Impact of spatial perception on place making in open spaces of middle class housing schemes around Colombo

Abstract

Mass housing is used to provide not only a home but a social structure for communities. People celebrate their lifestyle using available spaces in these mass housings. This research aims to understand how spatial perception act on the placemaking process in this open spaces. This research mainly focuses on middle income housing which ensure the applicability of outcome to a broader spectrum. These communities may override designer’s idea for a space and built their own. It is pertinent to create a middle ground between these informal place making process and formal design practice of professionals. Research was carried out by analyzing the activities in these open spaces through a photographic survey. Then different case studies were compared to accomplish the outcome. According to research findings dwellers prefer a more centralized establishment plus close proximity of nodes. When dwellers can experience the open space as one whole it act positively. When open spaces of a housing scheme failed to depict a sense of territoriality it becomes vulnerable to negative social influences. These patterns were clearly visible in all three case studies.