A View of Flexible Housing in Germany : The Potential of Flexible Housing to Cope with the Social Changes of Users

Flexible housing draws the attention of academics and researchers for its volatile nature that can be applied based on the changing needs of users. Research has shown that, since its inception at the beginning of the 20th century, flexible housing has always been considered a means of tackling emerging social needs rather than architectural trends. Considering the rapid social changes that affect housing today, the last few decades have seen an increase in the use of flexibility in different housing projects. However, despite its perceived relevance and current presence, flexible housing has yet to be thoroughly investigated to discover how well it serves its intended purpose, particularly in the context of Germany, which is one of the world's pioneers in this domain. This dissertation aims to provide an insight into flexible housing to fill this research gap by providing an overview of flexible housing in Germany, and by highlighting its history, its developments, and the present situation. In this context, a field survey of six case studies, each characterized by a different type of flexibility, investigates the extent to which residents have used flexibility and their primary reasons for modifications in the floor plan configuration. By doing so, it investigates the potential of flexible housing as a mechanism to address the social changes of the users. For this research, a mixed quantitative and qualitative research methodology was used, combining a field survey with questionnaires and interviews with residents of the six case studies by using the chain sampling technique. The investigation reveals that residents in these case studies made extensive use of flexibility, which is due to a variety of social factors, including demography. The results indicate that flexible housing in Germany is used to a good extent by the residents. On this basis, these findings suggest that housing flexibility has the potential to be a good way to deal with users' changing needs. However, further study is needed to support this research, including a broader number of case studies.