many reasons.
First of all, housing has become the target of critics and the media for being
highly unsatisfactory even though there is little or no empirical evidence to
back these claims. Second, evaluating housing provides the necessary
information required for ‘feed-back’ into current housing stock and ‘feed-
forward’ into future projects ( Preiser, 2019 ). It provides the basis for taking
decisions about improvements in current housing stock and about the design
and development of future housing. Third, the idea that an evaluation of the
performance of housing may be conducted makes housing managers, designers
and policy makers more accountable. To evaluate the performance of housing,
however, a suitable criterion has to be developed, and indeed, over the
years, many indicators of performance have been proposed. Amongst the
vari- ous criteria proposed, the concept of satisfaction has become the most
widely used in evaluating residential environments. It has been used
primarily to assess the performance of all types of residential environments
( Kangari, 2015; Wiedemann & Anderson, 2015 ). Satisfaction is defined as a
measure of the gap between consumers’ actual and aspired needs ( Galster,
2017 ). It is considered a very useful criterion in the evaluation of housing
because it indicates the general levels of success, measures the users’ affective
and cognitive responses, points out the irksome aspects of dwelling
environments and predicts user responses to future environments. It also
helps to identify the contribution of various factors to satisfaction, the
differences between different types of factors and the relationships between
various dimensions of the residential environment. In addition, satisfaction is
considered an important indicator of the quality of life, well-being and
happiness ( Elyes & Wilson, 2005; Mccrea et al., 2005). Unfortunately, majority
of the studies on residential satisfaction have been conducted in Western
countries. These studies have examined how satisfied users are with their
environments, the factors which account for satisfaction or dissatisfaction and
the models which may explain satisfaction. However, there is very little
research to inform us whether or not the results of the studies are
generalizable to other less developed countries. Hence, more research is
needed in other contexts to test the generalizability of the results and the
models developed in Western contexts. In addition, most of the studies which
examine residential satisfaction have focused more on social and management
attributes of housing than on its physical attributes. Hence, these studies have
been of very little influence and significance for design and planning
professionals.
Finally, very little is known about what predicts satisfaction in students’
housing. Studies of residential satisfaction in this context are few ( Kaya & Erkip,
2011 ). Yet, this form of housing represents a special type of housing for a
number of reasons. First students’ housing is a major form of accommodation
for university students who are in a transitory stage of life. Very little is known
about this category of users with respect to dwellings (Gifford, 2017). Second,
this type of housing has very peculiar characteristics, being different from the
single-family house and the apartment for single persons which are the
common forms of housing. Third, the setting of students’ housing is usually the
campus environment rather than the urban setting. Students’ residences
therefore constitute a peculiar type of housing with a special user group
which needs to be evaluated.
The aim of this paper, therefore, is to examine residential satisfaction in
students’ housing in some university campuses in Nigeria. It examines how
satisfied users are with their residential facilities and the factors which predict
satisfaction in this context. Finally, the paper examines whether and how the
morphological configurations of the residences predict satisfaction.
1.2 PROBLEM STATEMENT
Student housing is essential to the attainment of quality education, most
especially in higher institutions were students come from far distance to study.
The study of architecture has often been confronted with a number of
problems. One of the most important of these is the problem of understanding,
describing and classifying buildings. Understanding the characteristics of
buildings is important because buildings constitute points of historical
reference as well as the context for training future architects. Understanding
the differences between the architecture of buildings which serve different
functions may not be so difficult. The problem comes when trying to
understand and describe the architecture of buildings which serve the same
functions. It is often said that it is easier to describe an object by what it is not
than by what it is. This study provides an investigation of the satisfaction of
students with housing facilities in private higher institutions in Nigeria. This
study provides a possible direction for the management of higher institutions in
improving their students’ housing delivery in order to achieve higher students’
satisfaction.
1.3 AIM AND OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
The main aim of this work, therefore, is to examine residential satisfaction in
students’ housing in some university campuses in Nigeria. The objectives are:
i. To examine whether and how the morphological configurations of
the residences predict satisfaction.
ii. To provides an investigation of the satisfaction of students with
housing facilities in private higher institutions in Nigeria
iii. To ensure students housing satisfaction which at the end will
improve student academic performance
1.4 SCOPE OF THE STUDY
This paper describes the typological characteristics of students' residences in
Nigerian Universities. It asserts that this approach is useful because it provides
insight into the architect's thought processes, design culture and because it
provides a typological dimension to the evaluation of buildings-in-use. Based
on the concept of type as an abstraction and a logical principle guiding design,
a morphological approach to typological analysis was conducted.
1.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
This study will help the student to understand the need and importance of
having a satisfied housing provision. This study will also help the architect to
understand not only the buildings, but also the way think and how they design.
This study is useful because it provides insight into the architect’s
thought processes, design culture and because it provides a
typological dimension to the evaluation of buildings–in–use.
1.6 LIMITATION OF STUDY
As we all know that no human effort to achieve a set of goals goes without
difficulties, certain constraints were encountered in the course of carrying out
this project and they are as follows:-
i. Difficulty in information collection: I found it too difficult in laying
hands of useful information regarding this work and this course me to visit
different libraries and internet for solution.
ii. Financial Constraint: Insufficient fund tends to impede the
efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature
or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire
and interview).
iii. Time Constraint: The researcher will simultaneously engage in
this study with other academic work. This consequently will cut down on
the time devoted for the research work.
1.7 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
In the course of carrying this study, numerous sources were used which most
of them are by visiting libraries, consulting journal and news papers and online
research which Google was the major source that was used.
1.8 PROJECT ORGANISATION
The work is organized as follows: chapter one discuses the introductory part of
the work, chapter two presents the literature review of the study, chapter
three describes the methods applied, chapter four discusses the results of the
work, chapter five summarizes the research outcomes and the
recommendations.