A View of Flexible Housing in China

Abstract

LI Shanshan's doctoral dissertation features a picture of Flexible Housing in the Chinese context, covering development history, current situation of typical projects, and possible application in the future. It is conducted under the assumption that the specific expressions of flexible housing are closely connected with social backgrounds, and reveals preliminarily the effectiveness of flexibility in resisting the change. The research is concentrated on, but not confined to the particular situation in China. Conversely, it also pays attention to the international counterparts. The prominent researches and practices, especially in Europe, provide an important reference for this research. Meanwhile, the achievements in Chinese context are systematically introduced. This study is assisted by three scientific tools. Firstly, it is dependent on the national and international literatures. The national literature helps it to inquire into the existing researches conducted by the Chinese scholars. The international researches provide it plenty of available references, by which the research concept was improved. Secondly, face-to-face interview, as a sociological method, is employed to obtain the first-hand material. The interviewees includes the architects who devoted themselves in this topic, the inhabitants who are accommodated by flexible housing, and other roles who are closely connected with flexible housing. Thirdly, the study gets support by the documents preserved in the Architectural Archives