Shrinking sizes in growing numbers; a review of residential qualities in today´s small apartments

Abstract

This thesis explores, examines and presents today's apartment housing - its appearance, residential qualities and numbers. An increasing proportion of what is built are small apartments and the small ones are getting smaller - Shrinking Sizes in Growing Numbers. This thesis field of study is housing, with the state of the Swedish housing market and the apartments that are being built today as the major subject of research. This thesis shows examples of the trend of decreasing apartment sizes and that the proportion of small and usually single-sided apartments is increasing. The formation of a database of studio apartments will be used as a tool in the process towards the outcome of this thesis; statistics, reflections and in-depth analyzes of the apartments in this database. Theoretical research is conducted by examining the history of Swedish housing and conditions that shape today's apartment living, how different conditions; actors, building regulations, market forces, policy making, population development, builders and architects have shaped contemporary Swedish apartment housing. The research process is conducted by creating a collection of building permits for apartment housing. Followed by a quantitative analysis of preset criteria, with the aim of producing a database and statistics. Secondly, a qualitative analysis of the studio apartments in the building permit collection. Third, a case study based on a selection of 16 different apartment types from the database classified into two categories characterized by the degree of residential qualities among these; Examples of Studio Apartments with Good Residential Qualities and Examples of Studio Apartments with Lower Residential Qualities. Overall, this thesis presents an overview of today's apartment housing and an in-depth investigation of the residential qualities in today's studio apartments in a Swedish context.