Flexibility and Current Housing Conditions in Serbia: A Case Study of the City of Nis

Abstract

This paper proposes a method for evaluation of internal apartment flexibility in multi-family housing with respect to its specific application to contemporary residential architecture of the city of Nis (Southeastern Serbia). The presented method is based on an analysis, in which the subject of evaluation is assessed through the spatial criteria that are directly related to the concept of flexibility. Obtained qualitative results sum up the observations of the current methodology of architectural design for a specific urban environment in the context of the circumstances of the housing market and the basic characteristics of households in Serbia as a country in transition. The ultimate goal of this research is to create a program basis of flexible housing that would be implemented in the process of sustainable design and could be applied both at the local and national level, providing guidelines on global housing development as well.