Design Process 4. Lifestyle

So far, my Design process research has covered 3 main aspects, Overpopulation, Land Shortage and Money, now its the last research aspect that our group had done, Lifestyle. So what is lifestyle?? Its the things that we do and go through on a daily routine such as education for the younger ones and working or business for the adults. It can also be tourism or matters that involves a family. 
First , education , more students are going out of their native country to pursue further education. With that , a country needs to build more student hostels. For a country like Singapore where we are facing land constraints , the government may be building more hostels in a small land, thus , more students have to share a hostel when compared to the past. This results in a shrink in living spaces even more international students studying abroad. 
Secondly , the family factor , obviously having a big family of more than 4-5 people will definitely reduce one's personal space. For example, a married couple with 4 children (that is also my stakeholder) living in a standard 1000 square foot home when compared to a married couple with just 2 children living in a house with the same size will undeniably experience more cramped up living. 
Lastly we have Tourism. This factor is more indirect than others but our group felt that it is necessary to include some research about it too. Who doesn't like travelling overseas with your loved ones and enjoy life right?? The tourism industry is booming right now across the world and Singapore in particular , generate income and keeps our economy growing by relying heavily on tourism. With more tourism , more hotels have to be built, this may limit the spaces for residential buildings like HDBs or private condominiums. With that plus Singapore's small land , living spaces will be reduced as more land is being used for the construction of new hotels and commercial infrastructure  such as shopping malls.   

How are Living Spaces getting smaller?

If you compare the government flats (or HDBs) built in the past and the new ones , you will find a significant decrease in size. I had previously visited some of the new government flats and new condominiums in Singapore and they were all much smaller than my current old government flat which is built in the late 1980s located in Pasir Ris. From the kitchen to the living room and to the bedroom, all of which are smaller than mine. My old flat is able to fit a 5-seater dinning table in the dinning room, whereas some new condominiums that i visited could hardly even fit a dinning table. All these were the result of land shortage and population growth, more people, lesser land, results in a shrink in size of the flat as governments and developers needs to fill in more people in a lesser area of land. With that, prices of land and apartments have also gone up significantly over the decades making it more difficult for young couples who wants to settle down and they are also on a really tight budget.  

Places where living spaces are getting smaller.

Map of Hong Kong.

Mumbai's overpopulation problem.

For most of us , the first place that pops up in our minds will be the cramped up city of Hong Kong. Hong Kong sits on a relatively small area and with natural factors such as mountains and rivers, that small space is reduced further. With a population of 7.15 million living in a small area, it is one of the most dense cities in the world. I just read an article about how families can live in a 40 square-foot space, which is not much bigger than your typical king sized bed. Another place with serious problems is Mumbai, it has a small land area and a poor transport system., thus many people who are working in the city lives near the city, the result? Living spaces of 4.5 square meters per person and property prices sky-rocketed , mid-town flats can costs up to $1m-$3m.