ABSTRACT
This chapter examines how residents inhabit their homes. It employs a mixed-method approach, including architectural surveys, 3D scans, live-motion tracking, daily activity logs, and interviews. Studying 37 subsidised homes across six countries, the research challenges the use of generic design standards and prescriptive layouts as measures of housing quality, instead documenting the domestic lived experience and home use. By integrating real-time motion tracking with interviews and activity diaries, the study reveals how households manage daily routines, adapt furniture, and creatively use rooms in response to household composition, spatial constraints, functional needs, and social or cultural practices. Findings highlight the negotiation of shared spaces, the blurred boundaries between work and leisure at home, the importance of underutilised areas for flexibility, and the limitations of accessibility in standardised homes. The chapter demonstrates that resilient and inclusive housing design must be grounded in evidence from everyday life, recognising residents’ priorities and needs as central to shaping effective domestic spaces and policies.
