The objective of this study is to determine how user preferences for outdoor space support or undermine sustainable site design. The study examines how these preferences can inform site planning and offer guidelines for sustainable development. Sustainability, a cultural and ecological process, is advanced through professionally and industry-derived guidelines primarily informed by ecological function. Yet, it is user needs and values that create socially sustainable places. Therefore to successfully address both ecological and social parameters of sustainability, user preferences need to be understood. Understanding user preferences is particularly important when advancing sustainable design in a non-market-based system like affordable housing. Through a post-occupancy evaluation (POE) survey, this study explores user needs and preferences of private and public outdoor space (parking, open space, and building typology) in two affordable homeownership housing developments in Oakland, California.
The survey included an owner-given tour of private and neighborhood outdoor space, prioritization of the outdoor spaces, and making spatial trade-offs. The survey results showed a strong preference for private yard space, privacy, and boundaries. These preferences need to be reconciled with the communally based approach of sustainable site design. Additionally, users desired more paved surfaces to make spaces usable. As spaces are paved over the volume of runoff increases beyond original design intentions, counter to sustainable goals. Common areas are highly valued for the large outdoor area, although rarely used by adults and often by children. Satisfying the ideals of privacy and boundaries as well as including suitable amenities can increase the frequency of use. This analysis produces an alternative perspective as well as a set of sustainable site design guidelines, which better respond to users’ needs, specifically addressing both green site design and social sustainability. Within this context designers and architects can consider ecological and social factors of sustainable site design more critically.