The Correlation Research between Lifestyle Changes and Evolution of Residential Communities – Based on a Survey of Shanghai, China

Abstract

From 1990s to the present, in China, residential communities has developed rapidly in terms of governmentpolicies and living environments. With economic development, dwelling commercialization and socialization graduallyreshaped the housing distribution system and local government management in Chinese urban area. After this process,dwellings were endowed with commodity attributes, which were planned and designed depending on residents’requirements of life. During the 30 years of social transformation, Chinese citizens’ lifestyle also had huge changes. Inthis period, the forms of residential area improved constantly to keep pace with social development. This study aimsto research the features of contemporary communities and survey citizens’ lifestyle changes to find the reasons of theevolution of communities. Moreover, in this paper, there is a clear explanation of the reasons why gated communities arepopular in Chinese urban area. In addition, comprehensive data analysis is derived from a questionnaire administered inShanghai, China. In this part, the questionnaire surveys what factors about lifestyle influence the transformation of livingenvironments and residential buildings. The results of survey show that residents have housing preferences dependent ontheir lifestyles, and their daily needs related with environmental features.