Crowding

In Nigeria, crowded housing is one of the housing stresses that bother policy-makers and housing authorities.This study exامینes the crowding levels in seven marital status categories among the occupants of Lagos State Development and Property Corporation’s apartments. The focus is on the capacity of an apartment’s internal spaces to meet the sleeping needs of households in different marital arrangements. A case study of four housing estates was purposively selected among Lagos State Development and Property Corporation’s multifamily categories, with a population of 7,764 apartments. A sample of 7.5% (582) was chosen using stratification and systematic random techniques. A pretested questionnaire instrument was used to collect the relevant demographic data of occupants. The occupants in different marital arrangements were grouped into three: households that harboured one to two occupants; households that harboured three to five occupants; and households that harboured six or more occupants. The result shows that households containing three to five persons were the most dominant in all apartment types while households that contain six or more persons were very few. Generally, the result showed no substantial disparity in the incidence of crowding among households of various marital classifications in different apartment types. The link between “Separated” and “Divorced” was revealed, as both types were not found among respondents living in two-bedroom apartments. The number of occupants in the “just single” and “married” categories were high compared to others. These results are significant for policies regarding occupancy, crowding and design of Lagos State Development and Property Corporation’s apartments.

This study investigated cross-cultural differences in the privacy regulation and perception of crowding among two Iranian sub-cultures (Kurdish and Northern women).The primary purpose of this study was to exامینe whether Northern and Kurdish women differed in their desired and achieved levels of privacy in parks. The second purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships between the desired and the achieved levels of privacy and the experience of crowding. The final purpose was to describe the cultural differences in the experience of crowding between Northern and Kurdish women. The research methodology was designed on interview and questionnaire. A random size of 600 Kurdish and Northern women was selected in Sanandaj and Rasht cities. Moreover, to exامینe the survey Chi-Square Test, Independent Sample Test and Analysis of variance were conducted. The results show that Kurdish women desired more privacy in public spaces than Northern women. Regardless of culture, women’s desired and achieved privacy levels have associations with the level of perceived crowding in public spaces. These findings assist environmental designers to present strategies for achieving privacy in relation to Iranian sub-cultures.