Housing Preferences of Women in High-Rise Gated Communities

Subject Areas : architecture

Sara Anbari ¹ , Abas Yazdanfar ² , Hadi Ghoddusifar ³ , Azadeh Shahcheraghi ⁴

1 - Department of Architecture, Faculty of Art and Architecture, South Tehran Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran.
2 - Associate Professor of Architecture, Faculty of Architecture and Urban Planning, Iran University of Science and Technology, Tehran, Iran.
3 - Department of Architecture, Faculty of Architecture, Islamic Azad University, South Tehran Branch, Tehran, Iran
4 - Department of Architecture, Faculty of Architecture, Islamic Azad University, Science and Research Branch, Tehran, Iran

Received: 2025-01-27 Accepted : 2025-04-10 Published : 2025-09-20

Keywords: Lifestyle of women, housing preferences, gated communities, housing behavior,

Abstract :

Lifestyle, as a comprehensive set of activities and behavioral patterns, significantly influences the formation of spatial needs and preferences within residential environments. Investigating this concept can facilitate architectural design and spatial planning in housing developments, ensuring a closer alignment between residents’ lived experiences and their actual requirements. Women, constituting half of society’s population and holding pivotal roles in household management, represent a critical demographic for understanding these dynamics. Analyzing their lifestyle offers valuable insights into how residential architecture impacts women’s physical and psychological well-being. Furthermore, it can inform the design of built environments that address their diverse spatial and functional needs more effectively. Despite its importance, the correlation between women’s lifestyles and housing design has been insufficiently explored in architectural research. This study aims to identify women’s spatial preferences and housing needs within high-rise gated communities in Tehran by analyzing their daily activities and lived experiences.

In this study, a qualitative ethnographic approach and the method of autoethnography were employed. To gain a deeper understanding of women’s lifestyles, life stories and narratives of activities carried out within the residential space were collected. After examining the demographic characteristics of participants, an effort was made to select women with similar household structures, marital status, age, education, and income levels. Ultimately, 35 women were purposefully chosen from prominent high-rise complexes. Participants were instructed to report their daily life experiences in a narrative format resembling storytelling. Following the extraction of daily activity patterns, individual and semi-structured interviews were conducted with the participants. For organizing the qualitative data, a coding technique was applied using thematic analysis and Braun and Clarke’s six-phase framework.

The summary of women’s preferences living in these communities reveals several broad, often overlapping, categories shaped by their diverse lifestyles and priorities. These categories include preferences associated with a busy lifestyle (requiring efficient and quiet spaces for work), family-oriented living (needing large, multifunctional spaces for family activities), solitude-seeking (prioritizing privacy and tranquility), community-centered living (desiring spaces for social interaction), cohabitation with pets (needing safe and dedicated areas for animals), and nature-oriented tendencies (valuing connection with green spaces and natural elements). The diverse range of women’s lifestyles in high-rise gated communities necessitates design and planning at the scale of private units, semi-public spaces, and public areas in such a way that it allows the flexibility needed to accommodate diverse lifestyles. The variety in the needs and priorities of residents highlights the importance of designing spaces that can simultaneously address various aspects of daily life, from personal and professional activities to social needs and connection with nature, across different levels.

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