Happy homes
A toolkit and report to build sociability through multi-family housing
The way we design multi-family housing can make or break social connections and trust.
Social isolation is a public health concern in cities around the world. The location and design of multi-family housing has a significant impact on local relationships, neighbourhood trust and residents’ sense of belonging. With support from BC Housing’s Building Excellence Research & Education Grant, Happy Cities developed a toolkit that will change the way you think about, design, and build multi-family housing.
Using evidence from neuroscience, sociology, environmental psychology, architecture and public health, we have developed powerful actions to promote sociability in multi-family housing.
This toolkit was created with support from BC Housing Building Excellence Research & Education Program, The School of Community and Regional Planning at the University of British Columbia, Mitacs, RNL Design, Museum of Vancouver and dozens of idea contributors.
