Qualitative Evaluation of Occupancy Influence in Social Housing Dwellings

Qualitative assessments are essential in studies regarding indoor conditions of use of buildings, including social housing in Portugal, which presents a significant part built before the introduction of thermal regulation. Therefore, attention should be given to the impact of their performances - including thermal performance - on the health, comfort and quality of life of residents, as well as the influence of occupation in defining these indoor conditions, namely active and passive systems used to control its temperature. This article presents the results of a qualitative research carried out in a set of social housing buildings located in the city of Covilhã, Portugal, with the aim of knowing the use given to active and passive strategies in housing, both in winter and summer seasons. For this purpose, surveys were developed and distributed to residents about their dwellings and its impact on their health. The results show that residents resort more often to the use of active systems in winter than in summer, that the potential of passive strategies is sometimes wasted due to lack of perception or constraints existing in apartments, and that the limitations of buildings sometimes result in the need to choose the improvement of interior lighting conditions instead of the improvement of thermal conditions.