Sustainable Small House Living in the UK

It is now the case that the majority of the world’s population lives in an urban environment. This brings certain advantages such as access to strong cultural resources, medical facilities and employment possibilities. However, urban living is also associated with a number of problems such as raised levels of air pollution, social isolation and unaffordable accommodation costs. Various solutions have been proposed to alleviate this last issue including the construction of smaller and therefore more affordable living spaces. However little is known about the minimum acceptable standard of small space living. This paper aims to provide more information on this issue using social survey techniques. Specifically it looks at the relative preference of a group of young people for a selection of alternative small low cost living space designs. Within the designs certain issues are assumed as standard such as access to adequate daylight, thermal comfort and ventilation only the space allocation, facities provided and costs vary. The survey group were presented with details of the alternative designs and their cost implications and asked to select their preference. The results of the survey give an indication of the minimum acceptable space requirements of the group who are most likely to go on to occupy small urban living spaces.