‘'Rightsize'’: a housing design game for spatial and energy sufficiency

Abstract

A chronic misallocation of housing space in the UK creates sufficiency problems because some people do not have enough space, whilst others use excess energy to heat and cool unoccupied rooms. Energy is also used to build new homes that compensate for redundancy in the existing stock. A sufficiency-oriented approach is introduced for new housing that encourages people in multi-apartment housing to respond to changing housing needs by merging an apartment they might own with adjacent modules of living space they could rent. Rental costs encourage the shedding of underused space, making spatial sufficiency more likely. Converting this theoretical basis into a conceptual framework, the aim is not only to explain sufficiency-oriented housing to new audiences. Rather it is to propose a design game through which to establish a functional unit for describing spatial and energy sufficiency. A beta version of the game—as a ‘metagame’ or context-adaptable blueprint—suggests this method has the potential to reveal strategic behaviours, produce a shared understanding of sufficiency, help to overcome institutional barriers to sufficiency-focused new-build housing, and produce qualitative (and potentially quantitative) data for analysis. Further development by the gaming community could make this accessible to diverse stakeholders. Practice relevance The concept of ‘adjustable housing’ is explored that would improve spatial and energy sufficiency in new-build, multi-apartment developments. Developed for the UK’s culture of owner-occupation and to address liquidity problems in the UK housing market, it allows residents to merge their ‘starter’ apartments with adjacent, rentable modules of living space to meet changing household needs. The system is designed to encourage downsizing, thereby making spatial sufficiency more likely. A framework for a design game is presented. This can be used to develop a functional unit to describe spatial sufficiency and, in term, help with energy sufficiency. A beta version suggests this method could also produce data on residents’ strategic behaviour, whilst offering a more tangible alternative to shared ownership tenure. This will be subject to further development by the gaming community to make the method accessible to residents and diverse, supply-side stakeholders.

Keywords

• adaptability
• adjustable housing
• downsizing
• flexibility
• gaming
• housing design
• multifamily housing
• space standards
• space usage
• sufficiency