A Geo-data Collection Strategy to Assess Housing in Its Social, Environmental, and Spatial Aspects

Abstract

[Abstract] Blocks of flats are the most abundant built element in many cities and their quality is an important issue. Undergraduate students often occupy these accommodations and this group describes a wide range of housing situations that makes it possible to assess their quality. This research aims to describe the data collection strategy in an ongoing research project in the city of A Coruña (Spain), oriented towards assessing the ordinary blocks of flats where the students live (shared flats, apartments). The method uses several sources (a questionnaire, cartographic viewers, the cadastre, and municipal historical archives) and a sophisticated strategy to be non-intrusive, efficient, and user-friendly. This information would allow an understanding of both students' changes of residence and their locations within the city. Formal methods are applied to estimate ordinary interior designs based on external configurations and consequently verify them with users and public archives. This holistic strategy creates a georeferenced database by adopting efficient procedures, thus reducing user inquiries. The case of A Coruña confirms the variability of housing conditions and the complex phenomena involved, including possible correlations between housing quality and economic/social parameters, which can be studied with the developed database.